Fukuoka – Cute and Lovely Japanese Sweets. Suzukake’s Dorayaki and Monaka

They carefully package your purchases in a paper bag emblazoned with “菓,” the character for sweets. It’s perfect for gifts.

This time, I purchased Suzukake’s specialties, “Dorayaki” and “Suzu no Monaka” (Bell Monaka).
Dorayaki is a sweet made by sandwiching sweet red bean paste between two discs of castella-like pastry.
Monaka is a sweet made by filling a thin crust of baked glutinous rice with sweet bean paste.

Bells and dorayaki; the combination is reminiscent of Japan’s famous animated series “Doraemon.”

Suzu no Monaka – 1 piece 100 yen.
These monaka, shaped like bells (suzu) as a callback to the store’s name, are adorable!

The shell is fragrant and delicious! The texture is crisp, even though it’s chock-full of red bean paste!
The red bean paste is smooth anko made from Hokkaido red beans. Its elegant sweetness is favored by both old and young.

Suzukake sells two different types of dorayaki.
Usually dorayaki is made using black adzuki bean paste, but both of these are made with white bean paste.

When you try and compare these two dorayaki, they actually have large differences in texture and flavor.