A rich, scent of cacao that fills your mouth with a bite. KEN'S CAFE TOKYO (Kens Cafe Tokyo, hereafter Ken's Cafe / Shinjuku Gyoenmae)'s "Tokusen Gateau Chocolate" is a sweet that you want to eat at least once.

It's about the size of a palm and small, but it costs 3,000 yen per bottle. Even so, 60,000 bottles sold annually, and it was often talked about as a "gluten-free gateau chocolate" that was used as a souvenir for the ambassador to Japan and appeared in the media as a souvenir recommended by celebrities. In addition, it has won the first place in several rankings.

We asked Mr. Kenji Ujiie, the chef who was the creator, about the "the best gateau chocolate in Japan".

■ Taste that cannot be imitated even if you understand the recipe

Actually, the recipe for this gateau chocolate is published in various places. However, it is ugly to reproduce the taste. The materials are completely different.

The specially selected gateau chocolate is made from couverture chocolate made by Domori, Italy, which is highly acclaimed around the world. It is the only original blend "Ken's" in Japan. Just add eggs, granulated sugar and unsalted butter to this. You can feel the taste of cacao straight because it is made from simple ingredients without adding any flour.

■ It started with dessert in the restaurant

Mr. Ujiie is not a pastry chef. A "chef" who has experienced the kitchen of a famous restaurant.

About 15 years ago, Ken's Cafe, which opened as a restaurant, served gateau chocolate for dessert. This became a hot topic, and some customers wanted to take it home. Gateau chocolate that is freshly baked and eaten with a simmer. He hesitated because it wasn't suitable for To go, but there were so many requests that he made it possible to To go.


In Japan at that time, gateau chocolate like a pound cake with a lot of flour was common (though this is delicious). Meanwhile, Mr. Ujiie created a moist and rich gateau chocolate to reproduce the taste of gateau au chocolat that was eaten in Brittany, France, using plenty of good quality butter. Using the luxury couverture of Valrhona, France, it caught the hearts of many people even in Japan, where the understanding of chocolate was not as advanced as it is today.

The turning point comes suddenly. One day, the top Domori company visited the store. Impressed by the gateau chocolate that lived cacao, I would like you to use your own chocolate. However, he refused to accept it because the unit price was high and he had to order at least 4 tons a year (for 40,000 gateau chocolates!).

However, after that, the wife who ate the souvenir gateau chocolate said, "It's a waste not to use our chocolate!", So he decided to use the original chocolate blended by Domori founder Gianluca Franzoni himself. became. It seems that he now buys as much as 6 tons of chocolate a year.