May 2, 20202 min read

The gong cake

Updated: May 3, 2020

Today I am going to share about a sweet that I have liked since I was very young.

Dorayaki

That is! Dorayaki. Dorayaki is a Japanese sweet that has red bean filling in-between the 2 outer layer of pancake-like skin.

As time goes by, Dorayaki has also evolved to suit a wider range of audience according to their taste buds. Other fillings like cheese, chocolate, kaya and condensed milk have been incorporated into the modern Dorayaki.

Invention of Dorayaki

According to research, there were a few variations of stories on how exactly Dorayaki was invented. Therefore, I have chosen the story that was more convincing to me to share with all of you today.

Dorayaki was first founded by this Samurai named Benkei who put up at a farmer's house to treat his wounds as he was injured. The farmer then took care of Benkei and made some cakes out of flour and water on a gong for him. That was believed as the Dorayaki that was first founded.

'Dora' which means gong in Japanese and

'Yaki' which meant cooked over direct heat probably explains why this sweet is called Dorayaki.

Gong is a percussive instrument that was widely used in traditional folk music. It is also used for religious purposes today. For instance, monks would hit the gong as they chant.

Fun fact

Like I mentioned in my previous blog post (The legend of Shrove Tuesday), there is a day for everything!

And yes! We have a day dedicated to our lovely Dorayakis too! It's called the national Dorayaki day and it is celebrated in Japan annually on the 4th of April.

The day of happiness

The number '4' is pronounced as 'shi' in Japanese and 'plus' is said as 'awase' in Japanese. Hence, '4+4' is said as 'shiawase' which can also mean happiness in Japanese.

But why Dorayaki and not other wagashi

There so many variations of wagashi which mean sweets in Japanese.

However, I believe Dorayaki is one of the highly popular sweet amongst the young and old in this own nation, the manufacturer have decided to dedicate this day to Dorayaki which is in-between girls day which falls on 3 March and boys day which falls on 5 May in Japan.

Anime

(Your lie in April)

This is one of my favourite anime which narrates a forbidden and heartbreaking story between 2 incredible musicians. I shall leave it to all of you to find out as to why it's a forbidden and heartbreaking love story.

(Doraemon)

How could we forget about the iconic blue Japanese robot cat that loves Dorayaki? Doraemon had portrayed his love for Doriyakis in the anime and he always get into some sort of trouble due to the sweet.

We have come to the end of The gong cake.

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I hope everyone enjoyed today's blog post!

Credits

From top to bottom:

The gong cake

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