- English (United States)
- Japanese
Tetsuya Yokogawa won a few competitions on a popular TV program in Japan 20 years ago and became famous nationwide. After that, he opened his own cake shop and there is often a long line of customers in front of his place.He makes his cakes on the 1st floor and the 2nd floor of his shop, customers can eat fresh cakes.We visited his new shop, which was opened in Izumi city in 2004, to ask about his stories.
Following the basics
Using fresh and high quality ingredients, following the basic recipes and techniques, and making tasty and safe cakes, is what he has always focused on.With his hard work, his shop has now become famous throughout Japan. If you look in the showcase at his shop, all of cakes look delicious however, his products don’t look unusual. The manager told us that customers don’t get tired of his cakes because he produces simple and fresh cakes with no additives.
picture provided：T.YOKOGAWA
The expiration date is a bit shorter than other cake shops’ products.Customers can enjoy the freshest taste and aroma because their products are made with the least amount of oxygen absorbers possible.Freshness is the most important factor for confectionery. I sometimes go there on my own and I can enjoy a variety of his new products each season.
picture provided：T.YOKOGAWA
Izumi sweets
They are often asked to produce new items with local grown fruit.They spend a lot of time to make prototypes and improving them using in house made fruit jams to add to the freshness, taste and quality. Finally they came up with a finished product; called the “Swiss roll with Izumi mandarin,” in which a lot of mandarins are mixed with his original cream and then rolled in soft yummy sponge cake.The texture of the mandarins and the refreshing sweet flavor of his cream is a match made in heaven.
Collaborative product with a Japanese Taiko drum band
One of his products, the “Izumi drum” is a collaborative product with a Japanese taiko drum band in Izumi city. The Izumi drum is a kind of raisin cookie sandwich made from raisins, delicious cream and crispy cookies. The package is the shape of Japanese drum and it is sold with drumsticks.Looks cute, doesn’t it? You can only buy it at his shop, so it isn’t sold on the internet. On top of the taste, you can enjoy playing the Japanese drum after you eat it. I don’t eat raisins often, but it was really delicious.
Future pastry chefs
Mr. Yokogawa couldn’t have attained his success without his young staff who have come from mane different cities in Japan. I could see they were working so hard in the kitchen and making a real effort to make delicious sweets. They are learning a lot from him and some day in the future, they also will be great pastry chefs, I think.
