Bakery CUISINE / RESTAURANT REVIEWS Dessert Japanese Port Moody Tri-cities

Cake’Ya

Cake'Ya exterior

I forgot where I read about Cake’Ya.  It’s a tiny little operation located in Port Moody that makes a small selection of Japanese (Okinawan) goodies.  Small selection but each type of goody comes in an assortment of flavors.

Easter Sunday we decided to have a relaxing day and head to Rocky Point Park.  On the way AngryRussian took me to Cake’Ya even though we weren’t sure they were going to be open this day.  Luckily they were.

The selection today wasn’t great…I assume due to holiday weekend.  However there were still a good selection of Japanese Creme Caramels (purin プリン) available, which was what brought me to Cake’Ya originally.  There was also some Red Bean Mochi Daifuku‘s, and Okinawa Shortbread Cookies (chinsukou ちんすこう) in Matcha green tea flavor left.  There wasn’t much cake selection available this time.

Cake'Ya haul

I decided to get the Original Creme Caramel ($2.25) and the Royal Milk Tea Creme Caramel ($2.50) , a Daifuku ($1.10), and a baggy of the Matcha Okinawa Shortbread ($2.50).

After I got my loot we headed to the park!

Cake'Ya Daifuku

I’m still on a quest to get AngryRussian to love mochi as much as I do, but I haven’t had much luck yet.  This mochi certainly wasn’t gonna do the trick.

It is a basic mochi filled with azuki (red bean) paste.  I’m not even a fan of red bean paste, but I got this just because it’s made fresh on site.

Cake'Ya Daifuku red bean filling

It wasn’t bad, especially if you love red bean.  I found the paste to be a good amount of sweet.  It was also chunky, which may or may not be your cup of tea.  The mochi was fresh and soft too.  But since I’m a mochi fan I would’ve preferred more mochi and less red bean paste.  This is also very filling.  I asked for water and AngryRussian joked that I never ask for water.

Cake'Ya Creme Caramel - Royal Milk Tea & Original

Next we tried the creme caramels.  I offered AngryRussian the original flavor as I think he would much prefer that flavor.

Japanese creme caramels, or “purin”s, are steamed instead of baked in a waterbath like the Spanish version.  I really liked the prominent egg flavor of the pudding.  It was a very good creme caramel.  However I found the top one third of the cup to be of a thicker consistency than the lower two thirds…in fact I found it too thick and creamy and rich.  There’s even a very thick layer of cream-like sheet covering the top.   I guess when the mix settles the fattier elements of the mix float to the top.

I think AngryRussian really enjoyed it as I caught him scooping out every last bit of pudding.  When I asked him though he said “It was ok.”

For the original flavor this wasn’t too bad.  At the very bottom was a watery layer of caramel that’s supposed to run all over the pudding if you were to invert the whole thing onto a plate, as they’re usually presented.

The Royal Milk Tea flavor was very good also, and you can absolutely taste milk tea flavor.  This one had the same consistency problems (err…or inconsistencies in consistencies??!) as the Original flavor.  And because of that AND because it was a milk tea flavor, I found it much, muchtoo rich and I couldn’t finish it in one sitting.

Cake'Ya Okinawa Shortbread - Green Tea flavor

Lastly the Okinawa Shortbread.  I googled what makes a shortbread “Okinawa”.  Turns out a common souvenir from Okinawa is the ちんすこう chinsukou shortbread cookie.  It’s mostly made from lard and flour, with whatever flavor the baker decides to incorporate.  It is also steamed, as opposed to baked.

Cake’Ya’s green tea version were soft and crumbly.  It had really prominent green tea flavor without being bitter.  They were a little sweeter than I expected, and the flavor was quite one-dimensional.  Aside from the green tea and the sweetness, there was nothing more.  That however did not stop me from devouring 3 in one sitting…and took all of me to save one for AngryRussian.

All in all I’m glad I tried Cake’Ya.  I wouldn’t take a special trip though, but if we were heading that direction I would likely ask to go grab some goodies, namely the Original Creme Caramel and maybe another flavor of shortbread.  I wouldn’t mind trying their roll cakes either.

Cake-ya Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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