Momo daifuku / soft rice cake with peach and sweetened bean paste

A fruity rice cake with a juicy filling. Pickled ginger added to the bean paste accentuates the sweetness of fresh peach. Best chilled on Day 1. Tom's current favorite (after learning that "momo" meant the fruit, not our cat, which happens to be named "Momo").

One daifuku cake (1/4 of recipe):
111 calories; 2.2 g protein; 0.1 g fat; 27.7 g carbohydrate; 25.9 g net carbs; 4 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.8 g fiber

Yuzu daifuku / soft rice cake with sweetened bean paste and candied yuzu citrus peel

This sweet rice cake will send your senses into overdrive as you bite into the soft rice cake envelope that surrounds silky sweet bean paste and candied yuzu peel. The shiroan below straightforwardly delivers invigorating yuzu aroma. If you prefer a deeper taste, try pairing yuzu peel with azuki koshian, or strained tsubuan for a slightly more complex taste. All taste a bit different but are equally good. Great with unsweetened Japanese or Chinese tea.

One daifuku cake (1/4 of recipe; figures for granulated sugar for yuzu peel excluded):
104 calories; 2.1 g protein; 0.1 g fat; 26.1 g carbohydrate; 24.5 g net carbs; 0 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.6 g fiber

Sakura daifuku / soft rice cake with cherry blossom bean paste

A seasonal variation of daifuku, a soft rice cake with sweet azuki bean paste inside. While sakura-an -- cherry blossom bean paste -- is usually made with shiroan, salted cherry leaves and red colorant, I mixed in sakura no hana no shiozuke salted cherry blossoms and beet water to shiroan white bean paste to create a softly salty, aromatic filling in sakura-iro pale pink.

104 calories (one cake, 1/4 of recipe); 2.1 g protein; 0.1 g fat; 26.0 g carbohydrate; 24.5 g net carbs; 5 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.5 g fiber

Nama yatsuhashi / cinnamon-flavored steamed rice cakes with sweet azuki beans

I first encountered nama yatsuhashi during a school trip to Kyoto, where this special treat was waiting for us at every ryokan inn and souvenir shop. Back then the cinnamon aroma was very exotic for junior high school students from a small town, and at first we were a bit surprised by this Kyoto confectionery. But as our trip continued, soon everyone was keen for more (free) nama yatsuhashi. Cinnamon-flavored soft rice cake wrappers taste so good in combination with the sweet azuki beans inside. This is one of a very few Japanese sweets Tom likes.