A few months back, I was in Kansai area for a few days, and I got the chance to look for the green tea baumkuchen that I purchased on my first trip to Kyoto two years back. At the time, I did not know that the cake was only sold in Kyoto, but thought that the cake was interesting, and purchased it by chance. It turns out that the cake was incredibly delicious, not too sweet like other baumkuchen I've tasted.
I'm sure that many of you who has been to Kyoto before would have seen this Kyoubaamu before. Back in 2010, I think it was only available in Kyoto, however, when I was in Kansai this year, I brought it from Shin-Kobe Shinkansen station. Kyoubaamu is also available from various sellers on Rakuten. There are three available sizes, half of the 3.5cm roll, 3.5 cm roll, and 5.25 cm roll.
Baumkuchen is a type of cake, which consists of thin layers of cake. Traditionally, Baumkuchen is made on a spit by brushing on even layers of batter and then rotating the spit around a heat source. Baumkuchen is well known around Europe, and is said to originate from a small town in Germany. Now, back to the Kyoubaamu. Kyoubaamu has two distinct sections, green tea section, and soy milk section. Yes, soy milk. I was very surprised after finding out about this certain ingredient. Two years back, I was not able to read Japanese, thus did not have a single clue that this cake was made from soy milk, not from cow's milk. The baumkuchen is also coated with thin coat of sugar syrup.
As for the taste.. I think that this cake is really good to eat alone, or with other beverages. The cake itself, is not too sweet like others that you can only take a few bites. I ate the whole thing in one go, by myself. You can barely, if ever, taste the soy milk. I think that it is worth a try for all of the matcha (green tea) lovers out there.
I think Kyoubaamu is available in major stations around Kansai area, as well as many gift shops in Kyoto. Also, here is the link to the official website: http://www.otabe.jp/shop/c/cbaum/
