I have been very interested in trying the Popin’ Cookin’ Taiyaki & Dango kit since it was first released, so I was quite excited to review it for SCK!
The back of the box includes the instructions in Japanese. The step-by-step photos are clear and easy enough to understand, so it’s not difficult to get by without the instructions. However, there are English instructions available online for clarification.
The kit includes a plastic mold, 6 mixes, a pick, spoon, and a cute mini cup for your ramune drink. All you need is a cup of water and a microwave to create everything.
The first step was to make the strawberry for the daifuku and wait 10 minutes for it to set. Then it was time to make the mochi. I followed the instructions carefully, but the mixture was so sticky that I could not knead it without a lot of it sticking to my hands. I’m not sure if that was normal, but keeping my hands wet with water solved that problem and made it much easier to form the dough. Afterwards I had the base for my daifuku and the 3 sections for the mitarashi dango.
By the time I got to the taiyaki step I was very anxious to try everything. As with the other items in the kit, it’s just a matter of mixing water with the orange mix until the batter is completely smooth.
The directions only give times for 500 and 600 watt microwaves, and my microwave is much higher at 1100 watts, so I was a bit concerned. I decided on 15 seconds, and it turned out perfectly fine.
The last steps are to mix the chocolate sauce from the brown pack, the mitarashi sauce for the dango from the purple pack, and the ramune soda from the blue pack.
By the time I got to the mitarashi sauce I felt everything was coming together nicely and I was very hopeful for the taste test!
The taiyaki ended up a bit distorted from air bubbles, but otherwise I am very pleased with how easily everything turned out! As for taste, the taiyaki with the chocolate sauce was definitely my favorite, and I enjoyed everything except for the mitarashi dango, which tastes close to the real thing.
Overall, I would rate this kit a 4/5 on taste and 5/5 on fun and easiness. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a new candy kit to try! You can buy it from Tofu Cute.
This is the final guest post from Andi, who is on the shortlist to become SCK’s new craft writer! Let us know if you’d like to see more posts like this.
Andi lives in the US and her favourite crafts are needle felting, clay craft, coloring, paper crafting, and making plushes. You can follow her crafty makes on Instagram at @pixiaa.
Andi lives in the countryside of Georgia in a house packed with kawaii decor and vintage toys. When she’s not barricaded in her pink craft room creating something, she can be found reading, playing Animal Crossing games, or baking something to satisfy her massive sweet tooth. Andi is currently taking a mental health break, but hopes to be back in 2023.
No Comments