Photo= Mr. Sato, Sucre's owner (right) and Mr. Shimamoto, president of Joyo-Shuzo, smile as they hold up the baked sweet, "Tarekuchi," which contains "Namagenshu Tarekuchi-zake"= Joyo-Shuzo, Nashima, Joyo City, Kyoto Prefecture

A baked sweet made with Japanese sake and sake lees was created through a collaboration between the sole Japanese sake brewery in the Yamashiro region and a Western-style confectionery, both located in Joyo City, Kyoto Prefecture. The cake is characterized by its sake flavor and moist texture. The companies said, "We want the cake to take root as a local specialty."

The brewery is "Joyo-Shuzo" in Nashima, Joyo City, and the confectionery is "impression gateau Sucre" in Tono, in the same city. The new baked sweet is a doughnut-shaped pound cake named "Tarekuchi." Joyo-Shuzo's raw unprocessed sake, "Namagenshu Tarekuchi-zake," and its lees are kneaded into the dough. Sake is also brushed on the surface of the freshly-baked cake. Other ingredients such as Tamba-grown black beans and Hokkaido-grown wheat are also carefully selected.

When approached by Sucre who said, "We want to use good, local ingredients," Toshihiro Shimamoto, president of Joyo-Shuzo willingly consented. When the project started last summer, Sucre used sake alone, but Shimamoto advised, "Kneading lees into dough may work better." They said the sake flavor and moist texture increased from November when they began adding lees.

Hideki Sato, Sucre's owner eagerly said, "I want to try the same with other cakes, such as cheesecake, in the future." Individual cakes are sold for 200 yen at the direct sale sections of Sucre and Joyo-Shuzo.