Fuwa Fuwa Cake Chocolate Marshmallow

The Fuwa Fuwa cake marshmallows seem to be getting increased market penetration. They're showing up in more convenience stores and in greater varieties. Personally, I'm waiting for the day when the 10 packs of the original yellow bean filled ones show up. For now, I'll have to content myself with fishing the individual ones out of boxes by the cash register as an impulse buy at the last minute.

I have no idea why these are called "Fuwa Fuwa Cake" when they have nothing in common with a cake. The only reason I use that in my post's title is that that is the name it is given in Japanese on the package. We found these chocolate marshmallows at Natural Lawson's convenience store. Like the other varieties, it cost 53 yen (about 60 cents). The big difference between this one and the others that I have sampled is that nutritional information has been added to the back of the package. This one is 94 calories and has 2.4 grams of fat.


This smelled very mildly of cocoa powder before I cut it open for picture taking. The filling, which is like pudding, releases a much more intense scent. Upon tasting it, I discovered there's a good reason for this. The chocolate marshmallow has the same weak, unimpressive flavor that most flavored marshmallows have. The filling is where all of the "oomph" is in this. It is intense, high quality bittersweet chocolate. And don't underestimate the word "intense" here. It's powerfully chocolaty.

The marshmallow was fresh and had a good texture and was bland enough to encase the filling nicely. If you like strong bittersweet chocolate, you'll likely love this. If you're more of a milk chocolate fan, this may be a bit much for you. The quality can't be beat, and I think this is well worth trying again, if not visiting again.

Fuwa Fuwa Lemon Cream Marshmallow Cake

One thing Japan is renowned for is the freshness of its food and the fussiness of its populace when it comes to buying the freshest food. The Japanese, on the whole, are willing to pay more for higher quality food. The main problem with paying more for something which is fresh is that you lose value if you sit on that food for a long time. Such was the case with this marshmallow which I'm sure was as good quality as the first one of these that I reviewed when I bought it, but had gone a bit stale after about a month in the refrigerator.

Given how favorably inclined toward the anko Fuwa Fuwa marshmallow cake, I was looking forward to sampling another variety, despite my delay in getting to it. My husband found these at New Days convenience store for about 50 yen (50 cents). To be fair, I should preface this review by saying that I'm not a huge lemon fan, though I like it well enough. I tend to favor lemon in cakes and cookies though rather than candy. In candy, lemon often reminds me of cough drops unless the the flavor is greatly diluted.


The fact that this marshmallow is filled with a type of lemon sauce was slightly surprising. The package does say "cream", not sauce. The marshmallow itself is lightly lemon-flavored, but the filling in the center is really intense. The sweetness level is quite appropriate, but the lemon is strong.

We had two of these and my husband was keener on it than I, though I have to say that he had a cold and the flavor may have been muted for him. I thought this was good for what it was, but the lemon was too much for me. It really did remind me of medicine and I think I even imagined a honey flavor attached to it (like a lemon honey cough drop). If you enjoy really strong lemon sweets and hard candies in particular, this might really float your boat. Otherwise, it'll probably be too much for you, too.

Fuwa Fuwa Marshmallow Cake

This is actually the third or fourth one of these marshmallow treats that I've purchased. Every time I get one, I eat it before I can get around to reviewing it and taking pictures. The only reason this review is going out is that I bought two and the second one was earmarked for my husband.

These are called "cakes" but they're really just incredibly soft high-quality marshmallows with a filling. I've only ever seen them for sale in big name convenience stores like 7-11 and Family Mart. One is about the size of an egg and costs 53 yen (about 55 cents). There are a plethora of varieties of these out there, but it's hard to find them. In my Internet searches, I've seen strawberry and jam, and my husband has found lemon and caramel (which will be reviewed later). I've never seen them personally, but you can also buy boxes of 10 for 500 yen.


This particular version, which I've always assumed was the basic variety that the company started with, is filled with white bean jam. The taste is very hard to describe, but the beans don't have as strong a flavor as red bean jam (anko). There's a sense of vanilla and butter in these, but mainly they are a sweet, textural delight. The marshmallow is soft, but not chewy in the way that American ones can be. And it's not rubbery in the way that Japanese ones can be. These are unusual because they are made with gelatin instead of agar agar (a derivative of seaweed which is often used instead of gelatin in Japan). The bean filling adds a slightly grainy texture as well as flavor.

I couldn't find a manufacturer's web page for these (and there's no nutrition information on the package so I can't give calorie information), but searches turned up a ton of blog reviews and favorable mentions. Some people were unhappy about the price because it costs almost half of the price of an entire bag of regular marshmallows. I think the quality though makes it well worth it. This is like a gourmet marshmallow and I definitely recommend sampling it if you see one in a box by the check-out counter in a convenience store.