Tuesday 20 November 2012

Jap Cakes



When I was a child, my favourite treat from the bakery in the centre of our village was a Jap cake. They were a kind of cylinder shape, made of a chewy meringue, with nuts stuck around the sides, a chocolate button and something green - which I think was a tiny piece of pistachio - on the top. I haven't seen them for years, and have found that most people have never even heard of them, to the extent that I was almost wondering if I had imagined it! But when the letter for this month's Alphabakes turned out to be J, I knew I had to try to recreate the Jap cakes I loved as a child.


This website gives a good description: it says '"Jap cakes' are made from egg whites, corn flour and ground almonds and may also be known as 'jap biscuits'. Though once more widely eaten their popularity seems now to be confined to Scotland." Any Scots out there who can confirm that?

I have no idea why they are called Jap cakes and whether it is a reference to something Japanese (in which case if it is, I hope the abbreviation isn't offensive)... most people seem equally in the dark, as when I was searching on Google I mainly found websites where people had posted a question along the lines of "Does anyone remember Jap cakes, and know where I can find a recipe?" It does seem that they have fallen out of favour somewhat and I wonder why, as they are delicious!

Eventually I found this recipe and set about making them.
This quantity only made me two cakes so scale up the quantities if you need to.
You need:
2 egg whites
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz ground almonds
a few drops of almond essence
a small quantity of buttercream (made the usual way from butter and icing sugar), which the recipe suggests to flavour with coffee but you can do this according to taste, plain vanilla works fine as well.

I began by whisking the egg whites until stiff then whisking in half the sugar.


Fold in the ground almonds, almond essence and rest of the sugar.


The resulting mixture will look quite grainy


Spread in a layer about 1-2cm thick on a greased and lined baking tray. Bake at about 180C for around 10-15 minutes - the recipe just says "bake until almost set" without saying how long that should take, so do keep an eye on them.


Not sure if it is meant to look like this or if mine is overcooked! Tasted nice anyway...


Use a circle cutter to cut out rounds. I only got four out of this. The recipe I used said to return the cakes and the trimmings to the oven until firm but I felt mine were already cooked enough.


The recipe I used also tells you to crush up the trimmings, pass them through a sieve and use them to coat the cakes. I'm sure I remember the ones I ate as a child were coated in nuts though, so I wanted to try this instead.

I sandwiched two of the cakes together with buttercream and spread buttercream around the sides.


I coated the cakes in chopped mixed nuts. They do look a bit messy, don't they!


The recipe I was using suggests decorating the top of the cake with pink glace icing, but I definitely remember the ones I ate from Reeves the Baker having a chocolate button and something green on top. I didn't have any chocolate buttons in the cupboard so used a blog of chocolate fudge icing, with a pistachio nut on top. These definitely look like the ones I remember, and they tasted pretty similar too!


I'd love to know if other people remember eating this and have ever tried making them!

I am sending this to Alphabakes, which I am hosting this month (it's Ros's turn next month) as the letter we have chosen is J.


As I've discovered from the comments below this type of cake appears to be based on a Japanese meringue, I am sending it to Bloggers Around The World, as the theme this month is Japan.


110 comments:

  1. I've never heard of Jap cakes but I'm intrigued. I think you did a great job re creating this - excellent entry for AlphaBakes!

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  2. I remember these as a child from a bakery in Chester called P&A Davies, I thought,however, that they were chopped hazelnuts and the meringue had a vague coffee flavour....Could be wrong though?

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    1. You might be right, though I don't like coffee flavour so it couldn't have been that strong... I used whatever nuts I had but I'm quite hazy on the details. I think the bakery in my parents' home town actually still sells them though so I might have to have one next time I'm there!

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    2. They useductive to sell them in Carricks bakers they were an almond macaroon sort of meringue cross rolled in crushed nuts and a bit dollop of fresh cream in the middle I loved a nutter jap

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    3. I love love loved these as a child in the 70's in north Wales. All cake shops sold them but griffiths's bakers were the best. I'd forgotten all about them til 2 weeks ago in alderley edge, when i went to weinholm bakery for something to eat and saw a shelf full of them. Needless to say i bought one and it took me back 40 years. OMG add good as i remembered. I can't believe they're not widely available.

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    4. Im from Darlington and they used to sell them on high row In a bakery buy they closed down and I’ve never seen them anywhere else .. they are the best cake ever … #bringbackjaps 😂😂

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    5. When I was a kid we lived near Chester out at Great Barrow and I went to the Ursuline convent in Chester City. The way back home took us through Boughton where there was a cake shop called Hughes run by the price family who we knew well since they also had a house in Anglesey on the Menai Straits
      We always stopped off to get Jap cakes which had a sugar disk placed on top of the cake which in itself was meringue like with butter cream sandwiched between layers and around the resulting cylinder which was rolled in chopped hazelnuts. I absolutely loved them but once we moved from Chester, I never saw them again until fairly recently:
      There is a bakers in Frome, Somerset called The Old Bakehouse and they also make Jap cakes - ostensibly the same but somewhat bigger than the originals from Chester which were about 3 - 4" across and about 2 " high. The taste and consistency is very similar to those of my youth.

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  3. WOW....at long last I think my search could be over. I've been looking for the recipe for Jap's for quite a while. The ones I remember were totally covered in chocolate and were made by 'Wild's' the bakers with shops in Bingley, Keighley, Skipton etc, but unfortunately they don't make them anymore and haven't done for years, shame as they were absolutely delicious little things, The make up was something like......two rounds of a meringue type biscuit, about three inches in diameter and half an inch thick or maybe slightly less, with a soft'ish creamy filling holding the two rounds together then totally covered in milk chocolate and they had a coffee!/almond type flavour!. Anyway I'll try this recipe and see how I get on, it sounds as though this is the closest I've been though. Thank you. Keith.

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    1. Glad to be of help! Someone did comment that they thought Jap cakes had a coffee flavour and I think they may have been right... maybe you can try the recipe with a hint of coffee flavour as well and let me know how it turns out!
      I'm going to my hometown in a couple of weeks for Mothers Day and you've reminded me, I want to see if the bakery there still sells Jap cakes!

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    2. Thanks Caroline I'll try that and I'll certainly get back to you on this one. I usually take pic's of my efforts for reference later, so maybe able to send one when done.
      I telephoned Wild's bakers who are apparently now known as 'Grandma Wilds' in Steeton nr Keighley West Yorks but no one knew about the recipe they used to make them from, mind you it is years ago since they did them. Funny that though....thought all bakers would keep their recipes....maybe they do but don't want us to know! Trade Secrets eh!!

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  4. P.S. 'Jap's'.....To the first comment I made above re; the Soft'ish creamy filling, I remember so well, was light beige in colour so could have had a coffee essence added although certainly not overpowering by any means. Oh, and they were just known as Jap's.

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  5. I was brought up in the london suburb of Ealing Common.1940/50's{once called "the queen of the suburbs" I hate to think what its like or called today!!! just up the road from my parents house was a bakery called"Pauls" They sold a lovely cake /Pastry with a hazelnut filling built up in layers called a "JAP"They were round in shape. My mother used to buy them as a very special treat.They were out of this world.Today, In Hobart, Tasmania I went into a famous bakery/cafe called "daci daci" established in the 1800's and looking into a glass refrigerated display case and spotted what looked like a "jap" so ordered one,and yes,texture flavour twice the size, rectangular it was a "Jap". The name they gave it was Hazelnut "dacquoise." look in google it seems to have originated in France.I certainly just couldn't believe it. I will be back for more next week. kind regards Hugh Dickinson. Hobart. Tasmania.ps. if you want a photo let me know.at...... speirs@tasmanet.com.au or look up daci daci hobart.

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    1. Oh my goodness Hugh, I think you've solved the mystery! I'd never heard of a dacquoise so I looked it up, and it does sound very much like a 'jap' cake! And then I continued looking on google and found people discussing the differences between a dacquoise and a japonaise meringue - this is obviously where the name 'jap cake' comes from! Finally I know what it is that I loved to eat all those years ago!

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  6. A bakery in Otley , West Yorkshire, bakes Japs and they are utterly delicious! Can't remember the name of the bakery but find Boots the chemist and, stand facing the store, it's the bakers on your right. They sell two types of Japs and my favourite is the round one - it's chewy, almondy, and downright lovely! I think it's worth a trip to Otley for this elusive treat as I've not found anyone anywhere else who makes them.

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  7. Sorry, need to edit my comment - it's the bakers on the left side of Boots as you look at the store. Don't want to send you all rushing to the wrong bakers.

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    1. The bakery is teales I know coz I worked there making japs

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  8. Yes - real. Can get these still from Burgers in Marlow, Bucks. Almost identical to your description but no green bit on the chocolate drop on top. Creamy sort of praline flavour coating/filling and two crumbly meringue-like discs inside, coated in nutty bits with the choc spot on top. Delicious.

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  9. Hey Pat, it's good to know that and thank you for the info. I'll have a drive over to Otley in the very near future and take a look....of course I shall buy at least one to see how they compare to how I remember Jap's from Wild's when they made them. Will report back soon.

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  10. Re; my comment above, a quick phone call after looking up on the web I found the bakers shop Pat (above) was talking about. They are...A Teale & Son Ltd at 26 Kirkgate, Otley who do indeed make small cakes called 'Japs. There are two shapes to choose from, a long one at 85p and a round one at 90p. They also have another shop in Manor Square, Otley. I shall now have to make that trip to sample them, thank goodness I don't live too far from there.

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  11. From the sounds of it they must be good, messy looking or not. Actually, I don't find they are so messy looking. The look rather wants me to have one now ...

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    1. Last time ibought great ones, was a cake shop , At Mary church near Babacomb, devon

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  12. Further to my comments made earlier in the month, I have now had time to check out the 'Japs' from the shop in Otley, West Yorkshire I mentioned above. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the oval type shape of Jap insomuch as it just didn't seem to give the ultimate satisfaction that the round one did, I think this had more to do with the thin shape and of not being able to hold as much of the creamy filling even though it is made of the same ingredients. However the round Jap exceeded all my expectations in most every detail, the texture and chewiness of the meringue along with the absolutely delicious creamy filling made this an experience to savoir without exception and took me back many years remembering the excellent taste and flavour these small cakes have. Although not covered completely in chocolate as I remember them from a different bakery in days gone by as these were decorated with squiggly chocolate lines for appearance, they are still in my opinion one of the most delicious, indulgent cake treats anyone can experience.

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  13. You're making my mouth water now Keith! I'm going to visit my parents next weekend and will have to see if the bakery there still makes them!

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  14. Try the baker down by the sea front in Swanage. Delicious

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  15. I do have some excellent photographs of the 'Japs' I'm talking about above if anyone is interested.

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  16. To try a chocolate coated Jap then Bothams of Whitby is the place to be. They have shops in a few places around the north east too and area really old fashioned bakery with lots of traditional treats.

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  17. Bought a jap cake only yesterday from Mohr bakery in Callander, Scotland. Not seen/eaten one since late sixties (Pearce's bakery, Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire).
    All these years later, was just as I remembered it.

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  18. My mum used to but them for me 55 years ago from a Jewish bakery in Didsbury Manchester! They were my absolute favourites and a child! I found a bakery in Whiston Merseyside that sold them a few years ago but not quite as I remember them from years ago. I think they had a slight coffee flavour and definitely rolled in hazelnuts round the outside....will try and make some, just for nostalgic purposes you understand! Chrissy

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  19. I discovered these while living in Inverness but on moving to Edinburgh could not find them anywhere and no one seemed to have heard of them! I can only ever find them in the north of Scotland and have to stock up when ever I'm in the area! Absolutly beautiful cakes! :) Becca

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  20. Plentiful supply available at J.B. Christie, Airdrie and Coatbridge!

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  21. Hi i work in a bakers named bradfords, there are 14 shops dotted around Glasgow & East Renfrewshire. We sell these & we call them jap fancies we also stock fresh cream jap meringues. They are delish! If looking for one near you there is a website www.bradfords.co.uk to find out shop locations.

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    1. Regret to say this BBC report suggests Bradfords is no more ...
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-23287517

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  22. I have finished eating a hazelnut one I got from Slattery in Manchester today.
    My mum would buy these every now and then as a treat when we were kids, I'm going to try this recipe as my husband and the friends we went to Slattery with have never heard of them.
    Thanks for sharing

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  23. The very best Japp Biscuits (I believe that's what we called them) were made by Muir the Baker on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. They were, and are my favourite dessert. Unfortunately I can't find then in NYC. However, after reading this page, searched for and found my Mum's recipe.
    Excuse me while try a wee bit baking.

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  24. Hi! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.. I made this yesterday for my mother on her birthday and she loved it! She remembered jap cakes from her childhood, they were her mother's (my grandmother's) favourite! They came out perfectly! :)

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  25. Sat here reading this as my daughter is eating a Jap she bought from Thurlwells Bakery Yorkshire St. in the West End of Morecambe, and says it is delicious!

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  26. I know of 3 places that do Japs ... in increasing order of deliciousness IMO:
    A baker in Peebles, name unknown
    A baker in Beauly, name unknown
    The Tobermory Bakery, Isle of Mull. Fantastic!

    Oh! for the days when you could get them all over west Lancashire, (The Latern Cafe, Ansdell), and the Lake District. But then Greggs bought out Birketts, and Japps were no more. Even Mysons of Keswick stopped too.

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  27. there's a confectioners shop in cleveleys.on the main shopping street called,"family bakery".it used to be called,"neilds".they still sell,"japs".coffee ones and chocolate ones.the coffee ones are the nicest.lovely!!!

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  28. You can buy Jap Fancies from Valerie Patisserie in the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds, as far as I know it is the only shop in the chain that sells them and they get them in stock on Thursdays and Fridays - well worth the trip, they are delicious (guess that's why I only go shopping there after Thursday)

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  29. Loved them from Smith s bakers Turriff.Sadly no longer there.

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  30. Available from Reeves the Bakers in Salisbury at £1 each.

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    1. I know, and also the Wilton branch! That's where I had them when I was growing up :-)

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  31. I used to get these from a bakers in Preston, Lancashire when I was growing up. Now I live in Wales and was very excited when I discovered they sell them at Queen's Bakery in Cardigan. I think if I was on death row, I would choose chocolate japs as my last meal.

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  32. Cooplands, a chain of bakers with stores across Yorkshire also sells them. Cooplands took over the Ainsley's chain when they went into receivership a few years ago, so they have quite a few branches now.

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  33. Betty's have also now started stocking them: a delicious chocolate and cherry combination - though possible just a festive line. I remember Japs from my childhood. We had a bakery so there was a steady supply, particularly on a saturday evening after closing for the weekend. My Dad also used Jap when he was constructing complex torten gateau; I vividly remember some of the more exotic flavours in the creams he used to build the layers; passion fruit and lemon stand out.

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  34. Betty's have some Jap fancies in at present - delicious chocolate and cherry, though possibly just a festive line. I remember Jap with much pleasure; we used to have a bakery and so there was a steady supply, particularly after the shop closed on a saturday evening. Dad also used Jap a lot when he was building complex torte gateau; I remember some exotic flavouring - passion fruit, and lemon, in the creams used to build the complex layers.

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  35. I can't believe I've found all these comments about the elusive cake of my dreams! My aunt lived in Wallsend, Newcastle and bought them whenever I visited as a treat. I think she bought them from Gregg's & we called them 'nutty japs'. Hazelnuts on the outside - delicious!,,

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  36. Anne - from Cornwall23 February 2014 at 15:50

    I have also been looking for this recipe for a very long time...... I remember these
    from Fullers coffee shop in New George St. Plymouth; also a bakery in St. Austall
    I remember them as Japs. looked similar to french macarons but thicker, & more
    flaky, tasted of hazelnuts and tiny dots of chocolate & rolled in pieces of nuts.
    not as sweet as french macarons... must try this recipe ...thanks Anne

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  37. I remember them from the early '60's in East Grinstead - Sussex. Definiteley at the cafe below the Whitehall. Also think some bakeries used to make them. The green on top was angelica.

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  38. Hi there is a baker in Salisbury just by the town hall, and it has another branch in blandford Dorset, they make excellent jap cakes, I'm sure they have a very light coffee flavour. I will post pics if u like next time I get one.

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    1. Indeed - Reeve's the baker! There's one in Wilton as well, which is where I grew up - that's where I discovered Jap cakes!

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  39. I looked for a jap recipe and found this. thank you. I buy jap fancies from Hoffmans in Wakefield every week. They are chewy and slightly almond in flavour cream in them and coated with I think toasted coconut. Absolutely delicious

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  40. I was looking for an alternative method for Jap cakes and came across this website. My mother-in-law passed the recipe on to me many years ago and the cakes are a favourite with my family.
    The trimmings are returned to the oven until crisp, crushed and used to roll the cakes in after covering in flavoured butter icing - any left overs are fantastic on ice cream!
    However, Jap cakes are on sale in my local bakers - Merry Miller, Goring Road Worthing - coffee flavour butter icing or chocolate.

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  41. Yes I remember Japs and have been looking for the recipe. Will try it. Thank you

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  42. Fantastic! Yes, I remember these as a lovely treat growing up in Bristol in the 50s and 60s. I know that coffee was my favourite, but they also sold chocolate ones which were pretty good too (possibly chocolate cream). Chewy and delicious! It's one of those things that's imprinted on the memory, clearly like many on here, and I've looked over the years for them. Now living way down south, I don't know about buying them any more, but I'm certainly going to have a bash at baking!

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  43. These certainly sparked a conversation Caroline. Thanks for entering them into Treat Petite!

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  44. I have never heard of these before, but I am very curious to try one and see what they taste like! I love how much conversation you have generated from this recipe, such a perfect entry for this month's Treat Petite theme.

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  45. You can substitute the ground almonds in your recipe for ground hazelnuts and you will have real japs in the original recipe sense. Dessicated coconut works too although a little pinch of bicarb helps that one to work, and you would call them coconut japs. The bakery where I worked used silicone rubber mats to make japs. 30 x 18" sheet tins were covered with silicone paper, the rubber mat with interlocked oval holes was placed on top. The jap mix was then poured on and spread out with a celluloid scraper to fill all of the holes, the excess scraped off and returned to the mixing bowl. Get a colleague to hold the paper down and 'peal off' the rubber mould and you have tray full japs ready to bake.We made ours thin so three layers and two of butter cream. Yum!!

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  46. It's about 56years that I used to buy these "Japs" in a cake shop a couple of doors up from where I worked, I couldn't wait for teabreak to come I'd go up to the shop and quite often buy a coffee and a chocolate one, it's a taste you never forget, I think they tasted mainly of hazlenuts. The shop was Crisps cakes in Farnham Surrey so I think you could get them pretty much all over the UK. I'm always up for trying a new recipe and one day will manage to relive that beautiful taste again.

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  47. Truffles bakery in Sussex does them and they are fab! They use ground hazelnuts in their recipe (almost like a hazelnut macaron) and vary what flavours they do, chocolate, caramel, coffee etc.

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  48. Selfriges in Trafford centre Manchester have them Whoopee

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  49. I can't believe I have finally found the cake of my young dreams, I couldn't remember its name and finally discovered them a the Trafford centre in Manchester, Selfridges today. The one and only 'JAP' biscuits, I am in heaven :)

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  50. I've always loved jap cakes, and the only place I know in England to buy them is in Cliftonville , near Margate, in Kent. A café on Northdown Road called Bachelors Patisserie. The owner/baker makes all the bakes in the café, and everything is delicious. His jap cakes are wonderful.

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  51. You can still get them in N Ireland and in Northumberland sometimes.

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  52. You can buy a 'meringue ' cake from Cooplands bakery which is based in Doncaster but have shops, Leeds, Barnsley etc... it seems to be like the chocolate japs i had as a teenager, ( they were froma local bakery ) I don't live near a Cooplands but where theres a Jap theres a way !!!!

    http://cooplands.co.uk/meringue-gateau.html

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  53. Hello Caroline, Think the green on top may be angelica - my mother used to make them like that in Yorkshire. However, despite having a very sweet tooth, they were too sweet for me, so my brother and sister used to share mine !

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  54. Bothams of Whitby sell the best Japs!!
    Hazel Nut Meringue sandwiched with Chocolate Butter Cream covered in chocolate sprinkles - Amazing!

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  55. You can get them from the Viennese bakers 'Druckers' and they are hazelnut. I have just found some today in Hindleys bakers in Lichfield and they were almond or chocolate or something else. I have been trying for ages to find a recipe. Thank you

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  56. Fabulons cakes x

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  57. Burgers Tea/coffee house in Marlow Bucks - the town side of the bridge, makes delicious Jap cakes - traditional recipe.

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  58. omg. Now I've seen this, I need to go out to Reeves and buy one!

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  59. We're staying in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. We had Japp (two p's in theirs) cakes in a bakery on the main street today and loved them so much we Googled for a recipe and found your blog. Sounds as if your recipe is pretty spot on with what we had, but the outside was the meringue (they called is macaroon) not nuts, and the coating/filling was a bit lighter than buttercream Can't wait to give these a try!

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  60. Coffee japs from the high-street bakery in my home town in Hampshire were my favourite treatment growing up. I'm sure they had the meringue-y burst chopped up round the outside, a circle of coffee icing on top, and a swirl of coffee-flavoured cream on top of that. I feel a baking session coming on, but I fear the worst - I've don't bake because everything turns out rubbish!

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  61. Does anyone know where to buy jap cakes my mum used to eat them when she was in the army way back when and I have only ever found them in Gateshead in 1shop but live in Northamptonshire can any one help.

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  62. I am sure the KANDY BAR in Ayrshire, will do a Jap Cake delivery service. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kandy-Bar-Bakery/181974075176144

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  63. Used to make a jap gateau at McLeish the baker in Hull. By piping the basic mix with a plain tube ( like a Catherine wheel) to about 6". Then bake the wheels. Then using buttercream (butter & icing sugar) mixed with some of the crushed baked jap stack 3 or 4 on top of each other. Then slice into 8 portions.

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  64. My dad was by trade a confectioner and regularly brought home Japs, which I loved. I hadn't seen them for around fifty years until a couple of years ago when on holiday, we saw them in a bakery in Aviemore. I thought I'd died and gone to cake heaven! However, these were imposters of the worst kind. Awful. So I wish I knew where in Manchester I could get some. I'm amazed that so many people remember them.

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  65. as a baker some 50 years ago we made jap biscuits,these were made
    so that they could be piped in 3 inch circles

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  66. Yeah, have loved these since working in a bread and cake shop as a Saturday girl, way back in the 50's, in good old Pompey !!
    Joy of joy - they are on sale on certain days only in a shop in Cardigan - s.w.Wales - just as well it's not too near as am on a diet (not because of a surfeit of Japs - I wish !!!)

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  67. Today were reminiscing about the sort of cakes we had as treats as children at Guernsey Cheshire Home. I asked the residents if they could remember this cake I craved - and someone said it was a Japp Fancy! What a relief to know after all these years. This lead me to your blog - I am going to have to try to make them now. We only have one small bakery left in Guernsey - such a shame. Thank you everyone for some lovely memories!

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  68. I love Jap cakes!!!

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  69. yes ! My favourites too !! in traditional cake shops in Watford and Tavistock from 1950's to 2000. I tried to make them just recently, but thought they were a kind of hazelnut meringue. My attempt was pretty hopeless and cakey - too many hazelnuts. Also, only had milk choc to go on top - I remember them as two finger hazelnut meringues/macaroons, held together by coffee butter-cream (yes, 'light' butter cream - but how do you do that ?), and dipped into dark chocolate at one end - and now you mention it, I remember the green bit which I wouldn't have eaten since I don't like Angelica.
    Will try your recipe next!

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  70. Don't know if they still do them but there is a very good family bakery in Bicester, Buckinghamshire which sells Jap cakes.looked for them for years until I found these a couple of years ago. Brought back delicious memories of being a little girl in the fourties when my Father used to bring them home as a very special treat on a Friday. Now I've found the recipe I need to make some. Can't wait. Sure they used to be cooked on rice paper but perhaps not. Haven't worked out the logistics of that yet.

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  71. You can still buy these in Saddlers the bakers Forfar Scotland, they're epic!

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  72. You get jap cakes from Asher's bakery chain in north east Scotland.
    I'm not keen on them as they taste like marzipan but my friend from North Carolina devours them when she comes over.
    I believe jap comes from Japonaise, a type of meringue which includes macaroons.

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  73. I used to work on one of the counters in Fine Fare supermarket in Birmingham in the early 70's and sold a few different varieties, loved them so glad to have found this site I've been looking for ages on how to get hold of them

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  74. Fisher and Donaldson (Cupar, Fife, Scotland) make amazing Jap cakes which instantly remind me of my childhood in Inverness (Ashers the baker, which still exists, so I shall be enquiring when I am next visiting my home town!) ~ they are really light and delicious, very nutty with that lovely light, but chewy meringue texture. Really a very unique cake but one that I hope ever stops being baked. I shall try to make them at home myself. It seems many people are of the same opinion!

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  75. In Birmingham and Cannock in the 1970s these were called Hap Fancies and they came in pale brown . . Coffee but not really coffee flavoured, pale yellow . . . Lemon, but they weren't lemony or pale green . . Nut, but they weren't more nutty than the others, they just had green nuts on top which I assume were pistachios but no one in Cannock knew what a pistachio was back then. now, more to the point does anyone remember the very different cake called Nelsons Eye?

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  76. Hi Caroline! My Grandma used to make these when I was little. She does have the original recipe still and next time I visit, I shall try to find it and repost here! In the meantime I am currently going through my other Grandma's Good House Keeping book from 1966, in there I have just discovered a recipe for what are called Coffee Kisses which sound almost identical to what I remember Japanese Fancies being, except for that they are not rolled in nuts and I remember my Grandma's having a solodge of pink icing in the centre on the top of nuts.

    The recipe is as follows...
    2egg whites, 4oz caster sugar, 4oz ground almonds. Whip up whites into stiff peaks, fold in sugar and almonds. Place spoonfuls on tray and bake at 375°F until biscuits are pale brown or for 10-15mins. Cool on wire rack.
    1 level tsp instant coffee powder, 1 tbsp hot water, 3oz icing sugar. Dissolve coffee in water and use to make a smooth icing. Use to ice half biscuits once they've cooled.*
    1 level tsp instant coffee powder, 1 tsp hot water, 1oz butter, 2oz icing sugar. Dissolve coffee in water and then cream with butter & sugar. Use to sandwich iced biscuits to plain ones.

    *At this point I would also coat the iced biscuits in toasted crushed almonds, and splodge the top with some pink icing!

    Hope this helps add to your Japanese Fancy recipe hunt. Your post certainly helped me!

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    1. That's great, thank you! I will have a go at making them from your recipe when I have time. I haven't eaten one in ages, I must remember next time I visit my parents to see if the bakery there still does them!

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  77. I loved Japs too as a child. They are coated with finely chopped nuts ot chocolate sprinkles. They sell them where I live in a shop called
    Archers Bakers
    Hollins Lane
    Marple
    SK6.

    I'd forgotten how much I loved them until I saw them again. So good!

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  78. I have still been able to buy them until recently..a cake shop in Goring were doing chocolate and also coffee ones but the shop has been taken over now and not so good as they have stoppex them..a shop in Shoreham and Hailsham dod them but stopped mow as well so csnnot buy them anymore

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  79. These were my father's favourite cake and always bought one for me on a Saturday which we would have with tea, they bring bake many memories for me.

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  80. Jap cakes are amazing! I'm from scotland and we used to always get them from a local bakers in town! I remember the base and then filled with lashings of the cream and then another base on the top and they were dusted with what I'm guessing would be the same as the base, sure they used to be topped with a chocolate blob and I want to say a cherry 🤔 anyway they were my fave when I was a kid (I'm 32) and cant get them anywhere now a days

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  81. Yes! A big part of my childhood obsession with the local bakers in beckenham and West Wickham now not course it's all closed and gone 😣
    They did 2 types coffee jap wh8ch was with hazel nuts I believe and covered in crushed meringue and lots of icing. Also chocolate jap which had a round puddle of choc fondant icing on top 😎
    I will make these one day honest but so glad to see many other people who remember these as they are far too nice to be forgotten.
    I found a baker half way down the a303 which still makes them 😍. I've seen them in Scotland yes but they always have good cakes and proper bakers! Wish there were more real bakers around London and South as it all seems to be trendy places or greggs which isn't a baker 😣.

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  82. Jap cakes are amazing! and they are my favourite cakes. In India they make these cakes in parts of Ooty Hill stations. And BTW , this post comes exactly 9 years after this article was written.

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  83. I remember Jap cakes well. They had a lovely nutty meringue filled and covered with a choice of either coffee or chocolate flavoured icing and then rolled in crushed toasted hazelnuts and topped with a large blob of gooey chocolate. We used to buy them from our local branch of the Cadena - a chain of gorgeous bakeries across the south west of England. Your recipe and all the lovely comments brought back lots of happy memories

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  84. My mum is obsessed with these jap cakes, you can still buy them in Hallet’s bakery in Paignton in Devon so sometimes we make a trip to buy a few. I’m going to try this recipe today, thanks!

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  85. I too remember japs. The ones I had were coated in chocolate vermicelli as well as nuts. They were a real treat. I’ve asked my local bakers and they say (a) there’s no demand - which there won’t be if they’re not in the shop, and they’re also very time consuming. Though I think he was imagining macarons.

    And (b) because of nut allergies they’re too much trouble to make in a small independent bakery. That baffles me too because they have almond croissants and Florentines every day.

    But thanks to you I now have a recipe and will get baking.

    Thank you

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  86. Jap biscuits I made as a young apprentice in the seventies at W Day's confectioners in Keighley. To this day I get asked for the recipe. Working on a Jap biscuit recipe this week to be published in my baking column in the Keighley News. Thank you for this post and wonderful comments, its given me lots of forgotten knowledge. Baker Mike facebook.com/bakermike001

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  87. I remember Jap cakes fondly from my childhood - 60 years ago. My gran used to buy them from a local bakers in west lancs.
    My memory is of a light, soft, slightly chewy meringue type cake, coated with coffee buttercream, rolled in crushed nuts, with a coffee bean for decoration on the top.
    They were delicious! I haven’t seen one in decades.

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  88. These were my mothers favourites. I used to buy them in Bradfords in Sauchiehall Street Glasgow. They were very neat and round with a drop of pink icing on top. From what I remember the sides had something like finely ground nut and maybe coconut. Think they were sort of meringuey but were lovely but havent seen these for many years. Sure we called them Jap biscuits though they were more like a cake.

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  89. Caroline Castledine31 July 2022 at 10:51

    Hello, I don’t know why I was thinking of these today but, I googled them and here I am, I distinctly remember in the 1950s my Dad used to buy me a double meringue held together with cream and decorated with half a glacé cherry and he would buy himself a jap cake.As years have passed I have cringed at the thought that he might have been being racist but, no, you guys have now cleared my head and made me want to make some! Oh, I think they had rice paper on the bottom and ours came from Leopoldo on Cheltenham High Street, might make some meringues as well, happy days xxxx

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  90. My Dads favourite! 1960s, Cheltenham High Street, Saturday lunch time after picking me up from dance class. Routine always the same. Woolies for a new hair band and some bananas, Leopolds for a Jap cake and a meringue. Fish and chips in Cambray, home in time to make a pot of tea to drink with our chosen favourites and the football results! Thank you everybody for putting my mind at rest, for years l thought my Dad was being unwittingly racist or I had imagined the whole thing, Happy Days!

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  91. Saw on "Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip: Marlow" a bakery called Burger's whose bestselling pastry are these Japonaise Cakes. Yours look nearly identical! I look forward to making them. Thank you!

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  92. Chocolate and coffee one available at the bakeries here in Kirkham, Lancs back in the 80s. Utterly delicious!

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  93. I grew up in Liverpool and this was my Dad’s favourite Saturday afternoon tea cake The gorgeous Jap Fancy (from Japonais) so no insults. Seems to be mainly more higher class cake shops but fortunately they are so available I haven’t sorted out a recipe

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  94. Jonathan Cohen15 June 2023 at 10:46

    I always assumed the "Jap" was a reference to the circle of icing in the centre, like the rising sun on the Japanese flag.

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  95. At last I have found a recipe, thankyou. I was looking for Japanaise, but I kept getting replies for japanese desserts, I had my first cake in Ludlow, and have been craving one ever since, being in Australia I havent found any so far..

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  96. Gorgeous Japs, my favourite cake. You can still buy them from a bakers called Mannings. They have branches in Rawtenstall, Lancashire Ramsbottom near Bury Lancashire and I think Slatterys in Whitefield also sell them.

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