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It seems only a short while ago that we were battling the unrelenting summer heat here in Tokyo, but now that autumn is on its way, apparently it’s already time to start hearing news about Christmas — heavens, it’s hard to keep up with the passing of the seasons!

Well, for those of you who like to start thinking early about the Holiday Season, one of the reporters from our sister site Pouch has a very special Christmas cake to introduce to you. It’s an absolutely gorgeous creation by gourmet ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs — which is more than enough to catch our attention and make our mouths water. And even though they’ll only be available in one shop in France, the cakes look so exquisite that we just had to share the pictures with you!

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The special ice cream cake is the work of Japanese design studio “nendo” headed by designer Oki Sato and will be sold for a limited time for Christmas at the Champs Élysées Häagen-Dazs shop in Paris. (Darn, if it were available in Japan, yours truly would be putting in a pre-order in an instant.)

According to the creative team at nendo, the village-like cluster of chocolate houses placed on top of the cake is meant to represent family coming together in a homecoming, which of course is very important during the holidays, and the winter scenery recreated by the snowy white ice cream base is intended to serve as a contrast to the warm and happy atmosphere in the homes.

The cakes come in two flavors — one a caramel and nut-based cake topped with milk chocolate houses and the other an orange and dried fruit-based cake with houses made of berry-scented chocolate.The adorable houses are filled with fudge and pieces of caramelized nuts (talk about your dream house!) and dusted with powdered white chocolate to emulate snow.

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You can see that the pattern on each rooftop is different and the houses are placed facing different directions, which makes the scene look even more like an actual village.  The undulating surface of the cake further adds to the effect of recreating a landscape. But even with such attention to detail, the entire presentation is above all a simple yet perfectly cute edible work of art.

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And if you can’t choose between the two flavors, there’s a perfectly good reason to buy two, or even more of thee cakes. When you buy more than one cake you get a chocolate “bridge” to connect the villages, allowing you to create a darling centerpiece for larger events and get-togethers.

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▼Now, just look at that! Can you blame anyone for wanting to buy multiple cakes and connect them?
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Okay, looking at these pictures is seriously making us jealous of the people in Paris who can buy the cake. If like us, you love all things sweet and cute, and you have plans to be in Paris around Christmas this year, this may be something you want to check out. Plus, it’ll give you an excuse to look around the boutiques on the Champs Élysées, which in our opinion is definitely a lovely situation all around! Here’s to a white and sweet Christmas in Paris!

Source: nendo, Dezeen Magazine
Photos: Häagen-Dazs via nendo
Original article by: Anji Tabata (c)Pouch

[ Read in Japanese ]