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Häagen-Dazs already has a pretty upmarket image, what with its high-quality ingredients, premium pricing, and fancy-sounding name. Apparently, though, the U.S.-headquartered ice cream brand’s Japanese division still thinks there’s room to grow in the classiness department.

Two mature treats are being added to the lineup soon, one which uses red wine and another which draws inspiration from a French dessert. And just in case those don’t sound regal enough, they’re topped with gold and silver.

In keeping with the unspoken contract between sweets fans and providers in Japan, Häagen-Dazs regularly rolls out a variety of seasonal flavors. This December, the ice cream-based dessert Antoinette makes its debut, with an ingredient list that’s just about as luxurious as the trappings of the 18th century monarch with whom it shares a name.

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On the top of the multi-layered Antoinette you’ll find flecks of silver leaf sprinkled across an eye-catchingly vivid red wine sauce, and underneath there’s red wine ice cream made with Boudreaux. Dig a little deeper you’ll come to custard ice cream, which Häagen-Dazs promises won’t be so sweet as to ruin the dessert’s elegantly balanced flavors, plus delicately soft sponge cake.

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Joining Antoinette is Häagen-Dazs Opera, which the company has been offering in spurts since 2011. Styled after the French cake of the same name, there’s no wine in the Opera’s layers, which instead consist of butter and coffee ice creams with spacers of almond cookie. The whole thing is covered with chocolate sauce, and to show Antoinette isn’t hogging all the luxury, the Opera is decorated with specks of gold leaf.

The new desserts go on sale at convenience stores across Japan on December 9. With both priced at 432 yen (US$3.95), neither is the best way to stretch your sweets budget to its absolute limit, but they’re by far the most economic way to enjoy some wine and Opera.

Source: Narinari
Images: Häagen-Dazs Japan