shoebill 1

You can pick up one of these yourself — it’ll only cost you one big bill.

It doesn’t take much to see that Japan loves their sweets. Just walk into a bakery of any kind over there, and instead of shelves and shelves of bread, you’ll most likely find display cases full of cakes and desserts. Most of these cake shops make a ridiculous number of individual-sized desserts that look every bit as amazing as they taste. They come in all shapes and designs, and recently shops have started exploiting an animal that perfectly fits the “bill” of an individual cake…but hey, if the shoe fits!

If you are wondering what sort of animal that is, it’s the shoebill! Sometimes called the shoe-billed stork or whalehead stork (which is kinda mean), these massive birds are starting to gain a bit of traction in the dessert world.

▼ Ah! We swear the dessert isn’t made from actual shoebills!

IMG_6607©RocketNews24

▼ See, light, fluffy cream!

▼ They may look a little funny, but they also look delicious!

https://twitter.com/Omuko_biroko/status/685830491115630592

▼ You could probably make one of these at home, too.

The shoebill is getting all well-deserved time in the limelight thanks to a bird-themed café in Tokyo called Kotori Café. If you’ve never seen an actual shoebill for yourself, it’s a pretty massive bird, but majestic…in its own grey-blue storky kind of way. If this big birdie isn’t to your fancy though, Kotori Café has tons of other delicious bird treats.

Here at RocketNews24, we think all animals are individually amazing and deserve the chance to shine. Just make sure you don’t tell that to our bosses, the cat, undisputed king of the Internet.

References: Karapaiya, Kotori Café
Top image: Twitter/@kotoricafe2014