Not your ordinary Christmas cakes.

Starbucks has been counting down the days until Christmas for well over a month now in Japan, with Frappuccinos dedicated to German Christmas markets and the New York holidays.

Now as we enter December, things are getting extra festive in the sweets cabinet, but there’s a little known product also available at this time of year — Starbucks Christmas Cakes.

The reason for their elusiveness is they’re only available online, so you won’t find any big flashy ads or posters for them in stores. And because traditional Christmas cakes in Japan are strawberry shortcakes, which conveniently display the lucky colours of red and white, that’s what the star offering is in this lineup, with a bit of a unique Starbucks twist added in for extra fun.

▼ The Holiday Cheesecake looks like a strawberry shortcake up top, but comes with a cheesecake base.

In keeping with the chain’s festive theme of “World Holiday Markets“, designed to take our taste buds on a journey overseas without leaving the country, the first Christmas cake in the range is a New York cheesecake. Baked slowly at a low temperature, the texture and flavour in this one is said to be exquisite, with the rich, melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake contrasting beautifully with the crispy base and refreshing berries.

▼ The second Christmas offering in the range takes us to Germany, where our taste buds are invited to take a walk in the Black Forest.

The “Black Forest” is a real forest in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, and it’s the setting for many Grimms’ Fairy Tales. This cake is just as dark, but a little different to a traditional black forest cake, as it has three layers of chocolate-flavoured sponge interspersed with bitter ganache cream and a sweet-and-sour cherry sauce.

Whereas the Holiday Cheesecake is said to look like white snow, this one is said to resemble black snow, with its roughly textured chocolate coating.

Other holiday treats to keep an eye out for, and these ones are available both online and in store, are the Gingerbread Cookies (2,160 yen [US$19.04])…

▼ …and the Stollen, which is also priced at 2,160 yen.

The Starbucks Christmas cakes cost 4,320 yen each, which might seem a little pricey, but it’s actually pretty standard pricing for festive cakes in Japan. And if they taste as good as the white and dark Christmas Frappuccinos, they’ll be sure to please all the diehard Starbucks fans this Christmas!

Top image: Starbucks Japan
Images: Starbucks Japan (1, 2, 3, 4)
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