Delicious

Tiny Cakes Bring Shop Patrons Big Elegance, Minami-Aoyama’s Un Grain Patisserie Offers Customers A Variety of Bite-Sized Sweets

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Some of the small cakes that are made by hand daily in the shop. Clockwise from front: “Sphere,” “Lumiere,” “Neuf Chocolats” and “Cerise Jubile”

By Akio Oikawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:30 JST, October 12, 2025

The Yomiuri Shimbun
A showcase lined with cakes

Each fitting perfectly on a five-centimeter-square base, these countless tiny cakes are as charming as they are elegant. A feast for the eyes as well as the tongue, they are meant to be admired and then slowly savored.

A specialty shop in Tokyo’s Minami-Aoyama area, Un Grain offers “mignardises,” tiny sweets intended to be enjoyed after a meal. Just a glimpse of the store’s showcase, filled with these colorful, bite-sized cakes, is enough to lift one’s spirits.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
“Le Brownie” is a semi-fresh type of cake made with plenty of nuts.

The shop offers about 20 kinds of fresh and semi-fresh mignardises. “It is fun to think about new creations, like figuring out how to incorporate seasonal ingredients or what shapes to make them,” Chef Patissier Takashi Okazawa, 30, said.

The mignardises are not made by baking a large cake and cutting it into small pieces. Rather, they are carefully crafted one by one. Some are made from a sponge cake base layered with mousse, cream and fruit confit and then set in a mold.

“Cerise Jubile” is one of the shop’s most popular items. Bavarian cream and berry jelly are covered in rich vanilla cream, which is then topped with cherry jelly thickened with gelatin. This dessert was inspired by one once served at a royal banquet in Britain.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The multilayered interior of a “Moka” mignardise

“Moka” features multiple layers, with a hazelnut mousse containing an espresso jelly and a chocolate that brings out the flavors of cognac and American coffee. Cutting one in half with a knife reveals a beautiful cross-section. “You can taste various coffees in a single bite,” said Okazawa.

Okazawa is always conscious of the delicate, harmonious balance he is creating between the carefully prepared ingredients in each small cake.

“If I make even a slight mistake with the quantities, the taste and shape will both fall apart. Just like with traditional crafts, I try not to lose my concentration until the very last decoration is placed,” he said.

Unique baked goods

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Tweezers are used to add the finishing touches to some mignardises.

In addition to fresh and semi-fresh cakes, Un Grain’s mignardises also include baked sweets. These are popular as gifts due to their longer shelf life.

The shop offers classic cookies made with maple sugar, savory cookies made with Parmesan cheese and coffee-flavored “Florentin Cafe” among others. Assortments are also available by mail order.

Rich vanilla and almond scents fill your mouth. Beyond their flavor, the treats feature various surface patterns, making them visually distinctive, too. “I hope you enjoy the crispy texture as much as the flavor,” Okazawa said.