Lawson's newest concoction, dubbed the "Cupke," has interpreted "cupcake" in its most literal form — stuffing a cake inside a cup.
The Cupke currently comes in four varieties, each one packed tightly into its paper cup. The offerings are a strawberry shortcake (¥315 after tax), a chocolate variety topped with almonds (¥295), a chestnut Mont Blanc (¥295) and a tiramisu (¥270). Based on my local store, these are already selling well, so don't wait if you want to sample one.
Is the Cupke actually worth trying, though? The answer is "probably, yeah."
The vertical approach to the cake results in a well-balanced creation. I could only get the strawberry shortcake variety, but the layered construction of the sweet resulted in a good distribution of its main ingredients: cream, sponge cake and a tart sauce.
It delivered a balance usually lost in convenience store cakes (and almost all cupcakes, a notoriously top-heavy food) and rises above the often uncrossed threshold of pure novelty.
