Dorayaki

A castella-like batter of wheat flour, egg, and sugar is baked into small round pancakes, two of which sandwich a layer of chunky bean paste — nothing more. The draw is the way the batter's soft sweetness and the paste's denser sweetness read as two distinct layers. The thickness of the batter disc and the amount of paste vary widely by shop, and evenness in the browning of the two discs is sometimes said to mark a maker's skill. Matching the color and size of the two baked discs is said to take real effort, often cited as a first step in a confectioner's training.

A batter of wheat flour, egg, sugar, and mirin is poured in rounds onto a griddle and browned on both sides into small discs. Two are sandwiched around bean paste, and the sweet is often left to rest before wrapping so the batter's moistness settles in. Some shops add honey to the batter, said to be a way of keeping the moist texture from drying out for longer. Preference is said to split between eating it fresh off the griddle and letting it rest overnight so the batter absorbs moisture from the paste.

One account holds that the name comes from a resemblance to the dora gong, though no firm historical record backs this and other stories exist. Early Edo-period versions are said to have been square, wrapping the paste inside folded batter; the round, two-disc sandwich known today is said to have spread only from the Taisho era. Its depiction as a favorite sweet of a well-known cartoon character is also said, in one view, to have helped push its nationwide recognition.