Taking The Cake

Normally I do venture into Japan is weird territory, basically because YouTube amply documents that the United States is the home of the world's weirdest everything.

Nevertheless, this bit of culinary effluvia permits me to take a detour from my general rule.
I stopped by a cake stand this last Sunday. Many flavors were on sale but I felt this one really needed trying.

As the label indicates, the flavor of this particular cake is "Ink Made of Ashes of Bamboo" -- hence the black color.

What did it taste like? Decidedly like cake with a hint of bamboo ashes or some kind of ashes in it.

To be sure, there are pasta al nìvuro di sìccia and pidan, so the wish to make black that which is normally white or golden is trans-global.

However, the ink of bamboo ashes cake will not be one of my favorites. If anything, I expected it to have a richer, smokier flavor.