A Saitama boy was announced as winner of an annual “dream Christmas cake” contest Wednesday with the boy’s cake design, a roll cake styled around a locomotive train, set to be made a reality by Japanese confectioner Ginza Cozy Corner.

The winning design was introduced to press at an event held at a Cozy Corner Cafe in Ginza, Tokyo during which the confectioner’s Christmas cake lineup for 2017 was introduced.  

Saito Ritsuki (5) from Saitama was among the 20,350 entrants of Ginza Cozy Corner’s annual “Kid’s Dream Cake Contest” for 2017, the ninth year of the event.  Entries for the Christmas cake design contest were gathered from across Japan via post and online from kids up to 6th grade of elementary school, with a panel of experts undertaking the Sisyphean task of whittling down the 20,000 plus entries to just 10.

Saito’s “Christmas Locomotive Roll Cake” (きかんしゃロールケーキ - above) was selected as contest winner by online vote open to the public.  Experts are currently holed away charged with turning Saito’s dream into reality.  The “Christmas Locomotive Roll Cake” is set to go on sale December 3 and will be limited to 200 pieces which can be ordered online.  Part of the profits from sales of Saito’s cake will be donated to NPO Shine On! Kids who work in support of children in Japan with cancer and other serious illnesses.

Ginza Cozy Corner’s Christmas cake lineup for 2017 will be available for advanced order ready for the festive season from next month.  The extensive collection, far removed from the brick-heavy fruit cakes many might be familiar with in the West, places an emphasis on variety of occasion, and the photogenic.  Coming under the theme of “Christmas Market in Cozy Corner” the marquee cake for 2017 looks set to be the “Happy Merry-go-round” featuring strawberry cream and white chocolate mousse in a cake design inspired by a Christmas market carousel.  

Cozy Corner representatives at the event were also keen to introduce the art of “deco ichi” (デコいち).  A truncation of “decoration ichigo” (decorative strawberries), デコいち encourages the budding confenctioner in us to use scoops, pincers, cream and assorted sprinkles to jazz up some strawberries and add them as decorative items to Christmas cakes.  While the association between strawberries and Christmas might be an unfamiliar one to many, the two go hand-in-hand during the festive season in Japan.  

See the lineup of Christmas cakes on display at the event at www.city-cost.com