Here in South Korea there are two different chain bread and bakery shops that seem to have the most locations. One of them is Paris Baguette, and the other is Tous Les Jours.
For a long time I was a big fan of Paris Baguette, but as there is a Tous Les Jours within walking distance of my home I have started to frequent there, and to be honest, I have been very impressed with some of their offerings.
Before continuing, let me just mention that no chain bakery store will ever beat home-made baked goods! That being said, Tous Les Jours does have some delicious items for sale!
So, my mother’s birthday was upon us, and I needed to buy a cake to celebrate the special occasion. I had a coupon for a Tous Les Jours cake. Luckily, they allow you to substitute for any cake in the store of equal value to the one that is on the coupon. Or, you can even make up the difference and buy a more expensive cake!
The choices before me were challenging. Was it to be a classy cake, a fun cartoon character cake, or one that was designed to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Ox? Well, as you can tell from the photos, the latter was the one I chose!
The nice worker boxed up the cake, added some candles so that we could celebrate, and I even got a small tiara for my mother to wear as we cut the cake!
The name of the cake is interesting. It loosely translates as the "Happy Ox Milk and Caramel Cake"!
After arriving at my mother’s house, and having lunch, it was time to set up the candles and then cut the cake.
Tous Les Jours has really gone all out on the cake. They even have a special box that matches the cake!
The cake really does look like an animation ox! There are many parts that are made of chocolate, and a plastic ring with the ox ears on it to keep the cake all together!
After putting some candles on the cake, it was time to sing “Happy Birthday”, watch her blow out the candles, and then try some of the hopefully delicious cake!
And delicious it was! The cake had four layers, separated by three different smaller. Working up, the bottom separating layer was icing, the same as what was on the outside of the cake. This layer was very nice, but very similar to many other cakes that I have had here in South Korea.
The middle separating layer was very different. There were actually two different types of cream here. One was a caramel cream, and the other was a butter cream. This layer was quite unusual, and also quite tasty! In fact, this was a really outstanding addition to the cake.
The top separating layer was also very unique. It was a toffee flavored cream, and actually had real bits of crunchy toffee in it! This was definitely my favorite layer, and it was so tasty and sweet!
The cake itself was good. Nothing out of the world, just a standard and delicious vanilla cake.
I really enjoyed eating the Tous Les Jours “2021 "Happy Ox Milk and Caramel Cake"!
Caramel is not something that is common in cakes here, as far as I am aware, and it made for a very refreshing and scrumptious change!