A fun, festive take on the classic Mont Blanc

As is the case with many special occasions in Japan, you typically don’t have to look far for fun, seasonally-themed eats. Pop into most convenience store chains and you’re bound to find an array of festive goodies at this time of the year, and best of all they're usually priced quite reasonably.

At my local 7-11, I recently stumbled across a berry sauce and pistachio cream Mont Blanc -- I thought was a fun take on the popular dessert which seems to be served at just about every cake shop across the country. The limited-time item is priced at 328 yen plus tax, and whilst it's a little hard to tell in my photos, the Mont Blanc is designed to look like a Christmas tree!

When you initially take it out of the packaging, you'll see the layers and layers of vibrant green pistachio cream in place of the typical chestnut flavored cream. The dessert is also sprinkled with powdered sugar, making it look like the "tree" has been dusted with snow. I thought this was a really cute finishing touch!

The Mont Blanc "tree" is sprinkled with powdered sugar, making it look like it has received a light dusting of snow. A cute finishing touch!

Once you cut into the Mont Blanc, you'll discover the layers of berry sauce sandwiched between chocolate flavored sponge cake. Compared to the other components of the cake, the berry sauce flavor was minimal, but I actually thought this was a positive thing. Any more berry sauce and it would have overpowered the other elements.

A cross-section of the Mont Blanc, where you can see the layers of pistachio cream, chocolate sponge cake, and some berry sauce sandwiched in between. All the flavors worked well together!

The cake itself was nice and moist, which still surprises me about convenience store cakes here -- it's realistically something you could get from a proper cake shop. I don't think I'd ever buy a convenience store cake elsewhere in the world, because I would be doubtful of its quality. The Mont Blanc was also decently sized for the price. My husband and I had half each and felt perfectly satiated, so whilst the price tag may initially seem high when compared to other convenience store cakes, it was easy to get a couple of servings out of it.

Overall, my husband and I really liked this product and thought it was a fun and festive take on the classic favorite. I imagine it'll only be at 7-11 stores for the next week or thereabouts, so if it's something you'd like to try I'd recommend heading in quickly. Happy eating, and I hope that you enjoy the festive season!

Have you come across any festive foodie offerings at your local convenience stores? Do you have any favorite finds you'd like to share with others? Feel free to leave a comment below -- I'd love to hunt for a few more goodies to add some extra fun to this time of year.