People Are Going Crazy For This $8 “Raindrop Cake” Made Of Water

When Darren Wong, the genius behind bringing Raindrop Cake to life in the US and I first met about shooting Raindrop Cake, my immediate thought was how to approach an object that can be translucent, opaque and completely transparent depending on lighting and angle and how to really get across the texture in images. Also intriguing was that at angles where Raindrop Cake is translucent, it is essentially a lens, magnifying whatever it is underneath it.

h/t: pulptastic, buzzfeed, huffingtonpost, irelandstudios

This is “raindrop cake”, created by New Yorker Darren Wong:

It’s made from mineral water and agar (a gelatin-like substance made from, er, algae) and flavored with brown sugar syrup and roasted soybean flour.

No, we have no idea what roasted soybean flour tastes like, either. Although it looks like a perfect droplet of water waiting to be popped, the raindrop cake actually cuts more like firm Jell-O.

Creator Darren said,

“It kind of reminds me of that scene from A Bug’s Life where they drunk water drops off of leaves.”

“There are very few foods that engage this many senses at the same time, which is what attracted me to this dessert in the first place.”

“They looked like a really cool and fun food experience. When I discovered you couldn’t get them in the US, I went to work in making it myself.”

“The hardest part was trying to figure out how to store and transport something so fragile,” says Darren.

But they found a way to package and serve raindrop cake that has brought delight to Instagrammers, with oddly satisfying videos like this appearing everywhere.

Raindrop cake: unsurprisingly watery tasting. #raindropcake #smorgasburg #food #foodporn #dessertporn #dessert #topcitybites #eeeeeats #nycfood #nyc #newyork #brooklyn #nyceats #newforkcity

A photo posted by Olive Chen (@gammacataclysms) on Apr 3, 2016 at 9:51am PDT

But what does it actually taste like (if a water-and-algae-cake can taste of anything at all)? Well, this Instagrammer claims to have queued for 30 minutes for “giant flavorless gelatinous dew drops”.

Waited 30 minutes for new york's latest #foodcraze – giant flavorless gelatinous dew drops. #cronut #upsell #raindropcake #brooklyn #agar #streetfood #trendy #soybeanflower #duped #asiansensation #foodfad #whatthehell #diditforthegram #simplicity @hleviathan173 @raindropcake @smorgasburg

A photo posted by @mofunk4141 on Apr 3, 2016 at 9:54am PDT

Raindrop cake: unsurprisingly watery tasting. #raindropcake #smorgasburg #food #foodporn #dessertporn #dessert #topcitybites #eeeeeats #nycfood #nyc #newyork #brooklyn #nyceats #newforkcity

A photo posted by Olive Chen (@gammacataclysms) on Apr 3, 2016 at 9:51am PDT

Raindrop cakey!! Okay it's just water gelatin with soy powder and brown sugar syrup. Would not spend $8 on it but would recommend to try it at least once for fun. Also, it looks great on picture :) #smorgasburg #raindropcake

A photo posted by Lesley Lai (@summerqm) on Apr 2, 2016 at 10:01am PDT

#raindropcake #tattoos #dessert

A photo posted by @raindropcake on Mar 20, 2016 at 10:14am PDT

?#raindropitlikeitshot #raindropcake #smorgasburg #definitelycake

A photo posted by @raindropcake on Apr 9, 2016 at 2:37pm PDT