A thick, round griddle cake of pancake-like batter baked in cylindrical molds and packed with sweet azuki bean paste. Sold piping hot at festivals and stalls, its drum shape and crisp-edged, fluffy crumb make it the direct ancestor of taiyaki, known regionally as obanyaki.
Named after the Imagawa-bashi area of Edo (Tokyo) where it first appeared in the Edo period, it spread nationwide under many regional names such as obanyaki.
The crust is thin and lightly crisp, giving way to a warm, fluffy pancake crumb and a thick core of smooth, barely-sweet red bean paste. It is denser and more cake-like than taiyaki, satisfying and homey in the hand.
Baking powder aerates the batter so it puffs into a tender, cakey crumb within the deep mold, while the metal walls brown the surface. Capping the filling with batter before sealing fully encloses the paste so it stays moist and hot.
Variations
custard cream filling, matcha or chocolate batter, savory versions with cheese, regional names obanyaki and kaiten-yaki
On the Palate
Where Imagawayaki sits in the Japanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, egg and milk into a smooth batter.
- 23 min
Heat a cylindrical imagawayaki mold and brush each well with oil.
- 31 min
Pour batter to fill each well most of the way.
- 41 min
Spoon a generous mound of red bean paste into the center.
- 51 min
Top with a thin layer of batter to cap the filling.
Watch outCap the bean paste with a thin layer of batter before the halves meet — miss it and the filling leaks out and the seam won't close.
- 65 min
Cook over low heat until the bottoms set and brown.
Watch outKeep the heat low and wait until the bottoms set firm and brown before you join them; move too soon and the soft batter tears.
- 73 min
Lift and join two halves together, or flip filled wells to seal into discs.
Watch outPress the two halves together while both cut faces are still soft and hot so they fuse into one disc — cooled edges won't weld.
- 81 min
Cook until golden all over and serve hot.
