This is the Lotte co-Trip Little Choco Pie Lake Yamanaka Papermoon Chocolate Cake, a collaboration product designed to recreate the signature chocolate cake served at Paper Moon, a long-established café on the shores of Lake Yamanaka in Yamanashi Prefecture. The café, set within a forested garden overlooking the lake, will mark its 40th anniversary in 2025 and is known for providing a calm, adult-oriented space featuring handmade cakes prepared fresh each morning, alongside carefully curated tea and coffee.

Each box contained eight individually sealed pieces.

The product featured a cream filling made with Grand Marnier, sandwiched between cakes embedded with cocoa powder and chocolate. The alcohol content was listed at 1.2%.

Each piece was circular, essentially a little choco pie, measuring approximately 4 cm in diameter and 1.5 cm in height, with a deep brown exterior and a pronounced aroma of chocolate and orange.

On tasting, the enrobing chocolate offered a light crispness before giving way to a soft, loose-crumbed cake and a thick, smooth cream centre. The liqueur’s presence emerged immediately, delivering a strong orange note characteristic of Grand Marnier. This orange-chocolate combination defined the mid-palate, before the melting dark chocolate exterior and airy cake crumb introduced a deeper, richer chocolate profile with a fruity undertone. A gentle warmth from the alcohol developed late and lingered briefly in the aftertaste. Although orange-chocolate pairings are not an approach normally sought out, this rendition provided a well-executed balance of richness, aromatics, and textural contrast.

Overall, a refined, liqueur-accented choco pie with a pronounced orange-chocolate profile and a pleasing interplay between crisp coating, soft cake, and creamy centre.

This Lotte co-Trip Choco Pie Yamanakako Papermoon Chocolate Cake contained 115 g (14.3 g x 8 pieces). It was produced in Japan and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2025.