Popin' Cookin' Cake House: English Instructions, Step by Step
Share
Most Popin' Cookin' kits end with a plate of small sweets. The Cake House ends with a building: two blocks of sponge stacked into a house, a chocolate roof pressed out of dough, cream piped along the edges and "snow" dusted over the top. It is a limited edition, the box is entirely in Japanese, and it has eight numbered steps. This is what they say.
What You're Making
The house (sponge)
A vanilla-flavour batter heated in two moulds, House A and House B. B is the ground floor; A sits on top of it and carries the roof.
The roof, door and windows
A chocolate-flavour dough. You knead it, press it through the roof mould to cut two tiled roof panels, and roll the trimmings into the door and windows.
Pink sauce
Strawberry-milk flavour. It tastes like a topping but its job is structural: every joint in the house is stuck with it.
Jelly, two creams, toppings, snow
Red strawberry-flavour jelly shapes, white vanilla and blue mixed-berry cream piped from their own sachets, sprinkles and a snow powder.
As with every kit in the range, the house on the front of the box is made entirely from the powders inside. There is no finished cake and no plate in the box.
You need scissors, a microwave, tissues and ordinary tap water. The box carries a specific warning about water: hard mineral water with a lot of calcium may stop the kit working, and it says not to use it. We have written about what to pour instead if your tap water is hard. If you have no microwave, this kit is out — these are the ones that need only water.
Why the Order Looks Backwards
You would expect to build the house first and decorate it afterwards. The box does the opposite: jelly in step 2, sauce in step 3, creams in step 4, and the house itself not until step 6. There are two reasons, and both are printed on the box if you know where to look.
The jelly needs ten minutes to set, so it goes first and sets while you do everything else. And the sponge needs time to cool after the microwave — the box tells you to use that cooling time to prepare the decorations. Follow the numbers and nothing is ever waiting on you.
The details the pictures assume you noticed
- Eight cuts, in order. Step 1 numbers the scissor cuts ① to ⑧. They separate the triangular measuring cup, House trays A and B, the star tray, the music-note tray, the roof mould, the door and window moulds and the jelly mould.
- Fill the measuring cup level. The "how to measure water" box shows a full, level cup with a circle — in Japan a circle means correct — and a slightly under-filled cup with a cross. Every water amount in the kit is counted in cupfuls of this cup.
- Wipe, don't wash. Steps 2, 3, 5 and 6 each end with a small note to wipe the tray or spoon with a tissue. The same two trays and one spoon are reused all the way through.
- The cream sachets are the piping bags. You mix each cream inside its own sachet, fold it shut, and snip a corner later.
- Where the tray sits in the microwave matters. With a turntable, put it at the edge. Without one, put it in the centre. The box prints both.
How to Make It
We don't reprint the microwave times here. The box prints one time for 500W and one for 600W, calls both approximate, and says heating varies by model and should be adjusted — and Kracie changes details between production runs. Use the table on your own box. What this guide gives you is what the Japanese says, what order to work in, and where it goes wrong.
-
Cut the tray apart
Scissors, eight cuts, in the numbered order. Find the triangular cup, the star tray (★), the music-note tray (♪) and House trays A and B before you go on — the rest of the instructions refer to them by those marks.
-
Make the jelly
One level cup of water and the red jelly mix into the ★ tray, mixed well. Spoon it into the jelly moulds. It sets if you wait ten minutes, so leave it alone. Wipe the tray and spoon with a tissue.
-
Make the pink sauce
One level cup of water and the pink sauce mix into the ★ tray. Mix until it thickens. Keep it within reach: this is what sticks the roof, the door, the windows and the two floors together. Wipe the spoon.
-
Make the two creams in their sachets
Cut the white cream sachet along line ① with scissors. Stand it up in the ♪ tray, add two cups of water into the sachet, and mix well, working right into the corners. Fold it over twice, at dotted lines ② and ③, and put it aside. Make the blue cream the same way.
-
Make the roof, the door and the windows
Three cups of water and the roof mix into the ♪ tray. Mix until it comes together, then knead it by hand and divide it into two balls. Put one ball on the sheet, place the roof mould over it and press down firmly — the dough is cut out in the shape of a tiled roof. Do the same with the second ball. Roll up the dough that squeezed out at the edges and use it to make the door and the windows. You should finish with two roof panels, a door and a window. Wipe the tray and spoon.
-
Make the house: mix, pour, tap ten times, heat, cool
Pour water into the ♪ tray up to the line on its side, add the house mix and stir well. Pour the batter into House trays A and B, up to the line on the side of each. Tap the trays on a flat surface ten times, then microwave for the time on the box. Lift them out the way the picture shows — the box marks this "careful, burns" — and leave them to cool. Wipe the spoon.
-
Get the decorations ready while the sponge cools
Five small jobs, left to right on the box. Make the two paper characters, Nerune and Neruru, following the sheet. Snip a small corner off each cream sachet — the box shows about 2 mm. Tip the toppings out onto the roof mould, which now serves as a dish. Lift the jellies out of their moulds with the corner of the spoon. Then slide the spoon down the side of each House tray and turn the sponges out onto the sheet, with the risen side facing down.
-
Build the house
Spread pink sauce on the sloping faces of House A and press a roof panel onto each side. Pinch the tabs along the top of the two panels together with your fingers so the ridge holds. Stick the door and windows on with pink sauce wherever you like. Spread pink sauce on top of House B and lower House A onto it — gently, so it does not topple. Then decorate the roof and walls with the creams, jellies, toppings and snow powder, and stand Nerune and Neruru beside it.
If Yours Went Wrong
What to check
- The sponge is hard or dry. Overheating. The box calls its times approximate and says to adjust for your model. If yours runs hot, stop short and check.
- The sponge rose unevenly. The ten taps were skipped, or the tray sat in the wrong place in the microwave. Edge with a turntable, centre without.
- The roof will not stay on. Not enough pink sauce, or the sauce was not mixed until thick. Press each panel on firmly, and pinch the tabs at the ridge.
- The house leans or falls over. The sponges were stacked risen-side up. The box says to put the risen side down so each block sits on a flat base.
- The cream came out in a flood. The corner was cut too large. About 2 mm is what the box shows.
- The jelly or the sauce stayed runny. Water. Check the cup was filled level, and check your water is not hard — the one water warning this box prints is about calcium-rich mineral water. More in our guide to water problems.
What the Japanese on the Box Says
These are the words that carry the instructions.
The words worth recognising
- 〜のもと (no moto) — "the mix for". On the sachets: おうちのもと (house mix), やねのもと (roof mix), 赤ゼリーのもと (red jelly mix), ピンクソースのもと (pink sauce mix), 白クリームのもと and 青クリームのもと (white and blue cream mix).
- トッピング — toppings. 雪パウダー (yuki paudā) — snow powder.
- 三角カップ (sankaku kappu) — the triangular measuring cup. 1ぱい・2はい・3ばい — one, two, three cupfuls.
- トレー★／トレー♪ — the star tray and the music-note tray. おうちトレーA・B — House trays A and B.
- 8か所切りはなそう (hakkasho kirihanasō) — "cut apart in eight places".
- 10分待つとかたまるよ — "it sets if you wait ten minutes", beside the jelly.
- とろみが出るまで (toromi ga deru made) — "until it thickens", for the pink sauce.
- こねこね (kone-kone) — kneading. ぎゅっ (gyu) — press or squeeze firmly.
- 10回トントン (jukkai ton-ton) — tap ten times.
- やけどに注意！(yakedo ni chūi) — "careful, burns". さましておく (samashite oku) — leave it to cool.
- ターンテーブルあり／なし — with / without a turntable. 端に置く is "place at the edge"; 中央に置く is "place in the centre".
- ふくらんだ面が下 (fukuranda men ga shita) — "risen side down".
- できあがり！(dekiagari) — "done". 食べ終わったらかたづけよう — "tidy up when you have finished eating".
Common Questions
Is this the same as the Cake Shop kit?
No — there are three different kits with "cake" in the name. Cake Shop (Cake-yasan) makes small decorated cakes, Whipped Cake Shop is about piping whipped cream, and the Cake House is the one where you build a house from sponge and a chocolate roof.
How many times does it go in the microwave?
Once. Only the house sponge is heated; the jelly, sauce, creams and roof are all cold mixes.
Is it a good first kit?
We would not start here. It has scissors, a microwave, kneading, piping and a build that can fall over. Make a water-only kit first — these are the ones we suggest for beginners.
How old does a child need to be?
The box says the kit is difficult for small children and asks an adult to help. With scissors and two burn warnings, we would treat it as a kit to make together.
What are the allergens?
The box lists egg, milk and soy, and says it is made on equipment that also handles shrimp, crab and wheat. The printed box is the definitive source — more on reading these labels here.
Will it stay in stock?
It is a limited edition from Kracie, so we cannot promise more once ours are gone.
Every kit we have translated is listed in our English instructions index.
The Cake House also makes a good finale for a December countdown: how to build an advent calendar from DIY candy kits.
Make it yourself
We post the Cake House kit from our shop in Tokyo while the limited edition lasts.
Get the Cake House kit →