You’re always in for a good time when you’ve got Popin' Cookin'! This series of Japanese DIY candy kits from Kracie helps you bring the most fantastic dishes to life with the use of candy, creativity, and a buttload of imagination. It’s a creative edible experience like no other! That’s why it’s loved everywhere around the world, not just in Japan.
Popin’ Cookin’ kits help you make all sorts of dishes out of candy! From pizzas to sushi, burgers to Japanese food festival snacks, ice cream cones to ramen. You can make it all with Popin’ Cookin’. Made in 2005 by Japanese food and pharmaceutical company Kracie, Popin’ Cookin’ has more than 20 different kinds of kits in its lineup.
Last time, in our blog Time to Get Popin’ Cookin’, we learned all about Popin’ Cookin’ kits and their place in Japanese food culture. Today we’re going to go a bit deeper and tackle all the different kinds of Popin’ Cookin’ kits from Kracie and the delicious mini dishes they can make! Get ready because this is going to be a bit long!
JAPANESE POPIN’ COOKIN’ KITS
These Popin’ Cookin’ kits are the ones that can be found in the land of the rising sun, Japan. They were made by Kracie with a Japanese market in mind so their instructions are written in Japanese! Don’t worry though, if you do get a Japanese Popin’ Cookin’ set you can always have the instructions translated or check fun videos on how to make them online!
Popin’ Cookin’ Whipped Cake Yasan
This Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you make a lot of tasty whipped treats. It has strawberry and vanilla mixed cream candy. There’s also chocolate sauce and sprinkle candy for the toppings! With this kit, you can make a tart, a wafer, and 2 ice cream cones. Fans say that Popin' Cookin' Whipped Cake Yasan has a lot of ingredients so you don’t really have to skimp out on the whipped cream!
Popin’ Cookin’ Dessert Party
Having your own candy party is super fun and easy with Popin' Cookin' Dessert Party. It has everything you need from molds, candy powder, and accessories to help create your own pastries for tea time with friends. You can make candy pastries like strawberry shortcake, mini cake, melon jelly, berry, tart, and fruit tart with the help of this kit! It also has additions like whipped cream and jelly so you can make your own variations.
Popin’ Cookin’ Sushi Store
Known as Popin’ Cookin Sushiya in Japan, this special Japanese DIY Candy kit lets you make candy sushi that looks just like the real thing! Popin' Cookin' Sushi Store helps you make three different kinds of sushi. This includes tuna sushi (grape flavor), egg sushi (apple flavor), salmon roe sushi (mandarin orange soda flavor), plus shari sushi rice (soda flavor). It has a dropper so you can make lots of squishy salmon roe! You can also make soy sauce (soda flavor) to go with your sushi creations.
Popin’ Cookin’ Crepe Shop
The Popin’ Cookin’ Crepe Shop kit is all about making yummy miniature crepes out of candy. It has all the molds and candy bases you need! Your imagination can go wild with this kit - you can accessorize your crepes any way you like with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberry bits, banana bits, and sprinkles all made from candy!
Popin’ Cookin’ Pudding Parfait
Like the name implies, this Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you make your own yummy pudding parfait that looks just like the real thing! Create pudding, sauce, and cream for the parfait using powdered candy. You can customize the parfait any way you want by changing the decorations. This parfait candy doesn’t need to be chilled in the refrigerator.
Popin’ Cookin’ Bakery
This Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you recreate common Japanese baked goods out of candy! Breads that you can make out of this kit include melon bread, strawberry Danish, and a cute bear-shaped “kuma-san” bread which is popular among children in Japan! It has strawberry jelly and custard candy that you can use to decorate your yummy creations. Kracie says that these treats go really well with orange soda!
Popin’ Cookin’ Takoyaki
For those who aren’t that familiar with Japanese street food, takoyaki is a yummy ball-shaped treat made from crepe dough and bits of octopus. The Popin’ Cookin’ Takoyaki kit lets you make your own octopus balls out of candy! Creating the takoyaki is pretty realistic too because you pour the batter into the tray, add handmade octopus candy, heat in the microwave, and flip the takoyaki upside down. It’s like the real deal!
Popin’ Cookin’ Ramen
Ramen is one of the most Japanese-y meals you can make in the Popin’ Cookin’ candy kit series. This particular Popin' Cookin' kit lets you make your own soupy treat by mixing together water and powdered candy. The entire meal includes noodle soup, boiled egg, fish cake, and gyoza dumplings. All of the treats are cola and soda-flavored!
Popin’ Cookin’ Fluffy Pancake
Everyone loves pancakes! Popin' Cookin' Fluffy Pancake lets you make your own cute animal-shaped pancakes out of candy. You also get to draw the eyes and mouth with a fun chocolate pen. There are three variations of this kit with different molds - one has panda and rabbit molds, the second has bear and penguin molds, and the third has bear and cat pancake molds.
Popin’ Cookin’ Burger
This Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you make hamburgers out of candy. They look just like the real thing! Not only do you get to make burgers with this kit, but you also get to make fries and cola. It also has sheets to make other accessories for the hamburger meal set like flags, potato cases, and juice cups.
Popin’ Cookin’ Pizza Party
Send out invites, because this pizza party is made out of candy! Thanks to the Popin’ Cookin’ Pizza Party kit, kids get to make their very own yummy pizza pies, melon soda, and smiley fries to share with their friends. The kit even comes with a serving tray!
Popin’ Cookin’ Obento
Obentos or Japanese lunch boxes are usually filled with yummy meals shaped into cute things like bears, octopuses, and more. This Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you recreate a cute bento box meal using candy! You’ll get to make grape-flavored noodles, lemon-flavored tamagoyaki (Japanese egg dish), strawberry-flavored octopus sausage, soda-flavored rice onigiri, muscat grape-flavored broccoli, and orange-flavored fried chicken for your bento box. Once done you can serve it all in the accompanying bento sheet!
Popin’ Cookin’ Omatsuriyasan
In Japan, omatsuri are bright and colorful summer festivals! Omatsuriyasan is a stall that sells treats during the festival. Thanks to this Popin’ Cookin’ kit, you can make your own Japanese festival treats. That includes apple candy, grilled corn, shaved ice, and chocolate banana. You can arrange these snacks on a festival sheet just like a festival shop owner does! The box can also be cut into coins to add to the playtime magic!
Popin’ Cookin’ Taiyaki and Odango
Popin’ Cookin’ Taiyaki and Odango lets you make popular Japanese street snacks! That includes taiyaki (a fish-shaped caked with red bean filling), odango (sweet Japanese dumplings), strawberry daifuku (a summer mochi with a whole strawberry in it), and yummy ramune (a popular Japanese carbonated soft drink). All you have to do is follow the kit’s instructions and you’re good to go!
Popin’ Cookin’ Colorful Ice Shop
Now you can have fun pretending to own your own ice cream store with this Popin’ Cookin’ kit. It lets you make ice cream treats to enjoy on your own or share with your buddies! This kit has vanilla, grape, and soda-flavored ice cream powders as well as ingredients for chocolate sauce, cones, and toppings.
Popin’ Cookin’ My Dream Chocolatier
Released in 2023, this new Popin’ Cookin kit lets you make authentic chocolate goodies using chocolate flour and water. You can create five different kinds of chocolate sweets like chocolate mouse, strawberry mouse, heart chocolate, raw chocolate, and caramel cream chocolate. Have fun decorating your creations any way you like it! This kit needs you to melt chocolate in a hot water bath and cool it in the refrigerator.
Popin’ Cookin’ Chocolate Fondue Party
Everyone loves a nice chocolate fondue! Not only does this Popin' Cookin' kit let you make your own chocolate fondue fountain with two types of chocolate sauce, but it also lets you make the treats you get to dip in chocolate. That includes strawberry jelly, banana, petit cake, and marshmallow. To make the chocolate and strawberry chocolate sauce all you have to do is dissolve the powder in water and then heat it in the microwave!
US POPIN' COOKIN' KITS
Popin’ Cookin’ became so popular in the West that Kracie decided to create a US version of the DIY kits. The core elements of Popin’ Cookin’ in the US variants are still the same - you get to make fun little meals out of candy! The only difference is that the instructions are written in English. Sometimes you get additional creations that aren’t found in the Japanese versions!
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Burger
Nothing says USA more than a good burger meal. This US Popin’ Cookin’ kit lets you make an authentic hamburger meal set using candy powder and water. The meal is complete with two mini burgers, fries with ketchup on them, and a cup of soda! All of these are made out of yummy candy. Set them on the accompanying hamburger meal sheet after making them all!
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Cakes
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Cakes is actually the US version of the Popin’ Cookin’ Whipped Cream Store from Japan. With it, you can make whipped treats like two ice cream cones, a whipped tart, and a yummy whipped wafer. Like the Japanese version, this kit has candy powder packets, molds, sugar sprinkles, a tart shell, and wafers.
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Ramen
This is the US version of the Popin’ Cookin’ Ramen kit. Aside from making the ramen with toppings like boiled egg, fish cake, and gyoza dumplings, this Japanese DIY candy kit lets you make other side dishes like mango pudding and spring rolls! The kit also has a QR code at the back of the box to translate the instructions into different languages.
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Waffle
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Waffle is one of the few US Popin’ Cookin’ kits that doesn’t have any Japanese equivalents. With it, you get to make cute heart-shaped waffles out of candy. You can decorate them any way you want with sugar sprinkles! It’s a super kawaii DIY candy kit.
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Sushi
The US version of the Popin’ Cookin’ Sushi Store, this kit lets you make your own sushi out of candy. It helps you create grape-flavored sushi rice, egg sushi, tuna sushi, and salmon roe sushi that looks just like the real thing! This kit also lets you make your own soy sauce. You have to download the paper craft kit from the website to complete the sushi experience!
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Bento
Tanoshii Bento is the US version of the Popin’ Cookin’ Obento kit. There isn’t that much difference from the original Japanese kit. You still get to make noodles, tamagoyaki (Japanese egg dish), octopus-shaped sausage, onigiri rice balls, broccoli, and fried chicken. The main difference is that the instructions are all in English so they’re easier to understand.
Popin’ Cookin’ Tanoshii Donuts
Like the Tanoshii Waffle kit, Tanoshii Donuts does not have a Japanese variant. You can make two different shapes of donuts with this Popin’ Cookin’ kit - regular ring-shaped donuts and ball-ring donuts. Have fun decorating them any way you’d like! Let your imagination go wild!
Popin’ Cookin’ Kawaii Gummy Land
Kawaii Gummy Land is a fun Popin’ Cookin’ kit that lets you make your own gummy candy with different shapes and sizes. You can make colorful bear-shaped gummies, penguin-shaped gummies, car-shaped gummies, and more. This kit has 12 different variants with different molds in each.
Phew! There you have it! Those are all the Popin’ Cookin’ kits that you can find in Japan and the US. Each one has a lot to offer in terms of creativity and deliciousness! Popin’ Cookin’ from Kracie is great at bringing out your imagination! If you'd like to learn more about these special Japanese DIY candy kits, you can check out our complete Popin' Cookin' blog.
Which kit was your favorite? Do you prefer the Japanese kits or the ones created for the US? Which ones have you tried? Which one would you like to try out the most? Go wild and let us know in the comment section below!