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Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 7 — I Matcha You! Parfait (Amigurumi Food)

Week 7 of Amigurumi Bake Off is all about parfait! Anneris of Amigurumi Food (@amigurumifood) has shared her pattern for a matcha parfait, and a strawberry parfait (pattern here pattern on Etsy). Last week, she hinted on IG that her item is a popular dessert in many cafes in Japan, especially Kyoto. My guess was partially right (matcha parfait), though I was wrong about the toppings/sides. The Japanese love parfaits, it's like a staple on every cafe menu. You can't run away from it. As for matcha, you really can't run away from it in Kyoto either... Kyoto being Japan's ancient capital, the core of Japanese tradition, culture, history, aaaand it's close proximity to Uji, which is known for its superior green tea. I love Uji, had an awesome time there in late 2013, and May 2016. Each time, we popped into one or two of those long-established, nth generation traditional tea shops, and had some kind of Uji matcha dessert, and bought green tea to bring home. Some of my favourites would be the matcha chiffon cake, and matcha soft serve. Sigh, such yummy memories...

Though I had the colours to make the matcha parfait or strawberry parfait, I made a mango, orange and kiwi parfait instead. The weather here has been sultry, so I felt like something summery, with a little refreshing zip and zing. The hot, sultry days of late really have a way of sapping one's energy. So something chilled with a little sour zip is perfect to keep awake and feel refreshed. Recipe for the edible form is on IG.

This refreshing little sweet-and-sour parfait is slathered with mascarpone, a liberal drizzle of dark chocolate sauce, and a generous scoop of mango soft serve ice cream. And is crammed with toppings.

// A mango, orange & kiwi parfait for Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 7 (IG post) //

For the toppings, I was greedy and went overboard trying to cram as many as I could on top of the parfait. Once again, my (bad?) habit of deviating from the instructions kicked in. Though the chocolate pretzel stick and kiwi slices were from the original pattern by Anneris, I tweaked it a little for size. Added a couple of additional rounds for the kiwi slices to make them bigger, and added a few extra rounds to make the pretzel stick longer. (Yes, call it upsized.) In hindsight, maybe a bit too long because it now obscures the soft serve ice cream! *facepalm*

The mango soft serve ice cream was made using a shortened version of the Kawaii Soft Serve Ice Cream Cone crochet pattern by Melissa of Crafty Kitty Crochet (pattern here). Basically, I began from round 6 of the ice cream, working the sc stitches on a foundation chain (26 ch).

// A mango, orange & kiwi parfait for Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 7 (IG post) //

The other toppings are made using, or modified from, previous patterns that were released for this Amigurumi Bake Off. The cherry was from week 4's Brownie Sundae pattern by Melissa Bradley of Yarn Blossom Boutique (which I'm a bit ashamed to say I've yet to complete). The pineapple ring was from last week's Pineapple Upside-down Cake pattern by Lauren Espy of A Menagerie of Stitches (posted here). I replaced the chocolate cat with a whipped cream swirl, which was modified from week 5's Choux Ispahan pattern by Marie Clesse of So Croch' (posted here). The cherry, pineapple ring, and cream swirl were all extras I'd made, and I didn't want them to be unattached and lonely. The orange segment was modified from the apple wedge pattern in Crochet Cafe by Lauren Espy (A Menagerie of Stitches). For folks who can read French, there's a free crochet pattern for clementine segments by Estelle Calim of Mamancalimero (here) which works too. It's probably more on-point since the clementine is an orange hybrid.

This week's pattern had a number of crochet techniques that made it challenging — multiple colour changes, the puff stitch, and crab stitch.

This pattern is definitely for folks who love changing colours while crocheting. I've had many opportunities to practise colour changes when I made a few other patterns previously, so I personally had loads of fun changing colours. That said, it's still pretty challenging for people who aren't used to it. To assist, Anneris released 3 video crochet-along tutorials on her IG profile for the base part (Part 1 here), puff stitch part (Part 2 here), and cream+chocolate part (Part 3 here)

// Work-in-progress parfait for Amigurumi Bake Off 2021, Week 7 (IG post) //
The reason the inside looks neat is because I carried over the strand. But for the white and chocolate part, I didn't carry over the brown yarn because doing so sometimes makes the brown yarn slightly visible from the right side. It's not obvious here, but there're quite a few scraggly ends, as I don't always snip off the ends.

The pattern also introduces to beginners the puff stitch and crab stitch. I've attempted the puff stitch before, and loathe working with it. It looks awesome, and gives the work a textured, 3D feel. I've seen crochet patterns and works that use it to recreate the surface of the real object too, for e.g. corn on the cob. But I prefer to use the bobble stitch instead, as it saves me the frustration I've faced working the puff stitch. Somehow my hook always gets caught during the final pull-through, always, no matter what I try. I managed it for this week's pattern but OMG what a struggle with each one. (On the difference between the puff stitch, bobble stitch, and popcorn stitch, see this comprehensive article by Bella Coco.) 

The crab stitch was new to me, so I had the help of some video tutorials. Used the video tutorial by Wool and the Gang (here), and by Bella Coco (here). I also learnt that the crab stitch is great for edging crochet works. It always feels great to learn another new technique, and to learn more about crochet!

After completing this one, I'm very tempted to make a 2nd parfait in red, leaf-green, light green, and white. I was sorting out some yarn, and the skein of Scheepjes Catona No. 390 Poppy Rose seemed to taunt me, conjuring up images of cool watermelons and spicy Blood Marys. So I started wondering if I should make a watermelon tzatziki parfait, or a Bloody Mary parfait. Again, the current sultry weather is the obvious influence. Watermelon, with a garlic-less cucumber mint tzatziki would be the perfect cooler. But at the same time, I'd love a chilled Bloody Mary with a tangy, spicy, alcoholic kick in some form. I'm not alone in thinking the Bloody Mary is a pretty suitable cocktail for a hot, sultry afternoon or night!

Well......that's it for week 7's bake off! Although I look forward to next week's pattern by Sarah-Jane of Flo and Dot, I'm also a little sad because next week is the last item for Amigurumi Bake Off....


Materials Used:

  • I Matcha You! Parfait pattern by Amigurumi Food, pattern here pattern on Etsy.
  • Clover Amour Crochet Hook 2.5mm
  • Yarn:-
    • Sirdar Cotton DK No.501 White
    • Schachenmayr Catania No.208 Sonne, No.418 Greenery
    • Scheepjes Catona No.115 Hot Red, No.130 Old Lace, No. 157 Root Beer, No.507 Chocolate, No.179 Topaz, No.522 Primrose, No. 280 Lemon, No.411 Sweet Orange
  • Embroidery: DMC Mouliné Spécial 25 No.310 (black), Anchor Stocktwist Mouliné Stranded Cotton No.36 (pink)
  • Polyester fiberfill

AMIGURUMI BAKE OFF 2021

(This post was edited and updated on 2 November 2021, 10:30pm GMT+8.)

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