Went today to Casamingo a little way up route 18 from Nagano, and their refrigerated counter of cakes is a serious treat for the eyes.

All of the cakes inside the thatched European-style building are made by a father and son team, with the father making the ones on sale in the shop, and the son making the ones they sell via their website. The father's cakes are apparently more German in nature (the sponge slightly harder for example) while the son's cakes are more Austrian, as he trained in Vienna.

The son brought out a scrumptious-looking pear tart he'd just made, which I had to photograph.

Of course we couldn't then leave there without purchasing some cake(!) so we chose pieces of three different cakes; chocolate sponge, raspberry-topped cheesecake and butter-cream roulade. Because they are unusual they do cost quite a bit; around 500 yen per slice (£3.50).