Award-winning Japanese patissier Ryusei is a master in marzipan who creates adorable story-like vignettes in three-dimensional form atop cakes and sweets. Brimming with joy and innocence and painted in warm, friendly colors, the scenes and the characters he portrays seem lifted from the world of children's books.

For example, this work, entitled "Antique Sewing Machine," won First Prize in the Marzipan Decoration Category, Adult Division at the 2021 Japan Cake Show Tokyo:

This one, called "Let's make Halloween sweets," won the overall award, the Federation President's Award, at the Okayama Prefecture Cake Contest:

He's also a fan of Pokémon, and sometimes features them in his creations, like these Bulbasaurs:

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Pokémon and Poké Ball Stollen Celebrating Xmas with Marzipan

Ryusei also drew inspiration from the world of Pokémon to celebrate Christmas this year. But instead of limiting himself to a scene featuring Pokémon, he decided to try something different.

Stollen, the traditional German fruit bread enjoyed during the Christmas season containing nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, and coated with icing or powdered sugar, is becoming more popular in Japan. For example, we recently featured the stollen now available at Starbucks Coffee Japan.

Since stollen often contains marzipan, it was a natural match for Ryusei.

To combine Pokémon and a stollen, he came upon the idea of putting a Poké Ball inside!

If you ever had the good fortune of receiving a stollen like this, imagine your joy and surprise when you sliced it open to reveal a Poké Ball!

Of course, no Pokémon Christmas would be complete without some actual Pokémon in the picture, so he also made sure to include Pikachu, Oshawott and Eevee, giving them his own unique and adorable interpretation.

You can see how he made everything come together in this video from his YouTube channel:

To see more of Ryusei's magnificent marzipan magic, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to his YouTube Channel.