Cake-off: Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit over L'Abricotier's L'Abricotier

Monday, I got a late start and ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi. There was a visiting shop there that I thought I'd sample while they were somewhat convenient, but when I asked, the two cakes remaining were special for Mitsukoshi (weren't found at the main shop), so my interest dropped below the necessary threshold. I've put them on the list of places to visit, but I don't often visit new places these days and I've got a lot of nearby targets, though not with this distinction of having been a visiting Mitsukoshi shop. I should have checked whether the sign said who's next, as Mitsukoshi doesn't list the Ginza Chocolat visiting shops under events on the homepage. In general, there is a White Day event starting, so maybe no visiting shop.

Tuesday, I took the afternoon off. It's not the best day of the week for that, but it had the advantage that the dry cleaners is open, so I took something big over. For cake, I ran to L'Abricotier (whose closed day is Monday) and got their namesake cake, the last one at about 3 pm. My navigation was not great (I know the shortest route, but am not patient at the lights and then don't recognize when i cross it later). For the second cake, I wanted Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit, but tried to cheat a look for it at Floto (which has the pictured bread place near it), their sister store, which they share a tart with and I thought that cake, but maybe not today. That store is closer and on the JR line. I walked and ran down to the main shop, which is open seven days a week, and they were well stocked (they're open later hours, so I would expect them to sell out later).

Both of these cakes have advantages. Fruity partially gelatinous cakes like the L'Abricotier are a major category that I generally don't appreciate, so this one holds a special place. In the case of Chocolat Cuit, though I like a lot of chocolate cakes, this might be the best simple, non-layered, baked chocolate cake that I know. I enjoyed both and plan to keep them on the great list, but it's hard to say that one stands above the other. I'm going to let simplicity be a tie-breaker and give the win to Chocolat Cuit, but actually they harmonized with each other very well.