Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Marron Fruits Rouges over Toshi Yoroizuka's Cassis

The first cake-off of September was a newly returned cake to the Sadaharu Aoki's lineup, Marron Fruits Rouges, and the only great cake at Toshi Yoroizuka's right now, Cassis. I think both feature black currant, or at least I assume that's one of the read fruits in SA's cake, but it's not hard to tell them apparent. The Cassis of TY is pairing cassis with fig, which might be a good pairing for fig, but fig isn't the easiest fruit for sweets and wasn't working particularly well for me, whereas Chestnut is often paired with cassis for good reason, and the Marron Fruits Rouges wins easily.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Théatre over Au Bon Vieux Temps's Marjolaine

Saturday morning was rain, so I went for a walk to Jiyuugaoka for cake-off cake. I used a compact umbrella, but it didn't stop before I got cake, so I kept using it. At Paris S'éveille, I got their Théatre. Didn't look like they were open for eat-in under current conditions, but that was okay. No wait (unlike when I looked in there Sunday afternoon). From there, it's not such a long walk to Au Bon Vieux Temps, where I got their Marjolaine, a classic. These are both three time winners in a fourth-round cake off, though three wins isn't really so much, so it might be more chance than anything, though they've definitely proved themselves as great. It was hard to decide between these until the last couple bites, and then it was definitely the multiple textures and chocolates of Théatre: it was melty from the beginning, but actually that turned out to not be bad. Seems like you want to eat this on the edge of collapsing. No big shop that PS is dominates, as this is the second of only three 4-time winners so far and they have the most three-to-one cakes as well, though I'm not sure how many of those are in the line-up right now.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Addiction over Dalloyau's Trois Chocolat

Not a lot to say. I did some neighborhood running in the afternoon, working on a new major park route as far as north Sendagaya. Not that many parks qualify, but it takes me to some neighborhoods that the cake shop route doesn't and takes a different path. In the evening, I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi and despite the late hour managed to score cakes for a cake with the seasonal cake Addiction by Frédéric Cassel and the newly confirmed replacement standard chocolate cake from Dalloyau, Trois Chocolat. I say confirmed, because just because their own standard was great doesn't mean the new version has to be, but it was and I still felt it in this cake-off. However, Addiction is much more attractive, as well as being one of the few tropical cakes that I think is great (PS has one, but it's dropped off the line-up, despite being featured on the cover of a book). Unfortunately, I don't have another first-round winner to test Addiction against right now. I'll just have to hope for a couple more great cakes to come along. I do now have two standard line-up first-round losers, so if I get another seasonal cake like that, I'll be ready. Otherwise, I'll hold off for awhile before I revisit them, since they are both from this year.