Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Giverny over Sadaharu Aoki's Cheese Cake Citronné

Thursday, I verified another neighborhood running course loop by bicycle, this time the longer and more distant Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, counterclockwise. The problem is I turned early toward the end, but checking the map, that's probably a better route anyway, so I should practice that version clockwise next. There was no cake, nor was there cake Friday, though I also rode that day, out to Ginza Mitsukoshi to confirm that F. Cassel has their Fraisier, which I'll put in a cake-off if I had a suitable match for it (either because something else becomes available or I'm able to get another great cake for a 1-round cake-off and the loser survives).

Saturday, I did a cake-off with, once again, a cake from Paris S'éveille, Giverny. Actually, this one lost one of two rounds, when I also questioned whether it belonged in the great list. As it's appointed a picked a cake that similar has lost one round and coincidentally I questioned it's inclusion, Cheese Cake Citronné  from Sadaharu Aoki. So the same situation as last weekend, which surprised me, as I did not think there were so many such cakes. I stopped by ABVT again and verified before things started selling out that they really don't make what would have been the cake-off cake any more before heading to Paris S'éveille. I'll go back to Paris S'éveille again tomorrow for a new cake, which wasn't out yet, so I confirmed that I'll probably want to arrive around 11 pm, since it's apparently a time-consuming cake to make. I'll cross my fingers that it's great so I that I can get in some first- and second-round cake-offs.

Finally, the cake-off: Cheese Cake Citronné is definitely excellent, and convenient, but I guess it really doesn't need to be on the great list. Giverny, which is also a mind fruity cake, is definitely more interesting, so it takes the win and stays, despite being a little worse for wear from the journey by bicycle. Sadaharu Aoki will also get another visit soon, however, as they have chocolate croissants and I've never had one but I've had a couple excellent croissant from them. I have to wait until next Wednesday, though since they're only available Wed-Sat.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake over Sadaharu Aoki's Cheese Cake Citronné

Went out in the morning, about 9:30 a.m., to Éclat des Jours to get their Baked Cheesecake for a cake-off. Even by bicycle, it was plenty hot and today is a cool day compared to what's forecast for next week. This was chosen as a good challenge for Sadaharu Aoki's Cheese Cake Citronné, which was the next available cake in my great list of second-round cake-offs. Éclat des Jours' cheesecake, which has stronger citrus and sweetness, dominated this contest to the extend that it is not clear that I need Cheese Cake Citronné among the list of greats. Unfortunately, this type of comparison doesn't really allow for subtlety.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki "Cheese Cake Citronné" over Dalloyau "Fromage Cru"

Started off by going to Aigre-Douce, so naturally I got a little lost trying to take a shortcut. They still did not have Fraise Framboise, but they still had Tarte au Caramel Salé. Also, they had Miroir Cassis, which I'm not sure whether it's great, so I've decided I should try it again, especially since I can put it in a cake-off with a hard to match blueberry chocolate cake.

Then I did the same thing (getting lost on back streets) trying to go to Ikebukuro Station, but it's not far. I checked out both Tobu and Seibu and found at least a couple that I could imagine visiting (or have visited in the past but not blogged), but nothing high in priority and the same can be said of the Ginza area, which I prefer. I was disappointed, though that they did not have what I came for at the Dalloyau, which was the Fromage Cru (they had about 6 other types of cakes).

As I result, I headed back without cake, at least as far as Isetan, where I got Cheese Cake Citronné. This was about 12 km that I can figure out at about 9 km/h.

After a rest, I headed out to Ginza to get the Fromage Cru, going not a very direct way and using more tunnels and bridges than normal and I stopped for groceries on the way back. It was another 9 km at 9 km/h.

As my heading shows, I chose the Sadaharu Aoki over the Dalloyau, although I don't think I've changed my mind about either. The Fromage Cru is just pure, creamy rare cheesecake, but I appreciate the nuances of citrus and hazelnut crust of the Cheese Cake Citronné.

Sadaharu Aoki: Cheese Cake Citronné

Raining today, so I went to Isetan first and got Cheese Cake Citronné from Sadaharu Aoki for 730 yen, since I haven't had great cake for a few days (although I went to a couple potentially great shops that I've since demoted to excellent or potentially excellent).

It was raining but I still ran. It was not running that hard and I was not planning to run that long. My upper limit of running for the week is 15 km. My knee was not completely happy from the beginning, but it did not seem to get worse. I jogged 3 km.

I'm not a big rare cheesecake fan, but this was very delicious, from the crust to the cheese. It's lemon cheesecake. Citronné apparently means "lemon juiced" as a verb. I liked it very much and I'll call it great.