Dandelion Chocolate, Mascarpone Chocolate Cake

Ran marginally farther than last run, which was Thursday, which means maybe an extra couple hundred meters, but probably still under 1.5 km. It wasn't as comfortable as I would want. Anyway, I made it to Dandelion Chocolate and got a new cake. They have perfect excellent record so far, which is enough to be quite fine and get a fourth cake. They don't have a huge line-up, so I could hardly double that anyway, but I would like to find a great cake, of course. I went with Mascarpone Chocolate Cake, which I've seen there before but haven't gotten. I was actually a little skeptical, since mascarpone is notoriously tasteless and just used as a medium for other flavors in cakes. I thought just the visible mousse/cream was the cheese, but the chocolate was fairly dense but cuttable, apparently due to cheese, and it definitely tasty cheesy, which is a first for mascarpone cheese cake for me. It was definitely excellent, so Dandelion Chocolate keeps their perfect record. Next I'll try the other shop with a three excellent cake record.

Dandelion Chocolate, Sierra Leone Opera: Pistache

Left work on time and went looking for a new cake at a new neighborhood shop. I had been thinking that Cafe Casa had a couple cakes, but the apple turned out to be just baked apple, versus a tarte tatin, and I suspect that the banana tart is a bakery tart rather than a fresh tart, so it was just as well that it was sold out. I had other business that I had to get home for, so after leaving, I went for Dandelion Chocolate, where I've had two excellent cakes in a category where the rest have 3 cakes and I'm working on raising them to 4 cakes (28 of 49 done). I had the hazelnut opera last time, so this time I went with pistachio. I'm still not confident about what kind of chocolate that one had, but in this case there was a hint on the receipt, so I'm confident calling it Sierra Leone Opera: Pistache, though it was the only opera on display, so I'm not sure what chocolate any opera are now, and the bars online have already changed from last time I looked. It's a small cake, but dense, and I was quite satisfied with this definitely excellent cake.

Dandelion Chocolate, H2O Chocolate Mousse & Opera [Hacienda Azul Costa Rica x Hazelnut]

Went to Dandelion Chocolate at Harajuku and the most important thing to say is, don't eat in there, because you're going to be packed among young people who don't.

That done, I would like to go back for take-out. Their signature chocolate seems to be the H2O Chocolate Mousse. I'm not sure I saw anyone else get any other cake. It's an excellent cake, though be warned that you can't expect much in the way of variation, so splitting it with a partner seems reasonable.  

The other cake I got was Opera: Hacienda Azul Costa Rica x Hazelnut. This is a tiny cake, but super rich with buttery nut layers. I'm a little uncertain on this one as well, though I ate more than half, but I'm going with excellent again.  

There are pistachio and almond version of the opera, but looking for a great cake, I should probably try a more varied cake next.

Kouhii Chakan Shuu Gâteaux Naturels Shuu: Mont-blanc

This week, I'm trying to get a 7th anniversary cake from the Hikarie Shinqs Sadaharu Aoki, with not a lot of hope, at least during the week (and I'm busy over the Golden Week holiday, but I could get over there). Monday, I walked and ran a little (probably 1.5 km total running) and they were sold out. I went to the top-priority shop for cake on the neighborhood map, but they were renting out their space to promote beer (not the first time for that sort of thing), so I finally got to the new counter in the basement of Gyre, Dandelion Chocolate, a beans to bar place that I had seen went I last (perhaps) went out to the main shop of P. Clair de Lune, though they were closed. Besides chocolate bars, the biggest thing they sell are macarons. They have "cake", but its less than bite-sized. The macarons are several bites-size, though, bigger than average. I got the Anamalai, India one, which I was told was fruity chocolate, versus sort of standard and white chocolate, as the other options. It had the perfect texture, in my opinion and was a little fruity, as chocolate. It was great, certainly as satisfying as most cakes, so I was not disappointed. I don't have plan for buying macarons, so I don't know when I'll get back, but it will be a good backup, other than they are not open that late. The running, as it turned out, was premature. My feet hurt a lot the next day (actually both, which was disturbing, though the problem one lingered more), other it subsided fairly quickly. I'll still to other forms of exercise probably for the next few weeks and start smaller with running next time I try.

My second try, on Tuesday, was by bicycle. It was my first time to use the bicycle parking, which was pretty empty, so useful for visiting that area, if I can finish within 2 hours. No cake, so I walked around to Kouhii Chakan Shuu Gâteaux Naturels Shuu and got the Mont-blanc. I would have eaten in, but the tobacco smell suggested that would not be a good idea (they have separate seating for smoking, but apparently not separated enough). This was way too soft for a bicycle ride, so it collapsed, but was still edible. There was not much more to it than a pile of whipped cream under chestnut paste with some chestnut pieces inside, like many other mont-blanc. Nothing special, but it qualifies as good. Still, disappointing as a new place that might secretly have had great cakes.

The third try (Wednesday), was just walking. No cake again at Sadaharu Aoki, so I walked back first to What a Tart! where they did not have any tarts left (but I could see the crumbs). They did have some little cake squares that reminded me of something I bought at Doutor once. I choose the Chocolate Orange. It was good, as dense (like pound cake, but with icing) cake goes, but not fresh cake and not worth going back for. In this batch, only Dandelion Chocolate has come through. I should mention that Fabrice Gillotte has, at least temporarily, closed their Aoyama shop as of March.