L'Abricotier's Le Piemont over Paris S'éveille's Fondant Chocolat

Still not running, which is starting to affect my back in bad ways. I'm going to have to do some stretches for that regularly again. Today, I bicycled down first to ABVT, in Oyamadai, but they did not have their Tentation Chocolat. I didn't ask why, I just went to get the backup choice, Paris S'éveille's Fondant Chocolat. Then it felt like a long ride to go to L'Abricotier and get Le Piemont (French article, no accent on the e, like the German, and the phonetic Japanese matches the Italian, which would have an e on the end, but so it goes in cake naming). These were both cakes that had lost their first two cake-off rounds. I did not know when I easting, not having reviewed my notes that deeply, but I had also questioned both of them as belonging among great cakes after their second round. This time, I was appreciating them both and don't feel a need to drop either down from the greats.

I microwaved the Fondant Chocolat so that it was indeed fondant (20 seconds and then it needed 10 more seconds, because my microwave is big, so it takes longer). It's still my favorite cake of this type, which I count as a cake, though it overlaps with café desserts, since it requires a cooking step just before eating, and baked goods. Le Piemont is mild but has almond and chocolate for flavor and a variety of textures, though no hot chocolate sauce, of course. Still, despite recognizing the merits of the Fondant Chocolat, I'm giving the win to Le Piemont. It was an enjoyable cake-off.

Cake-off: Il Pleut sur la Seine's Le Saint-Marc over Paris S'éveille's Fondant Chocolat

Did a run to Jiyuugaoka by the long way, taking pictures for my neighborhood course map, finding a few new things requiring revisions and inciting me to simplify some parts of previously made courses. My goal was to get Paris S'éveille's Fondant Chocolat for a second-round cake-off in the first-round losers bracket. I realized about two-thirds of the way there that I had forgotten to put cash in my wallet case. Fortunately, I had taken my change, which was enough for the fondant, and I had my train pass (which works at some shops, but most require cash, so I wan't going waste time at a shop I wasn't sure about). My feet were tired from yesterday's almost 2 hour run and the about 80 minutes of running today, so maybe it's just as well that I took the train back home first and then went out by bicycle to get Le Saint-Marc from Il Pleut sur la Seine. The cake didn't seem to suffer any damage.

Both of these cakes are simple and chocolate. In the photo, you can see that I've already microwaved, as recommended by the shop, the Fondant Chocolat. Still, I'm not remembering why I liked this type of cake enough to mark it as great, but I'm give it one more chance before I drop it, since it survived the first round. The saint-mark was definitely great and deserves to be compared to other saint-marc some time, to figure out which is the best in Tokyo, though that's different type of project.

Among cakes (generally) available, I've only got three more cakes left for the second-round of the loser's bracket, so I'm going to have to be careful not to run out and not be ready if something suddenly becomes available, although I've got three that I've done a first-round, so, assume that they are actually great, I may be able to generate another relatively quickly. Next weekend I'm busy, though, so I'll worry about what I'll do next later, but eventually I'll get close enough to the end of the the second-year that I may try some pastry-offs, though my list of great pastries is pretty short.

Ryoura: Fondant Chocolat

Finally got back to Ryoura again, on the grounds that I promoted it to quite excellent, so it needs to have 10 cakes sampled (for one reason, to see whether it stands up to further scrutiny to deserve that designation, which basically means in bottom half of the top 15 Tokyo cake shops).

They don't open until 11 a.m., I didn't get up that late, and I'm not that patient, so I went out around 9:30 a.m. to fill in some holes in the neighborhood course running map, even though health issues and the current heat has limited my ability to make use of the map, but I'm starting to get back to it.


I had missed a shrine, a café with sufficient cake cred to deserve inclusion, and a Lindt (which maybe doesn't, but that ship has sailed).









I hit a churches that got left off on the other side of Shibuya Station, so I need to revisit my running course over there too, but I'll just post the pictures here from the shrine.

Fondant Chocolat, after several seconds of heat

I got to Ryoura soon after they opened. There were other customers, but no line. I came by bicycle, so I didn't want to try to take the cake all the way home that way, especially in the extreme heat. However, because of the heat, I had to be careful what I choose at least somewhat, though I'm not sure that that effected my choice. I went with the Fondant Chocolat, which seemed safe in various ways. Notice that they used real chocolate, so in the extreme heat, it wilted in seconds. Fortunately, the base is robust, almost fudge-like, so no further melting. This was excellent. Though standard in some ways, I don't really get this type of cake often and my favorite fondant (from Paris S'éveille) is of a different type, at least after you microwave it as recommended, which this type isn't set up for.

On the way back, I also stopped a couple places to confirm the availability of great cakes for near-future cake-offs. First I stopped at Il Pleut sur la Seine, where they did have their saint-marc, and got a Pain au Chocolat, which was excellent, I think; certainly I have no complaint about it. At Bubó Barcelona, I confirmed the Bubó Xoco Deluxe, though that's now I recorded it previously; I need to confirm and update. I also confirmed that they have pastries on the weekend that they don't have during the week, so I got a Croissant Marsipan, which was excellent, but a lot more Danish like than I expected (very fluffy with a sugar coating; not so much marzipan inside, but maybe the correct amount). I know I was greedy today, but I missed a week of cake and pastry from being sick. Also, this extreme heat is more physically draining than expected. I thought I would have put on weight from lack of exercise for a week (of course, no cake, but a lot more cheap discount grocery chocolate) and then limited exercise the following week, but the opposite was true.

Paris S'éveille: Fondant Chocolat

Yesterday, I had to work late, so I did a cake-shop-less training run. This time, it was an actual training routine, not just a person challenge: I ran slow (9 km/h) about 1.5 km then about as fast as I could for 1 km (>13.5 km/h), then walked for about 3 minutes and ran as fast as I could again for 1 km (just short of 13.0 km/h). Then, without a break, I jogged at the slow speed again for about 7.5 km. This is supposed to train the body to burn fat more efficiently, which is important for long-distance running because you'll run out of stored sugar if your body can't burn fat at your running speed (it can't generally burn fat when you run too fast, but what counts as too fast depends on training). It was a good run: I did the speed part at the Gaien course and then sort of followed the green stop signals, intending to do a lap around Akasaka Palace but instead doing a lap around Aoyama Cemetery, which is nice on the east side, not so much on the south side, and then just sort of isolated on the west side. As a substitute for fresh cake, I made canelé again. Now that I have the recipe right for my molds and oven, I varied it by using brown sugar (and accidentally a little too much rum), but I think I should stick with regular granular sugar, though it does not matter much except for the color. My next variation will be to lower the temperature and cook them longer, as the middle is very soft, which I like, but I'd like to see what my other options are.

Today, I could leave work on time, so I could go down to Paris S'éveille as planned (Monday's planned shop is closed today, so I'm shifting that to Wednesday, if nothing comes up). I couldn't speed through Omotesando so well this time, though I did make one difficult light, as I was still tired. But I could do the about 11 km each-way run at 10 km/h down and 9 km/h back without pushing too hard in general, so it was okay. I worked on a smoother pace so I don't wear out my hip from the impact on long runs, like I did in my recent failed 50 km attempt. I chose Fondant Chocolat (450 yen), which borders on being a baked good/pastry, but I know it's good and the unblogged "cake" alternative was a fruit tart that I'm not optimistic about (if/when I eventually get it, I should eat in or at least eat it in the neighboring park area, as it definitely doesn't look like it would travel well). I ran it home and microwaved it 20 seconds, as recommended. The inside is essentially thick chocolate sauce/cream, with only a relatively thin outside baked layer. It is great and I would not be afraid to pair it against other great chocolate cakes.

Del'Immo: Remy Martin

Ran to Midtown to check whether Toshi Yoroizuka has Annya this early, but though the service person agreed that it was a great cake, they get the rhubarb from Hokkaido, so maybe it will come back in the summer. Next try will be one from Dalloyau, which I plan to visit tomorrow.

Next I went to Del'Immo in Akasaka, since I haven't been there in a while. Got the Remy Martin (レミーマルチン; 580 yen) , which is named for a kind of brandy. It also has tonka beans in it. Not sure what disagreed with me, but though I didn't mind eating it at the time, despite obviously not being my thing, since it was interesting, and I was initially willing to consider it "excellent", the aftertaste bothered me, so I'm afraid "good" is the best I can do. Still an "excellent" shop, but I replaced it by Origines Cacao for the new Top 15 "quite excellent" group, which I have visited enough for now.

The run was about 9 km and I wasn't pushing too hard, just 11 km/h for the first part, 9 km/h through Akasaka, and 10 km/h coming back with cake. Felt pretty good.

I'll also note that Andersen at Isetan had "Fondant Chocolat" for 320 yen yesterday (I was there because Le Petit Mec had no baggets), which seems in no way to be "fondant", but just a pretty thoroughly baked sweet, but it was excellent (sort of a like a lower fat higher sugar brownie).