Café Mikuni's, Savarin Fleur d'Orange

The other Café Mikuni's cake from last weekend that I shared was a Savarin Fleur d'Orange. I assume the bottom was somehow the savarin, as it was rather mellow but not obviously alcoholic or orange. Actually, the whole thing is not a strong orange, or at least a strongly citreous orange, maybe a blood orange? Anyway, it was also definitely good, which is a pretty good rating for a glass dessert presented as cake.  

Paris S'éveille, Savarin Exotique

 Still trying to catch up, I can't even remember what flavor this was. Also, road vibration wasn't kind, so the topping is what I scrapped up from the sides. It's a fruity verrine (their instagram account says its Savarin, which I'll believe), so doubly not my thing, but it's the season of verrine and the new cakes are all fruity (which is reasonable to balance the standards, though there are a couple old fruity ones I'm missing). Still, good cake/verrine/savarin.

Here's what it's supposed to look like https://www.instagram.com/p/CDfV_wdpTUG/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Frédéric Cassel, Savarin Orange

Sunday, I was right back to Ginza Mitsukoshi, since Frédéric Cassel won the cake-off, and anyway, are top of the shops with new cakes. I went with the Savarin Orange, so no alcohol. Though orange, it has lime juice to make it more tropical. Inside is vanilla cream, but on top is the staple mascarpone cream on top of the orange. They recommend with tea, which works for me. This was excellent, fortunately, and certainly better than the previous savarin I had from their neighbor counter, though it might have had more volume (though at greater price). This restores them to the the current target level, though the target is about to get raised, and they're at the top, so they will probably get another cake this weekend, though 

I'll say ahead of time that I got one cake ahead on Thursday this week, whereas last week I was one behind, so there will be at least one cake less this weekend. 

I should mention that I also got a second pastry from Johan, a Pain au Chocolat, and it was good, but nothing memorable. They used to have a super decadent version that also had pistachio when they had a Shinjuku shop, but I haven't seen it in Ginza.

Le Salon Jacques Borie: Savarin au Rhum

Went to Isetan for a croissant and didn't consider carefully what having a backup of cake implied about the rest of the week, but anyway, I got the Savarin au Rhum from Le Salon Jacques Borie, as well as confirming what the next Isetan 1-week cake shop visitor is (one I'm not interested in) and that the current 3-week visiting sweets shop doesn't have fresh cake, at least not this week. Besides other shopping, when I went out by bicycle, I confirmed the Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop clockwise. One turn is still going to be hard going clockwise, because the apartment buildings aren't that distinctive, and I spaced on one turn and started down a hill but remembered what do to before getting to the next intersection and went back, so I think it's time to move on.

I've gotten somewhat used to savarin by this point, and verrine deserts to a lesser degree, but I think I'll judge this excellent. Three excellent cakes in a row doesn't have the same urgency  as under the old system, so I have a lot of places to catch up on before I get back there, but they're definitely at least a quite good shop, which suggests I should have better ranking system for these.

Coffee Parlor Hilltop: Pistache Chocolat & Savarin

No running today, or any time next week. I'll be happy when walking is more pleasant. Still, life goes on, and I had an excuse be out toward Ochanomizu, so I visited Coffee Parlor Hill Top for lunch. This came to my attention from an NHK problem, which is a better commendation than simply being in the neighborhood, though there are still some good prospects there. The lunch was fine, but I don't feel a need to blog it---Expensive, in a nice atmosphere. The place is old, so I guess it will be closed down temporarily, something like May to November, but I'm not sure of the exact dates now. For desert, there were two cake sets. I wanted Pistache Chocolat, so I ate most of that one, but had about half of the Savarin as well.

The Pistache Chocolat also has a some strawberry, which should not be ignored. Slicing the strawberry was a good idea I haven't seen in a similar cake (and I'll do more now at home, where I have a knife). This is pistachio whipped cream, I think, over chocolate mousse, cake, and crunchy bottom. It's not really stable, so really it should be removed from it's plastic base and laid on its side. They certainly shouldn't present it to customers with the plastic wrap still on it, I should think. They need to work on their presentation. As cake, though, it was simple and yet well balanced, rather sweet, but that worked for me. Perhaps out of perversity, because in my condition and the condition of the shop, it's hard to get back there, I'll say it was great. Of course, if I said it was excellent, I would still want to get back there as I collect third cakes from quite good shops, but I have a higher priority now. If I find another great cake, I can do a cake-off with it, but it will have to be see. We'll see what cake JPH introduces next month.

The Savarin was heavy on citrus but I couldn't taste any alcohol at all, so maybe no rum. It was still good but not my kind of thing, nor are verrine generally. Under the new rating system, one just good cake is not a big deal (I always assume the five more good cakes in the pool when estimating my chance of getting a great cake next).

Sadaharu Aoki: Savarin

Savarin (Sadaharu Aoki)

Tuesday, did a run out to Marunouchi to get cake from Sadaharu Aoki, the Savarin, which is there through November. I also visited the two Jean-Paul Hévins around there to see what was up. Next month will be waffles with chocolate at the Chocolate Bar.

It's hard for me to judge Savarin, because it's a little different from my usual thing, but it seemed excellent (and I did enjoy it). Certainly I would like to make it (given the time and knowledge), which is my definition of excellent.

Almond and Anzu Tart (Atelier de Mar)

Wednesday, I went out to practice the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Nishi-Shinjuku loop. You'll notice that Nishi-Shinjuku has been added back into the name, as I discovered that there was no reason for that to be in a separate loop. Unfortunately, my sense of the other parts of the course remain incomplete, so I'm going to have to practice more. On the plus side, I was surprised to notice that there is an Atelier de Mar on the north end of the Hatagaya shopping street, so I bought an Almond and Anzu Tart (anzu is the standard plum variety in Japan). It was a nice little pastry-type tart, which I will give the benefit of the doubt and call excellent, as a first pastry. I didn't see such tarts at the Hatsudai branch. There is also apparently a shop in Sasazuka, but I'm going to want to verify that on the ground before I adjust the running course around there. On their Twitter feed, they show lots of tarts, but I'm not sure which branch that is.

Frédéric Cassel: Charlotte Framboise Verveine and Sudaki Sugar Savarin

Tried to get new cake from my favorite shop currently having new cake, trying to treat someone who likes savarin. Specifically, Frédéric Cassel had/has Sudaki Sugar Savarin, which I'm not sure what to say beyond the name: is sponge with fruit rum and a special sugar that I'm not deeply familiar with, but I think I've used it in my own cooking as a "red" sugar (that is, it's like brown sugar but different). The other cake chosen was Charlotte Framboise Verveine, which isn't a usual charlotte, but rather made of cheese, in this case Verveine, which I'm also not familiar with.

These were both good but not really more than that, unfortunately. Of course, someone more into savarin could like it more. The charlotte was more bland than I remember the previous wild strawberry version being, versus this raspberry version. The problem with having too many choices, I'm told is always thinking that you haven't made the best. However, the search is fun, too.

In the evening I ran. I decided to do a neighborhood run to at least finish revisiting the Jinguumae--Kitak-Aoyama loop, which I did all of before going home (off the course). Total run was just over an hour.

Paris S'éveille: Savarin Vin Rouge

Home early to let the gas company do some sort of safety inspection (first time, at least under what system this was; I'm suspicious that it's just a marketing effort to promote their electricity business, since they didn't do a lot). I didn't have any place that was a priority that I couldn't get to on a weekday (I did have, but saw last night that they were coming to Isetan next week, and Heritage, which closes at 7 pm, isn't open Wednesdays), so I decided to just go down to Paris S'éveille on a weekday while the sun was up. I should stick to a regular route when cycling so I don't keep ending up having to wade through Harajuku and Shibuya Stn.

Closest thing to new cake that I could get was Savarin Vin Rouge, and it didn't especially look like anything had sold out, though I supposed something might have. I'm not sure what the fruit is, since I didn't bother to try to read the card, maybe mikan. Savarin at least has a good excuse for coming in a cup and still being called cake. It was good and I don't have any suggestions for improvement other than to stick with rum, though I suppose the red wine might go better with the fruit, which I would care about if I liked fruit-based desserts.

Paris S'éveille, Savarin

Took too long a walk to Jiyugaoka and back (especially too long, because there was a lot of meandering from about Nakamekuro there Omotesando, ultimately to no purpose, but I got home okay).

The trip started out with running 2 min to walking 1 min, running 40 min total this time at what I think was a 7-8 min/km pace. In this heat, I don't need to run much faster than that, since I started about noon because I was busy in the morning.

The cake was Savarin, because I've had most of their regular cakes, and anyway this actually sounded okay for me today. As anywhere, they careful warned me that there was a lot of alcohol in it. I've yet to say "I hope so", I just tell them that it's okay. This was 600 yen. It's pretty big, maybe 10 cm across, and was quite fine. Obviously, there seems to be whipped cream on top with almond slices and I'm not sure what, some sort of dried fruit, as well as cake well soaked in sugar and rum, and I'm not sure whether there is a little custard on the bottom or it was just whipped cream had that ended up on the bottom and picked up some rum on the way that stained it a little brown. It's still not my favorite cake, but this seemed to be excellent as Savarin go and I don't regret getting it instead of something else.

Saturday: L'Abricotier

Today's project was to walk the Yakushi "Peaceful Wood" Walk, which is the first part of the Suminami History and Culture course. Actually, the main point was to visit L'Abricotier, and the walk was a convenient associated activity. Unfortunately, we ate lunch after the walk and just before going back to the shop, which made me too full, although I didn't notice until after eating the cake, but it might have affected my evaluation.

The selected cakes were Desir and Savarin for 450 and 480 yen (before 8% tax). The Desir is a chocolate mousse with raspberry mousse inside. It was definitely good, although I'm not easily impressed by either raspberry or chocolate mousse these days. This was high quality but did not really try to do anything original, beyond decoration. Savarin is definitely not my thing, nor are pears, although this was good and the chocolate cream in the middle was a nice touch, as well as the chocolate cream visible on top, so this was definitely good too. This is a definitely an excellent cake shop, which is probably the best it can be in its location, where it can't specialize in only great cakes, like shops in core shopping areas can, but has to meet the local market. It is similar to my other excellent shops that I've made several visits to. Also, they are cheaper than the great shops of course.

Interestingly, there was another hardcore cake eater in the shop with us, evidenced by having 4 plates. He also was carrying some pretty big water bottles, so I suspect he was a cake urban hiker. It would be fun to track down his blog, but haven't been able to.

We also got a couple things for the road, which we ate much later but before reaching home. These were a Tranche Orange for 230 yen, which is candied (?) orange partially covered with chocolate and was good, and an Angadine, which is a sandwich cookie of nougat and walnut and was excellent.   

Friday: La Vieille France (at Isetan)

I did not choose the shop or cake, nor was I even there, which is why one of my "unworthy" shops is appearing here, La Vieille France. Not that I'm shocked: the cake that was so bad from them had such a specific taste that I assumed it was intended and anyway I trust that most shops could make excellent cake, if that was their market (there must be a market for not excellent cake, because there is so much of it).

The first cake I sampled was a chocolate cake, selected for me. I don't know the name, but it looks like a Valentine's Day variation of the Forêt Noire on their website, which does not have little heart. Also, I was told that the red fruit was strawberry, versus cherries, which is true as far as I could taste and would win me over to choosing Forêt Noire for myself. There is cream on top with chocolate pieces, layers of soft sponge cake, layers of chocolate cream, I think, and a little strawberry in there, as I already indicated. Most of these are things that I don't want much of in a cake, but they do work together and the strawberry (or whatever it is) definitely is the right touch to make this a definitely good piece of cake, versus just okay.

Next was the Savarin, which I've found going back is 481 yen. It's definitely good, but I'm not an expert on this type and it did not stand out among the good ones that I've had.

La Vieille France: Cube a la Vanille

The last cake was the Cube a la Vanille, which was excellent if you like vanilla, which I do. This is 540 yen (at least at Isetan).

Since these cakes were all good or better, I'm raising my rating of the shop to "Good" on the map. Not near to me, so no reason to give them further extra attention.

(Saturday) No running; Dalloyao: Savarin aux fruits & Opale; Jean-Paul Hevin: Yuzu

Saturday, I went to the actual second-floor cafe at the Ginza Dalloyau, and not alone, so we got two cakes (although the drink and desert set is pricey). We got the Savarin aux fruits, which is kind of a standard thing anywhere: rum soaked sponge with some fruit. This one would have been 486 yen by itself. It was very good, as far as I could tell. I've only had this kind a cake a few times. Very syrupy (Which is spelled with a "y", why? English is such a pain.), which is not a bad thing.

The Opale is a new chocolate cake that is a mixture of earl grey (the Hong Kong website says lemon tea) cream, dark chocolate mouse, and chocolate sponge (supposedly, although I can't remember from yesterday and the Japanese-French note I wrote down is not helpful). The impression you get is just a really rich chocolate cake like with very moist sponge and frosting, but without actually sensing sponge or frosting separately; it is just a great chocolate cake (I couldn't tell that there was tea in it, but lemon makes sense as far as the color of one of the layers). This would be 594 yen by itself for a single piece, although you can also buy a larger cake. Still a great cake shop.

In the evening, we could have more cake, so we did (although apparently, cheese would have been preferred by one of us). Actually, there was one not cake, Varrine Chocolat Jasmin. It's not bad (besides being 711 yen), but I didn't really taste much of anything, so I can't see the appeal. The cake is called Yuzu, after the citrus fruit.
Of course, it's chocolate cake, like all their cakes (it's a chocolate shop): dark chocolate mousse, yuzu cream, and a tonka bean (which they're into there) dacquoise "croustaillant" (crispiness?) for 714 yen. Great cake. You'll note a couple macrons in the picture. I usually stay away from these, because fancy cake is already really out of my salary range, but I order them when requested. These were caramel and vanilla, and were also great. I like Jean-Paul Hevin's the best of the one's I've tried.