Cake-off: Atelier Kohta's Classic Chocolat over Ryoura's Mont-Blanc

Saturday, I ran out to Yoga again for a cake-off, this time for the Mont-Blanc for a third round between two one-and-one cakes. On the way, the stopped at Bigarreaux for a pastry, though they don't have much, instead making breads and meat pies. But they did have a Croissant, so I got that. It's on the bread side rather than pastry, but still well made and it was substantive rather than a soft hotel buffet style morning croissant, as I think of that type, so just good isn't so bad, if you're not looking for something sweet (though I am).

The other cake for this time was Atelier Kohta, which I first got 5 years ago, and it's probably been a couple years since it's cake-off (I have records, but don't bother to look). This is a Classic Chocolat (or at least that's how I recorded it), but if a different kind that my lass one. This is like a classic chocolate layer cake, but small. It was raining, so I walked, but it was enough.

Actually, these are both weak members of the great cakes (I didn't before the comparison, but wasn't surprised) who have one non-great evaluation. The Mont-Blanc is excellent, so I enjoyed having it again, but I still can't detect why I thought it was great. There was a period when I was just starting to get Mont-Blancs and I probably overcompensated then. Certainly, if Ryoura is in your neighborhood, it's a good choice, but I don't need in on my list. The Classic Chocolat makes me think of chocolate layer cake in the American mid-west. I manages to capture and probably improve on the basic taste in a tiny elegant form. I can't say that it is the style of cake I appreciate now, but it still has a place in my heart, so I'm keeping it in the greats list and giving it the win this time. Not sure Atelier Kohta actually has a new cake for me, though I've only had 4 from there: the shop only has about 4 cakes. I might end up giving something a second try.

Coffee Parlor Hilltop, Gâteau au Chocolat Classique

The last Sunday cake I take was the Gâteau au Chocolat Classique from Coffee Parlor Hilltop. Right now, they only have their signature classic cakes, like this one, their roll cake, and their cheesecake maybe. I was expecting a drier cake, I think. Also, I don't like the texture of hard chocolate bits (chips? I didn't dissect it). The test was fine, and it purports to use fine chocolate, so it's good, but boring.

Très Calme, Figcannelle

Last Sunday, in response to their cake-off win the previous day, I visited Très Calme, by bicycle, and chose a new cake to try. I went with the Figcannelle, which is fig, red wine, and cinnamon. Though it's pretty solid, the top half, under the coating, is actually a thick white cream-like layer, which was probably for balance, since the main ingredients are strong. It was excellent. The fig flavor was central, but not too strong and clearly balanced and smoothed by other flavors, which were not obvious. Unfortunately, I was tired, so I forgot to get a picture for presentation, so I'll slip in the picture from the shop (unlike some shops, no sign saying not to photograph) that I actually just to remember the name. 

Pierre Gagnaire, Short Cake

Sunday, I started with a run down to Pierre Gagnaire's, getting a couple missing missing photos for sites on revised parts of the neighborhood running course that I haven't confirmed yet. I walked back with the last new cake I expect to get from them this month, though I should check in on their webpage, such as it is, since Tokyo is loosening up (for good or bad), so they might expand or revise their line-up earlier rather than later, though I'm thinking their original idea was to do the strawberry cakes through the end of May anyway.

I went back out almost immediately, this time by bicycle (which ended up being about 2.5 hours total). I first went over to B-E, where their was a line and I decided I didn't want to spend time finding out that they didn't have anything new when there were other places to go. Not sure whether I'll feel differently next weekend, but I'll trying going their first and get their a little earlier (plus be satisfied with other places on that side of town). Next I doubled back and went to Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi again. Their cake selection is limited, but they were featuring a wide variety of pastries, so I got the Croissant d'Amonde, I'll guess, since I'd had the other three types of croissant, and they were excellent to great. This one was not soggy, which was good, and there was liberal use of almond liquor, I think. I can say was excellent.

From there I went to two shops, which I could get new cakes at, so success. At home, I finally had the first cake after lunch, which was the (strawberry) Short Cake. I struggle with this, because it's not a type of cake I've very interested in, so I'm not sure what make it better or worse. There are hundreds of varieties of strawberries, and I have no idea which goes best on this kind of cake, so I can't really take that into consideration. In the end, I decided that this was excellent: I could recommend it myself and would would enjoy having it again, but it's not a goal.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over L'Abricotier's Montelimar

Working through fourth-round cake-offs for May cakes (based on when I first ate), I ran to L'Abricotier to get their Montelimar (for which I was successful). I went via Aigre-Douce, but the sign on the door indicated that, while they are still in business, they've shorted their hours and switched their holidays so that my working hours overlap theirs. It's a good measure to keep the riffraff out of the neighborhood, though it works better if they don't have to visit to find out. My backup was Très Calme's Pistache Apricot, which is somewhat out of order, but this cake is seasonal, whereas they always have their Mont-Blanc, and also this meant a match-up of two fruity nutty cakes, which seemed reasonable.

After getting the cakes safely home, I had lunch with a pastry rather than the cakes: a Canelé de Bordeaux from L'Abricotier, which usually doesn't have pastries (they also had a card for a chocolate tart next to it, but it was sold out, so I'm not sure what kind of product it was). It was definitely good, which a pretty thick firm crust.

It's a tough choice. The Montelimar is more distinctive among my great cakes, but I really like the pistachio better (versus almond), so I have to go with the Pistache Apricot.

En Vedette, Meringue Chantilly

In the evening of Saturday, I went out to do a neighborhood run for the Nezu Fine Arts Museum clump, which comprises the just revised Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu south loop, which I did my first clockwise run of, and the tiny Nishi-Azabu 1 north loop, which requires a long run through Aoyama Cemetery, a pretty popular running a bicycling route with a slope. With dinner I actually had a third cake (no holidays this week and I have a lot of priority shops, so I'm working), but I forgot to take a picture. It was Meringue Chantilly, and it looked like the last one I had, except there were some tiny blue/black berries of some sort and the whipped cream was caramel flavored. It's a basic desert and good, but not beyond that. En Vedette needs at least one excellent cake in the next two be able to get promoted at this point, and the choices are getting slim, which is how I ended up with Meringue Chantilly this time.

L'Abricotier, Choux a la Crème

Wednesday, I hit L'Abricotier for a new cake, since they are challenging the bottom of the superb shop category (taking turns with two other quite exceptional shops). I've run out of regular cakes that are coffee-based, so I went with Choux a la Crème. These are cheap (which should have told me something), so I got three, being equal to about one piece of cake, though as it turned out, I didn't need so many. Based on previous experience, after walking there, I ran the whole way home, since that's easier on at least certain parts of my body than walking.

These are the kind studded with nuts, which haven't been my favorite in the bast. It's a relatively solid pastry. Custard is fine, but nothing special, so this get's marked as good, and L'Abricotier loses it's place as top of the quite exception group again.