Running for speed, home-made custard tart

Updated the weekday map somewhat, but removed the courses, since it's too much trouble to keep it updated. Instead I labeled more relevant landmarks.
Did the 1325 m around Meiji Jinguu Gaien in 6 min 10 sec, which bests my times from last week but is still not so fast. (Did I do a mile in 6 minutes in high school, when I was running a lot?)
Went down to Neues, which had the usual stuff and not what I was looking for (or I need to review), and Libertable, which had the Dahlia that I had had before, so I updated the Libertable post, now that I've confirmed what I had. Coming back meant going around the Akasaka Palace loop. Sort of winged it through the area west of there, taking the hills and half looping back, then taking another slope. I ran over an hour total.
At Libertable, I got a very buttery bread with potato (didn't find pieces, so maybe the flour), for 291 yen, which is high for a tiny bread (it's about 10 cm across, maybe) but okay. It was good.

I didn't get cake for two reasons. One is this:

the second third of the custard in a shell (one of two baked, although I have the dough ready for a third). The shell was a success, in that it holds custard, but since it is butter, flour, sugar, and one egg, it basically tastes like butter. I ate half of this at lunch and the second half with cherries at dinner. A lot of cherries (the second reason), because every year the company gives us 1 kg of already ripe cherries (if you get them shipped, they'll already have turned by the time that you get them, so I pick them up at work). Questioning whether the money could be better spent on something else is not appreciated, so it's cherries every year from the same place; don't consider how it affects the end-of-fiscal-year bonus.

My plan had been to make a banana rum tart tonight, but it was a late work day, so maybe tomorrow. I could substitute cherries, but I want to try the recipe reasonably by the book at least once. Tomorrow is rough weather, although it should mostly pass by the evening. We'll see if running is possible.

Custard at home

Trying again to make custard. This is one-third of the recipe (so one egg's worth), which is really enough for two people, as far as the amount of sugar. I ate all with cheap frozen strawberries and it was good, so I'm satisfied with the recipe and my technique, although I'd light to reduce the batch and maybe try with brown sugar and corn starch for flour (to make two substitutions). 

Tonight I made tart crusts. I deviated from the recipe and see how that made a difference, but I'll actually not put one together with the custard until tomorrow to see how it works. If it fails, it just means I have to try again, and I've got 6 more eggs I need to use, ideally this week.

(Sunday 2) 17 km loop to Lettre d'Amour [Closed] and Ryoco

In the afternoon, visiting a different cafe/cake shop/baking school/baking supply store (I went for the last, but didn't find the tart forms I was looking for, so I need to search online), I swung down to Lettre d'Amour, which I've never been to before but is conveniently close to Ryoco and along my preferred route for going south, which is through Hirou Station. I choose the 600 yen chocolate mousse cake (Shirokane Chocolat) with two kinds of chocolate and caramel sauce mixed in, along with chocolate sauce on the outside and some nuts and chocolate pieces. It was good. They got the balance right between chocolate mousse and other things to suit me, so I'll go back. They're in a pretty rich area (as is Ryoco, although not so much in terms of shops) and there are other desert places around there, but they looked the best for cake.

At Ryoco, I got the Lumiere for 520 yen, which is mango and passion fruit in white chocolate. Actually, it tastes like peaches to me, which is fine. I had the standard problem with large chunks of fruit: they are difficult to cut on top of the soft cake, but I want to take small bits. It was very good and very seasonal. Again, I can't tell that it's great, but I would have it again, just it's not a priority. But it is consistent with a great shop.

(Sunday 1) 9 km run (and 17 km run): Frauola

Visited a few shops (but hit the tag limit, so I'm splitting this). A straight to and back from Fraoula in the late morning was about 9 km. (Then from noon I took a long path that took me by Lettre d'Amour for the first time and to Ryoco again.) I updated shops on this map. From Fraoula, I got Fran Nature and Tarte Citron for 367 and 410 yen, because I was taking them home to share and I wanted something that I was sure would run well, as well as being something I had not gotten there before. They were very good. Note sure if they were excellent, but I might get them again. Definitely a great cake shop. Supposedly, that is meringue. Certainly it is egg-like and whipped. This tart is less sweet that some I've had, which is not a bad thing in a lemon tart.

(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.

Gramercy New York (Takashimiya): Chocolate tart

Not good weather for running this weekend. Went to Tokyu Hands for tart-making stuff without getting anything (well, I got spray cooking oil nearby) and got the chocolate tart from Gramercy New York. Sorry, I only saved you little to see. It's okay. It's big and chocolaty. I don't know that I've ever had a great chocolate tart, although I've enjoyed Ryoko's. This one obviously has some crunch on top, which is a good idea to go with the pudding-like main part. I don't remember what it cost, but in the 500s I think, which is fine for the size. There are a couple of cakes among the patissieria that I've found that are good, but there are so many that it is hard to keep track. Even the good shops don't necessary send their best stuff, I think. I was trying to go through all of them, cakes and shops, but pretty much gave up.

14.0 km after Ladurée: tarte citron

This was a long run after first getting my cake at Ladurée (via Lumine II at Shinjuku station). Actually I got the tarte citron (タルトシトロン: lemon tart), for 616 yen. I got the tart because it was relatively cheap, I've had several other things there but I'm pretty sure I haven't had this, and I'm interested in making tarts at home. This was very good and quite big (very shareable). It's got a somewhat crumbly thin shell (you can pick in up in your hand if you are careful) full of a sort of opaque whiter custard and then a couple millimeters of sort of glassy but not gelatinous brighter yellow layer on top that definitely has a lemon taste. No complaints. Stopped by Neues and Libertable, but neither one had the cake I wanted to take notes on.

This was maybe the first time to do a whole loop with the crowd around the imperial palace moat, definitely the first time at night. Very interesting. I didn't try to time myself, because my phone was inside my backpack. Unfortunately, the close along the route is on the Ginza corner, so opposite where I would want to start. I'm thinking about sports watches, such as something that uses GPS to track your path.

Hill running and Libertable: Dahlia (updated)

Today I did hills. Yesterday, I just did not want to move and wondered why I run at the beginning, which went away after less than 2 km. Today the knees were sore from the beginning, but got fine pretty quick. I ran through the regular neighborhood ringed by Yotsu Sanchome, Yotsu, Akasakamitsuke, and Shinanomachi stations. Instead trying to add hills, I just did some loops to use the ones I like more. Seemed to work.

Went to Libertable for cake. Despite being right on my usual path, I've only got cake there twice before. Both times, it was high-quality cake that I never want to have again. The first was Luxe, which is chocolate mousse with black truffles; very interesting, and I'm not sorry that I tried it, but it's not for me. The second was Robuste, with is a disk on edge, with hazelnut praline, chocolate, and almond, but the banana and passion fruit inside did not really do it for me (bananas are for breakfast to me, not for my cake, although I've got my eye on a rum, banana, custard tart recipe). This time I was going for the Zenith, figuring if I didn't like that, then I'd call it quits for them (although it's been at least a year anyway). That was not there at 8:30 or so; they are open until 9 pm, which is great, and they had multiple customers in front of me and a lot of people were coming down from the big, obvious rich shrine across the street, whose well-lit, tall, high-quality stone stairs I selfishly ran up and down a couple times, though mostly by the side paths, not the main stairs which bridges a road and has an escalator beside it, though I don't know why. Is there a beer hall up there? It was mostly guys in suits, although since the other side is government buildings, maybe there's a path that's more convenient than walking around.

What I actually got was this:

which is chocolate mousse, raspberry ganache, and lychee cream, called Dahlia (ダリア), which I think is 669 yen. The outer fruit coating is about the right consistency, not too sticky and the inside lychee cream, though lacking a distinct taste, balances the mousse. This was not wow-this-is-great good, but well balanced and excellent quality. Still not sure whether Libertable is a great cake shop, but it's in the running. It's got the ambiance and prices, and it is convenient enough that I'll try again..

Running and Patisserie Noix de Beurre fraise chantilly

Today I got cake first, from Noix de Beurre (ノワドゥブール at Isetan. The fraise chantilly (フレーズ・シャンティ) is basically a French short cake, only they don't dump the cream on it and add the strawberry on top and side until you order it (although it was still a couple hours before I ate it). It is 648 yen, so it is relatively expensive for their things. They are basically an in-house unit of Isetan rather than an outside shop like many of the counters there. I'm not a big fan of short cake, but this is great cake from a great shop. Plus just this cake was enough to make me feel very full after running (which does not tend to expand my stomach), probably because of all the cream, although I recovered in a hour for pizza, no problem.

Before eating it, I went for the run, which is a little dangerous, because my motivation is weaker and I wonder why do I run, can I just give it up forever now? After some warm-up running, I did my first lap around the Meiji Jingu Gaien, near where I usually start, and that problem was solved. I stopped between laps (all I had to time myself was my flip phone). Did 7:13, 6:30, and 6:27 times and thought, "Eh, I have to go again?" (since I hadn't gotten my best yet) and decided I wasn't going around a fourth time today. The track is just short of 1.4 km, so not that long but not a sprint. Next I jogged over to Akasaka Palace and did a lap around that in 18:54 as a benchmark for future runs. Apparently, it is 3.3 km around, plus it's not a flat course, so even if you don't do +5 km first, it's more challenging. If the weather holds (and they're warning that it may not be safe out in the evening), then I'll try a hill-focused run tomorrow.

Pastry Shop (Hyatt Regency Tokyo): Rouge Noir

No running (although I walked quite a bit). I went to Pastry Shop, which is in the Hyatt Regency Tokyo shop, and got a Rouge Noir for 572 yen. Along the lines of "I never learn", this is another chocolate mousse with raspberry cake, and again, I was not that into it, although it was cheaper, more elaborate, and tastier than yesterday's from Le Pain Quotidien, which is good to know except that I probably won't need it again unless I develop a renewed strong taste for chocolate mousse. Also I don't learn that mousse is fragile, as it seriously is leaning to the rear from damage.

I also visited Rue des Briques, but decided that it did not look that great, so I didn't get anything. It's pretty small. There are a lot of restaurants in that hotel, so maybe there are more customers than I saw, but it did not look like it did a lot of business, although there was another person in there and it was near closing time (7 pm). Maybe checking out other hotel pastry shops is not such a good method for finding good cake.

24 km to Quatre: ruban, tarte fraise, cassis

Actually, I overshot my west-east turn around and turned too soon and ended up reversing for the east-south turn, so maybe it was more like 25 km, but then I actually start earlier than I up on the maps and Google is not exact on the distance, so who knows.

It was an okay run, though I need to simplify the turns, because I'm not up for complex navigation after about half way and I might be reaching my limit, but not so much that I couldn't walk home. The end point is in front of Quatre. No pictures, sorry: photographer camera preparation failure. Also, I purchased foolishly, so no need to document that. The Ruban is 432 yen and is chocolate with praline cream (almonds). Basically, it's a standard little rectangle with layers of cake, cream, and mousse. The cake was soft sponge, though, and something harder would have been better, I think. I should eat these thing in the shop or take them home and bring their temperature down rather than eat in a hot park, but in any case, my impression is that it was not so great. Cassis (black currant) is a popular flavor in Japan, so I decided to try the so named cake for 420 yen, just as a change, but it was a mousse cylinder with a layer of fruit gelatin on top and the cylinder was kept in shape by a clear plastic ring that one could not just peal off like on the other cakes, so I had to sort of eat out from the middle, which was messy. The taste did not justify the engineering shortcomings. Finally the Tarte Fraise was a cut wedge of strawberry tart for 475 yen, and it was actually good as tarts go and I appreciated it more than the other two, but I prefer more a tartlet, so I don't need to ever go back. Maybe the bread is good, and they sold various other things, quiche, hamburgers, chocolates, and cookies. It was pretty full service.

In that neighborhood, Gakugei Daigaku (University) Station area, I recommend instead Rue de Passy for fancy French cakes (though not quite great, I've had better things there than at Quatre) or if you want something more American (if cream cheese based icing with sponge cake is American), then I recommend Matterhorn, which was doing a good business, as always. That's two shops in a row that I chose without recommendations that did not work out, so the next two should be ones that I've sampled from Isetan, which I can manage from recent visits. Nevertheless, I jotted down the name of a place I ran past for future reference, Lettre d'Amour, so maybe I will try there next as an unknown place.

Bad cake makes be crave better cake. I considered Maison du Chocolat on Aoyama Street near Omotesando Station, because I've never bought cake there, perhaps because it is expensive and the explanations generally only include common ingredients like butter, flour, and egg (but also gelatin), although they are little chocolate layer cakes. I went with Le Pain Quotidien [Which has since closed at this location, Kitaaoyama, Minato-ku] and got the raspberry chocolate mousse (ラズベリーチョコレートムース) for something like 600 yen. I know, mousse again, and the base was sponge, but it was fine, better than the earlier cakes, although not great. I think I've had better there. I'll have to try again to get great cake tomorrow perhaps from the unhelpfully named Pastry Shop. As you can see, the cake got a little beat up. There was a cardboard spacer with an ice pack, but neither the cake nor the spacer was taped down. I don't know what she had been planning to do with the fork and napkin before I stopped her. 

10+ km to Aux Bacchanales: Trianon

I didn't calculate the exact distance but I went through Yotsuya and up and down hills and got a little lost (although I'm not sure that I took any different path than if I had a map), so let's call it 10+ km and leave it at that. My knees were still a little sore. I think I need to start doing some speed training and sprinting rather than just hills, to break up the weekday runs. Maybe I'll try around Gaien first, since that's short. I need a loop so I don't have to stop for lights (which are also a danger to life anyway). I suppose I'll use my flip phone to time. Now I'm interested in the iWatch, or whatever it is, but I'm sure the price will cure me of that.

So the goal (successfully reached, and still no rain) was Aux Bacchanales. This is more of a cafe (a busy one), and not every branch has regular cake, but the Ginza store does [but quit since the original post], with a separate wait person. I first ended up there when Dalloyau failed me. Before that, I mostly ignored it because (a) it seemed ubiquitous and (b) the one nearest me doesn't do most cake, just fancy bread and is a big cafe/bar in a rich area. I've updated only the shops in this old map.

This is a Trianon (トリアノン). I've lost the receipt, but the website says that the cake was 515 yen, so 556 with tax. I think I paid about 550 yen, so close enough. On a dacquoise (base almond/hazelnut meringue layer: ダコワーズ) base, supposedly there is crushed crepe (フイティーヌ), praline cream, and chocolate mouse in there layers. Of course, there is chocolate coating and you can see pieces of I assume chocolate, which the official description calls fichinu (フイチーヌ), which, like much of the description, Google translate wants nothing to do with. Again, I need a Japanese-French to anything (Japanese, French, or English) dictionary to figure out what most of these terms actually mean, and it has to be flexible for the Japanese spelling, since it doesn't seem to be standardized for all terms.

This cake is a success. It's chocolate cake, with layers of mouse and layers of cream and all is chocolaty, but not overpoweringly, and the almond on top gives away that some of this is almond base. The base is moist yet a little crunchy. It is great cake, so I think of this as a great shop, and it's not their only great cake, according to memory. Comparing this shop's cake with other places' is one of my ultimate goals.

patisserie Sadaharu Aoki paris: Saya

Browsed cookbooks for French sweets, and found a couple worth getting, so now I'm going to have to decide how serious I am about it.

Then went to Aoki at Isetan and got the Saya for 830 yen (not a cheap shop). Strawberry cream dominates, although there is pistachio cream (and pistachio bits on top) and the taste of hazelnut, if I've correctly unraveled the Japanese saburenowazetto (サブレノワゼット) back to French. (An ideal cookbook would have English, French, Japanese phonetic French, and native Japanese terms all listed.) I can only taste the strawberry, but it is not too strong (although the cake is on the sweet side, suggesting that I'm really going to have to learn to get into tea), so I'm sure everything else is balancing it out to make it perfect. Even the bottom biscuit is good, of the crumbly type.

Great cake from a great shop and they gave me half a lemon macron while I was waiting, which was delicious (and would cost another 150 yen, I assume), so I'm happy, although my plan is to go somewhere cheaper next time. This is the strawberry cake to beat at this point, although there is room for different types of great strawberry cake.

I regret not centering the picture, but the strawberry pulled me left. Now if I knew which of the several settings I tried this was, I would have learned something.

10+ km to Takagi's: Arpajon

I added extra up-and-downs in Wakaba (Yotsuya) and twice on Sannou Hie Shrine (I was aiming to go up and come down the big front stairs but first ended up going up and down on the side once first), but here's the route that I had planned to follow. Looks like I went wrong at East Gaien Road halfway through the south leg. The first half was quite a work out, as was jogging up and down shrine steps, so I'll try it again the next time that I go that way, although I don't think that I can really cross the next main road where Google says I can. There are some shops further along Aoyama Road that I want to try some time (although I think I can find them elsewhere), so maybe I'll try that path in reverse. Tomorrow I need to rest (and get a package: wine), but I'll probably go over to Isetan and grab cake from Aoki or somewhere, which I haven't hit lately and is on the list of greats in my head. Thursday will depend on the rain. I'll take a cake rest then if I can't run.

Patisserie Takagi is convenient (on Aoyama Road), in terms of hours and time and has pretty good cake. I'm not sure whether it's great, but I appreciate it. Today I got the Arpajon for 605 yen, which is mostly bitter (not really so much) chocolate mousse with significant amounts of pistachio mousse and some raspberry mousse. It's got three kinds of nuts on top, which I appreciate, but is not enough to save it from being just enough chocolate mousse, which is all it's really trying to be. Some asymmetry in the chocolate spikes is due to breakage: I should bring my own bag next time, as theirs have too short a handles for good cake running. Had trouble with the camera again, apparently, but wasn't patient, so too late now. All my night photos were also fails: can't keep the camera steady enough for buildings and none of the settings for the view from the stop of the shrine stairs really gave good results.

The cake was okay, but too much mousse for me again. That's about what I expected, but it's their #1 seller (it's pretty, so no surprise; I hate when I ask a shop person what is good or what they recommend and they tell me what's the most popular, as if that proved anything) and I wanted to confirm what it's like and get Takagi listed in this blog, since they are at least on my list of ones that I want to run through their complete line-ups and compare, just I won't be needing this cake again.

13 km to Dalloyau: Dalloyau

Today I used part of the new route to Akasaka Palace, and then to the Inner Moat, from which I ran to Dalloyau to get my cake and then the shortest route back home.

Tried to take a night scene shot when stopped at a light, but haven't got it down yet, so it's just cake for today: didn't keep my hand steady enough.

This is Dalloyau (ダロワイヨ), the shops signature cake (note the edible name in chocolate). The texture hides that the left side seems a little collapsed, maybe from the run. For some reason, they did not seal the box shut enough for a 5 km run home, but it stayed in place better than the one I walked home from Isetan yesterday.

This maybe not quite great cake from a great shop is 540 yen. It is caramelized almonds and hazelnuts around hazelnut cream with a base of Dalloyau's original meringue (although I'm not sure what is special about it). Actually, the taste is very light and yet sweet, so I'm not sure what it goes best with, maybe tea. I need to get there with a partner and go to the cafe. I love nuts, though, and though not really an exciting cake, it is a nice recovery from the Japanese-pudding-type caramel flavor of yesterday, plus I'm trying to get to each of the great shops for this blog, so it was about time for them and I know I haven't had this cake this year. They've got a lot of different cakes, so I need to get back there again as soon as I finished hitting the rest of the greats: just a few more to go.

Rest Sunday: Seijo Alpes and Andersen

I also got bread bread, but this sweet, Chocobar (チョコバー), was 360 for the box of three, so I could not resist. Energy- and flavor-wise, it might count as three cakes, even if it is less than one cake in terms of price. Very delicious, maybe great pastry. Andersen at Isetan is maybe my favorite bakery. 

The iPod is crippled, so I dug out a ten-year old digital camera which I hope to use from now on. The bread photo was fine, but I had to take a dozen pictures and fiddle with various settings (with unfamiliar icons or Japanese) before I could get an in-focus picture of cake (I don't know what the auto-focus thought I wanted a picture of before I got it right).

After loading up on pastry energy from the bakery, I went out scouting my normal weekday running route to see where the up and down slopes are within the Yotsu neighbor west of Akasaka Palace, which is usually the first place I go to from the National Stadium. I don't have time to jog longer, so I would like to introduce more slopes (but I don't want to do laps). There was running, because time is limited, and even running with heavy groceries. Amazingly, I managed to not break anything, despite having two bottles.

After the groceryrunning (shower, laundry, and eating a vegetable), I ate the cake that I had bought at Isetan. I know I've seen Seijo Alpes before, presumably at Isetan, but I don't seem to have any records. Maybe I hated everything I tried and/or it was before I started collecting the cards. This is Brenda (?: ブレンダ), which was 460 yen. It's caramel, which is always difficult, as there is variation in the taste of caramel. This was the same caramel taste as in standard Japanese pudding, which I hate. Maybe it's not sweet enough, and that's why it has a smoky taste that makes me think of coffee (which I don't drink and actually has a definitely much worse taste that lingers on and on). Anyway, this failed for me but I won't hold that against them. I had the chocobar earlier, so I don't need to go out and get anything else. Still, I'm not sure whether I'll try to hit them at Isetan again or save them for a Saturday run, when I'm ready buy cakes from multiple shops anyway, so I can be prepared with great cake from somewhere else. Speaking of which, I need to prepare my next Saturday map (and pizza dough for tonight). Trying a place that was convenient to my normal haunts this weekend did not work out so well, but I want to try Quatre anyway. Then I've still got to get to Bigarreaux and maybe Jun Ujita, which I stopped by once and got something simple and confirmed that they are okay. After that, there are some remote ones that are coming into my running range that I might visit. I figure, as long as I start in Tokyo, it counts it's suitable for this blog (and these are places that have visited Isetan).

22 km to R Okusawa: Rouge and Mazetto

I ran to (Patisserie) R Okusawa today. The run was okay, but I cracked my ipod screen, so that's three things broken in not more more than a week. (sigh)

The river part between Hiroo and Ebisu, C-D (or the hook around Ebisu Station, D-E, for that matter) was no so great, so I'll try not o use that again. Following the river and then the northwest branch of the green promenade to Ring Road 7 was fine. Actually, I checked and it continues to Umegaoka and beyond, so maybe I'll do that part next for the 24-mile run. The endpont will be closer too, unless I change it.

So R Okusawa: not so great. The Rouge was 490, as you see, and was white cheese (pretty tasteless) with a layer of berry gelatin. There were also a couple fruity disks inside, but whether they were cheese mousse, as claimed, or more gelatin there, I could not tell. If I were richer and had not run 22 km and in need of the calories (although I had 480 ml of yogurt drink), then I would not have finished it. Not that it was nasty (besides the outer berry gelatin), but it did not have anything good going for it except some fresh fruit.

The second one seemed to be Le Mazetto, although with reflection, it is hard to read. I'm going to try to use a different camera and leave the broken ipod at home. It was 450 yen and hazelnut cake, I think, which is kind of a standard thing. It started off good, but I'm used to thinner cake layers (actual "normal" cake) and more cream or nuts between, so by the end I ruled it a fail. The cake seemed a little too moist for me too.

I don't know. Cake for children or guests you don't care enough about to go one train station either direction for one of the better shops? Of course, it's near the station and small, so it's convenient if you live there (there's another cake shop or tart shop across the street and a place that has a sweets buffet on the other side of the tracks, too).

Thanks to the yogurt drink (and a carrot: I don't eat sugar on an empty stomach, usually), I was full, so didn't buy more cake at Jiyuugaoka, despite the temptation. I was not really that tired, so I took the long way home (not because of cake, but to use used book vouchers before they start expiring). So I also took natural solution to bad cake and bought cake from a great shop, in this case Toshi Yoroizuka, near Ebisu Station (although I've visited the Tokyo Midtown one a lot. 

This is anja or annya (?: アンニヤ・アンニャ), which was listed as staff-recommended at 560 yen. I hesitated at rhubarb, which I avoided as a child, but realized that I actually don't know what rhubarb tastes like, so I should find out. Maybe I still don't know, since it was not that strong and there are berries. Note that the flower is an actual flower, so I didn't eat it, but the stick is white chocolate. The base is crumb crust (or it was once I got it home), with cheesy custard or custard-like cheese inside, although the whole cheese thing might be in my mind and it was just baked custard: I need more custard experience. The top part is rhubarb mousse I assume (real mousse, not gelatin, although there could be a little for stabilization). There are berries and sauce on top, as you can see. Great cake. Why would you not eat great cake if that was an option? 

Reverse run from Pierre Hermé: Carrément Chocolat

The first reverse part was I bought cake from Pierre Hermé at Isetan, took it home, and then went for a run. I did go by Neues and confirmed that I could catch them open, with cake, but not the cake I was trying to get info on. I might have gotten bread, but 400 yen for half a little loaf is too much, even for German rye.

The other reverse part was I mainly did the reverse course of last time except excluding where I got lost and a double back near the Diet Building. There was a demo there against the U.S. base at Okinawa (judging from their sign) and war (which was all I understood from their chants). I liked the drum, but there was a crowd of people leaving along some streets. It was a change from (tobacco) slaves and (phone) zombies, but still a little in the way. I added an extra up-down early on that I would usually skip.

I took a picture of this patisserie that I have some affection for, although it has only simple things: A la Bon Heure.

Cake was Carrément Chocolat from Pierre Hermé, one of the great [superb] shops, for 756 yen (one of their cheaper ones). The layers are a chocolate square on top, chocolate glaze over everything, a 1/4 layer of chocolate cream, a 1/4 layer of chocolate mousse, and then chocolate "biscuit", which seemed to be a couple millimeters of hard chocolate as base for the upper layers and then a dense 1/2 layer that together gave almost a crunch but not quite. Great cake, although I ate it straight and by myself, so by the end I wished that I had prepared a beverage to cut it with, because it is very sweet.

Can't find Neues: 14 km

The weather was okay, so I did run (sorry, Google Maps is unreliable and the map disappeared), a lot, but no cake. I went along the usual history and cultural routes, which go by some of the Soka Gakkai buildings, who are an active Buddhist movement, and so kind of cult-like compared to the usual passive sort.They have a lot of money and political power, and like to get together on Sunday mornings, apparently, judging from what I've seen around there then. This Yotsu area has a lot related buildings, for example, for education and publishing.

I went off the usual route to add a new down slope 

and then a new up slope to my route.

As usual, I got a little lost and went out of my way, although it does not look too bad on the map. Neues was closed (but they were in their cleaning up) again, so I can't count on them for late cake. Maybe by 8 pm works (today was about 8:30), but I usually want more running than that on a weekday now. Not that I had planned to get cake; I had just wanted to find out the name of last week's cake and maybe buy some bread. Instead, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to Asanoya, which puts their bread 20% off late. I didn't choose well though, or I should not have tried microwaving for 30 s to heat it up. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Back: ~9 km to Aigre-Douce: Fraicheur Framboise

I've been not cake-running in Tokyo, so no posts. There was a lot of running at least one day and exercise everyday, and much searching for good cake in a land where rollcake is king, putting sponge cake in tarts is apparently okay, and even places that are trying to make high-class French cakes use too much gelatin (which usually means any gelatin, but I don't make cake myself, so I'll allow a certain amount might be necessary structurally).

Anyway, I got a run in, only there was other less runnable shopping than cake and some busy streets, there there was maybe 1 to 2 km of walking involved. I went to Aigre-Douce, near Mejiro Station (目白駅), which is a great shop. I got the "nouveau" Fraicheur Framboise （fresh raspberries: フレッシュール フランボワーズ) for 530 yen. I can't read the text in my photo of the card, but something about the cacao in the chocolate is strong, and of course there are raspberries. The peaks are not hard, so maybe it does not count as a meringue. So, once again, I need to go back to update this entry. No problem for this great cake from a great cake shop, although it is out of the way.  

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Look, my photos line up: progress. This second cake is from Avançons again, which is not so far, being one station away and on the way back. This time, I got a great cake, so there is a reason they sell out when I have to work during the day. This one is called Bonheur (ボヌール). The base is a tart and the top mousse part is mostly caramel, I think, although maybe there was currant in there besides the one that slipped down when I automatically yanked the little decoration with the store name off without thinking. Whoops. The cake was 450 yen and I think great, but I might just be thrilled to be back in the Tokyo cake-running business. 

Tomorrow is rain and Isetan's visiting store is a rollcake place (even in Tokyo), so maybe no running or cake tomorrow.

12 km to Neues: unknown recommended cake

I ran 12 km, but otherwise, I ran into various problems. 

First, going by the Prime Minister's place added time, because I forgot that I needed to cross to the other side of the street, and there are a lot of lights anyway (though not streetlights: a little dark on the sidewalk). 

Then I got a little lost toward the end and got to Neues just after they had closed. Not that it was close to 11 pm, just they close whenever they want, apparently. The guy bringing in the sign made sure that I was looking for carry out and not dinner before letting me in. Another customer came in after me, also looking for cake and then a blond lady, although she left when she saw that they were sold out of almost all the bread, waving at the guy in the back kitchen area through the glass. 

I asked what the guy who let me in recommended, and there is it below (I may need a better camera than my iPod), whatever it is. It seems to be chocolate layers, probably with nut cream layers. There was a little texture like coconut in there, but it could have been chopped nuts: I should really dissect these more thoroughly, but I didn't see coconut. The cake was very good, but because they were closing, there was a guy behind me also buying cake, I was really tired, and it has some German name (or Austrian), I don't know what it was. Their webpage is here, but it's way out of date as far as cake that they actually had, and I could not find a picture of mine (at least not today's) at the Tabelog restaurant website.

Anyway, it was 480 yen, I think, and very good, as I wrote, so I'll go back there again (and update this on what it actually was), but I always need to keep in mind that they might decide to close early and be prepared to head over to nearby Tokyo Midtown, assuming that they are not closed yet (or I could go back to Libertable, who I passed going through Akasaka, and has expensive cakes and is open late, though the two cakes that I've tried so far, while very interesting, were not to my taste: Luxe, a chocolate black truffle cake, and Robuste, which has banana and passion, along with chocolate and nuts).