Pièce Montée: Thevert

The rain held off mostly, so I could run today. I did 4 km running total at 7 to 8 min/km alternating  2 min running, 1 min walking again, which I'll keep doing through next Tuesday, as my running week. I was a little worried because pain from a little pain from sitting at, but it was okay running (though it generally is, whereas the next day might bring other news). Now, it's my left arm that's the problem. I probably shouldn't be typing with it, but it's not hard to rest it enough.

I finally got back to Pièce Montée, but didn't get a good picture of the cake. It's a long way walking home, so I ate in the park and my lighting was not as good as last time (I started from the other end of the park), but I had already wrecked the box. It's worth seeing though, so the photo is taken from their blog. It's Thevert (for Thé Vert, green tea). I think the "cup" and lid are chocolate, although the sesame seeds mask it, or maybe it is sesame seeds and nuts dilute, since it looks more like nuts than sesame in the picture . There is quite sweet green tea mousse inside, although the green tea flavor is hard to taste. I'm not sure if the beans are real, since there was no bean texture, so maybe just brown mousse. This is a very interesting and good cake, so I don't regret it, but as a second cake and for 1000 yen, I'm not inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, so I'm calling it just "good" and taking them off the list of potentially excellent shops, which still has about 35 shops in it, about half only visited a couple time and half bumped down from potentially "great". At some point, I'll sort out the semi-great from just excellent ones, but I'd like more cakes from some of them first. In the meantime, it's been too long since I've had really great cake, so I'll see whether I can get to Pierre Hermé tomorrow night after my other errands. I'll be unusually busy, but there's always Saturday (which I haven't decided where to go yet, although I always need to get back to Paris S'éveille and I'm not up to running that far or fast enough on a weekday or have high enough need to use the bike).

http://piecemontee-blog-new.seesaa.net/upload/detail/image/DSC_0607ver2-thumbnail2.jpg.html

Il Fait Jour: Tarte Citron

Yesterday the rain stopped and I didn't want to be stuck with 7 km for the week, since it's kind of a benchmark for how fast I can increase, so I went out and did another 3 km of running, either in 2 minute or 200 meter stretches separated about half that of walking. I did part on the Gaien course so I could make sure I was running between 7 and 8 min/km, which is really slow (walking was less than 10 min/km). I was kind of pressing my luck running, though. I'm okay today, but it was not hard to convince myself to finally take a rest (instead, I did running stretches and exercises inside). That gives me 10 km within a week, so my goal/limit next week, I think, is 19 km, with 2 km of that 6 to 7 min/km (probably, I'll go back to the same course next Monday or Tuesday for those). Then the week after that I can do 27 km with 6 km of that faster than 7 min/km. Maybe I'll want to completely eliminate the super slow 8 min/km pace (it's a little awkward), or maybe I'll want to keep it around for really long runs. We'll see. I don't expect to try anything with more than 5 km of running next week, though I don't have a particular plan for how I'll ramp up the maximum. Just a 2 or 3 km a week would be fine, and I'm going to be stricter about the rests afterward.

Today, I did rest, but I went for cake, which I did not do yesterday (instead, I ate a lot of cherries with a lot of syrup, so getting cake is a huge improvement as far as diet). I already had three excellent cakes from Il Fait Jour, so they are ahead in that category, but since they were visiting Isetan, where I can get a discount and it is very convenient, I decided to get one. Unfortunately, I had already had the best three choices of not many. At Isetan, there were lots of little glasses of things, which is true of lots of places these days, but I have very little interest. As an Isetan exclusive, there as Tarte Citron for 486 yen, which sounded much better than a seasonal mixed fruit tart (which I've never found to be good anywhere, since most fruits require some subtly to work in cake, not to forget working with each other). The Tarte Citron was perhaps good, which is giving them the benefit of the doubt. It is tiny, which is not a big deal, since I got the idea after half. The thick visible base is a semi-firm (for cake) but moist butter tart maybe, or a dacquoise, though I don't have enough experience yet to say either way. On top of that is a little lemon gelatine dome (hidden) which was fine under a several-millimeter cover of probably meringue (or just whipped egg whites, as there was no identifiable taste). Nothing bad about it, just nothing impressive about it.

The plan for tomorrow is 4 km of running as part of finally visiting Piece Montee again, although I better confirm that they are still there first, since it's been a while since I've been by there.

Frédéric Cassel: Violet Étoile

I went to Frédéric Cassel and was tricked into getting the Violet Étoile (which was excellent for 777 yen), in the sense that there did not seem to be anything different from the regular Violet except for the start theme, for the upcoming holiday. The picture just shows the top. Still, excellent cassis cheesecake, which makes me think that I'm going to have to get around to trying to up my game on my cheesecake. 

In the meantime, though, I got the yearly 1 km of fresh cherries from work (you can opt out, but no substitutions), so I should have made custard instead of hazelnut pranilé French buttercream. The little that was in the refrigerator has gone into the freezer. Maybe I'll try to make a creme brulée syrup, but I can just eat them in yogurt. They'll probably turn by the weekend, though. 

On the running side, since I just ran yesterday morning, I only ran 16 minutes, this time in 2 min running and 1 min walking intervals, among a full trip to Mitsukoshi Ginza, which is on the order of 10 km, walking the rest. I'm not sure whether this is the running for next week or adding to this week. Only increasing 5 km a week would be pretty strict, but more than 7 km a week might be dangerous. Better safe than sorry, as long as I can walk and still get cake.

Avranches Guesnay: Tarte Rhubarbe Fraise

Jogged about half of the long way (to hit a couple Bookoffs, where I bought one cheap sweets making book) to Avranches Guesnay, where I got Tarte Rhubarbe Fraise for 486 yen. I had noticed before the one cake I from Coin Vert was also here, but I noticed today that the Fortissima from Coin Vert is also here, and got a little worried that I was overlapping, that these were really the same cakes. When I got home, I found a blog that pointed out that they were happy to see the rhubarbe tart at Avranches Guesnay after seeing it at Le Coin Vert, so I researched further and found that the Patissier of the former worked at Coin Vert until last year. I'll assume that coworkers have taken over at Coin Vert and even if the recipes are the same, the person actually making them is different. The actual tart was quite good, so I'm going to say it's excellent. It's very pastry like, at least the crumble crust kind, not flaky crust. The topping is very marshmallow-like, which was not what I expected or would choose, but then I can't really say that it's a good season for meringue. It was fine, though, so I won't avoid this topping, though I don't need to seek it out, either.

The running was 1 min walking/1 min jogging again. My initial thought was just 10 repetitions (leaving 10 more Monday or Tuesday) and walk from there, since I did have soreness, although I'm not sure that it's exactly where I was having the most problems before. Things were going fine, though, so I just kept going and did 20 repetitions, which I'll call 2.5 km of running (total walking then was maybe 8 km, not counting the few kilometers walking in the afternoon for shopping), so I made the week's goal of 5 km. I'll see how I am tomorrow to see whether I want to add to the week's total. My priority places are in or near Ginza, so that will be a similar distance, which I can make walking even without running, assuming I don't have to work late.

On the homemade front, I have the usual problem of wanting to bake more than I can process the calories for. Finished off the creme brulée frosting today (I was a little worried about it sitting around too long, since it has egg yoke, but the scalding caramel syrup might might have cooked it enough that it was not a big problem) without making more cake, but I still have an egg yoke left over from yesterday's failed (but edible) macarons, so I'll probably separate another egg and make two yokes' work of canelé and use the egg white for something this week. Or now I'm thinking I should try to use the egg yoke in creme brulée again (which might still be a bad idea because of the egg, this time measuring the syrup temperature so that I'll actually know what I'm doing, even if the instructions seem a little vague: I'm supposed to heat it to 121 deg C, but then am I supposed to hold it there or is it done? That is hot enough to caramelize sugar, so I suppose I'm done, but I'll have to try it and see what happens.

Paris S'éveille: Saint Honoré Praliné Yuzu

Decided that walking would be better for my knee for walking, so I walked to Paris S'éveille, which is perhaps longer than last weekend, although I only walked one way and came by a train, since it is hot and I had chocolate for making cake. I definitely was walking farther at a strong pace. Tomorrow I'll perhaps throw in a little running and do more total distance.

At Paris S'éveille, I got cake for takeout, so I could take a picture (and also for ice for my leg, although I didn't need it so much), but then went and ate it nearby on a bench in the Kuhonbutsu River Green Way, which passes in front of it (although in the stretch on the other side of the tracks). I had forgotten where I had put my card with my previous cakes written on it, but I knew I had never had the Saint Honoré Praliné Yuzu, for 620 yen (I also knew that I had never had anything that came in a glass, which I find hard to recognize as cake, but I wasn't sure about which of the tarts I had had). I've never had a saint-honoré before, probably because I didn't regard choux as cake. For my expectation, and giving the shop the benefit of the doubt, this was excellent and I feel more comfortable about ordering saint-honoré elsewhere. The taste was pretty much as advertised, with the yuzu and praliné combining fine.

Noliette: Opera Révision

It's been raining off and off, but really I didn't run because I'm still babying my leg. I'm not babying it enough that I'm not walking fast on the commute, taking the stairs, and practicing some running stretches and "switches" (if that's the correct translation), although my left arm was not happy about one of those involving getting into a push-up position and shifting around laterally to loosing up things. I haven't given up on running this week, though, but the target is definitely not going to be over 10 km, and I'll be happy to get 5 km total (that is, another 2.5 km by Tuesday). However, I'm thinking I'll try for Paris S'éveille one day tomorrow cycling and use the other day to jog and walk to Avranches Guesnay.

For bought cake, I got Opera Révision (updated) from Noliette at Isetan, for 518 yen again. This is a pistachio opera (pistachio and chocolate). It was definitely good, but these cakes are maybe a little wet for my taste, although I'm not sure how I would change this specific cake. So Noliette is immediately back off the list of potentially excellent shops, at least until I have more cake from there that changes my mind, which is really hard to do with all the other places to visit.

I did get around to making creme brulée aux noisettes (?), though I didn't know how much to heat the sugar and water before adding to the egg, so I just cooked until it browned, and it's edible, so I'm satisfied. Now I've got a bowl of frosting, but no more hazelnut powder (expensive stuff) to repeat the cake, so I'm thinking of trying maracons instead. It's really humid, so I'll need to run the air conditioner while I do it, though I'm sure they would be edible if I made them like I make the pate maracon naturale, where I don't wait at all before baking once I've piped it.

Noliette: Gateau Marjolaine

This week's visiting shop at Isetan is P. Noliette, which I haven't posted on. I could not resist the Gateau Marjolaine for 518 yen. It was better than mine, I'll tentative say, so it must be excellent. Certainly, the cake was softer, although you can make Marjolaine with sponge rather than a Japonaise, like my recipe (which I should mention I really do need 180 deg C rather than 170 to get the middle properly caramelized), and I have to wonder whether this is buttercream filling rather than creme chantilly. Still, I'm somewhat inspired to try again soon. At the very least I'm inspired to get back to Isetan while Noliette is there and get their Opéra Révision, which is a pistachio opera.

My own cooking was to make a biscuit noisette, even without "bubble emulsifier" and without an oven that can be set for 225 deg C on top and 165 deg C on bottom (and fits a 40 x 60 cm pan). It worked, but I didn't spread the better thin enough in the pan (it needs to be pretty thin, like just a few millimeters). Tomorrow I plan to try making, I think, "creme brulée au praliné" (the recipe puts an extra "au" in there, "creme au") despite not having a candy thermometer to figure out whether the syrup is at 121 deg.

Running and not quite cake from Henri le Roux

After trying to get 乳化気泡剤 at Takashimaya (they looked and didn't act like it was a crazy request, although Google thinks it's a typo for 乳化起泡剤), I went home and changed into running clothes---and actually ran, for the first time in more than 3 weeks and longer than I've run in at several weeks (which ended badly). Not sure how far I ran, but I ran 20 minutes in intervals of 1 minute separated by 1 minute of running, so I'll call it 2.5 km. Probably, 16 minutes would have been enough, but I'm okay for now (except my left arm is telling me maybe it was too soon yesterday for doing even a little light strength training, but that's not the fault of running). Not sure what my limit should be. I had been thinking 5 km in a week last time I tried to start, but I do that much not slow walking on a typical day, so I could probably start with 10 km, but 20 km would definitely be the limit and I'm going to ramp up slower than ever before in both speed and distance, if I get the chance. Still, did you know that the

The not quite cake was a Kouign Amann, which I consider a pastry. They have them at Midtown Tokyo, for 324 yen, and each one has a caramel in the center. I've only had great ones (not sure if that exactly corresponds to great cake). Previously, I've had the chocolate and C.B.S. (salted butter caramel), which they always have, so this time I got the third, which was Pina Colada, despite the visible coconut. It too was great.

Pierre Hermé: Satine

Today, I had an errand and got cake. Actually, I would have gotten the cake anyway and I forgot to do the errand yesterday, when I was visited Isetan (but I didn't get cake, because canele counts as pastry, and actually, summer's not a great time for this, as it turns out). The cake was what I passed up recently: Satine, which apparently is French for "give a satinlike appearance". The cake is cheesecake, both baked, I think, and cheese mousse, flavored with both orange and passion fruit. I was searching for this online, and immediately found out that Pierre Hermé is selling a whole cookbook called Satine, with 50 recipes on this fruit theme, apparently. Well, it is good, excellent even, as fruity cheesecake goes, which is fine, though I'm more of a nut person, from chocolate to praliné. Also, of course, it is not cheap, at 864 yen. Next cake I have my eye on there is the mille feuille caramel.

In health news, a.k.a., not running, after bringing back my cake, I had to go to the library to renew my French lesson book (which I looked at once for about 5 minutes in the last two weeks), and snag my favorite cake book again, which they didn't let me renew last time. The rain had stopped (rainy season just started and is expected to last a month, someone told me today), so I dressed for working out and walked at an exercise pace (3 min fast, 3 min not that fast) for the first time for a long time for about 40 minutes total, with stops at the library, where I also did 6 flights of stairs, Tokyu Hands (4 flights) to get the points for my last purchase and visit the bookstore across the connector to remember which Patisserie book I was looking at previously (it was "Patisserie" by Melanie Dupuis and Anne Cazor, which the only Amazon review pans), then over to Lawson 100 for groceries and home. Everything (I mean, my body) seems surprisingly okay, even compared to how I was feeling earlier in the day, so I'm really getting excited about maybe running soon. At home, I checked out the next recipe in the book, and I need an emulsifier (乳化気泡剤). I'll have to ask around..

Le Coin Vert: Fortissima

Back for a second cake at Le Coin Vert finally. This time, I went with the Fortissima for 617 yen. This is a dense chocolate cake with rum and did not work for me. The type was very familiar, but it's not sweet, it's not creamy, and there is not a lot of taste, just a sort of "watery" chocolate, and rum (which I'm fine with). That makes it sound less good than it was, but that's my interpretation if this kind of chocolate taste, which is actually quite common, so presumably intentional. So far, I've yet to learn to like this taste. I'm going to rate this "okay", at least for me, and take Le Coin Vert off the possibly excellent list. Shame, because it's nearby.

On the plus side, I had no residual problems from yesterday's long walk, and I walked faster today and again no problems. Actually, my goal was a relaxed walk, compared to yesterday's deliverately slow, controlled walk, but today I often slid into my more usual higher paced walk but with no problems. Still think I should hold off on running, because I can't say that I've been problem-free for a week, but I'm hoping twinges have been due to lack of use rather than remaining inflammation from over-use, since pain is tricky that way I've heard (from professionals) and experience, especially with my back. So I'll hold off on running (and cycling) a few more days and keep raising the level of walking and see how that goes. There have been a lot of disappointments so far, so I don't want to rush things. It's obviously going to take several months to train back up, so another week is not going to matter much.

Saturday: Frédéric Cassel

Today, I didn't run, but I did walk, several kilometers. Wasn't really that confident that I would make it very far, since my left knee still felt funny, but I made it to Ginza Mitsukoshi, where I got cake from Frédéric Cassel, the Mille-feuille Finger Pistache for 777 yen, which was excellent like the Fraiser from a little while back. Very creamy, but at the end, I would have rather it was a little less sweet; should have had a beverage.

From there, I walked north three stations, hitting also Matsuya and Takashimaya before the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi to visit Cuoca and get some praliné noissette and a 8 mm pastry nozzle (or whatever they are called). Apparently, hazelnut praline has a really short shelf-like, just over two weeks, which is worrying. I took a train back 6 stations and got peanuts from Nikunohanamasa before walking two stations to the Lawson 100. Pretty quick, I was regretting not taking the train again, but I seemed to end up okay. I'm icing my knee a lot (though my left elbow is worse, which is a little scary).

In short, I proved I can walk (slowly) to cake, so I'll be getting farther from Isetan from now on, I hope. Probably stick to slow walking tomorrow and see about picking up the pace from Monday. Hope to be running again, but at this point, I'll be happy if I can walk reliably problem-free.

Friday: Clover at Isetan

Friday's cake was from Clover. My timing was terrible, but then I suppose everywhere is busy on Friday. Usually I skip that day, but I skipped Tuesday and Thursday since I took Monday off and had cake.

The cake is supposedly a Isetan exclusive, one of a series of "Mini Hearts", Mini Heart Peach, probably for 540 yen, though I can't remember. This is peach mousse with vanilla cream and the most memorable features. One nice thing about Clover is that they have a card with schematics, so I knew the strawberry one had coconut mousse and went for the peach. And it was definitely really good, but not really what I'm looking for. So one fewer "excellent?" shop to keep track of.

P. le Pommier: Le Pommier

P. le Pommier is visiting Isetan, so, even though I've sampled them enough in the past to know that they aren't great, I also know they aren't bad and I have some respect for them, so I got their signature piece, the Le Pommier for 540 yen. Now, the shop is not trying to be that high-end, but rather more family friendly but still authentically French. They have three shops and get invited to Isetan, so they aren't doing to bad. This particular cake has a dacquoise base, which their website actually explains (it's hazelnut mixed with meringue, which is exactly what I've been making lately, only if you bake it long to caramelize it as I have, it becomes Japonaise instead), which is kind of nice but also a sign of the friendliness over sophisticated, which I would trade for the latter, although only if it came through in the cakes. Anyway, there are also a couple of hazelnuts on top, so the dark color of the base gives away the hazelnut powder, but it's a wet sponge in this case because the bulk is caramelized sautéd apple mousse and pretty loose and wet. There is a little chocolate ganache in between the mouse and dacquoise, but not so much, certainly not enough to form a barrier (although wet chocolate would not be a good idea). It is very good, put I can't say that I like it enough to call it excellent, that it's something I need to have again, though it has the advantage of being different from my usual stuff.

Sadaharu Aoki (Marunouchi): Zen, Cote d'Ivoire

Visited the cafe at Marunouchi today, which was almost empty at 3:30 pm on a rainy Monday. I had wanted to go to the café to get the Millefeuille Vanille, which is not available at Isetan. Instead, we got the Zen (which was supposedly an exclusive, but I've seen posts claiming Midtown sources, which is consistent with the way "exclusive" is used by Tokyo Patisserie) and Cote d'Ivoire, neither of which I expected to be my favorite, but they were both excellent.

The Zen was 891 yen with tax and is dominantly sesame paste, a really thick layer in mine, I think, compared to posts online, who are the source of my ingredient lists, although they were buying from different shops, so maybe the recipe varies, which would be interesting but inconvenient for trying to keep a record of who sells what, under what name, and how it is. Midtown and Paris posters agreed cognac, which I didn't notice (Paris poster claimed it was about triple the amount of a normal cake, basically killing it). Now, there is a green layer, which I assumed had green tea (which agrees with a different poster), though I couldn't say for sure I tasted that. Midtown poster claims chocolate cream, although maybe that was around the dark sesame part, and hazelnut biscuit. As I said, this was excellent, but I'm not convinced that I need a lot of sesame cakes, just like I don't need a lot of chestnut cakes. This is seasonal and was available only in August last year.

The Cote d'Ivoire is available at Isetan, but is a low priority for me because it's coconut, I've fairly sure, although the Sadaharu Aoki diary (in relation to a cooking class on it in 2010) only mentions passion fruit and white chocolate, which I can believe. The coconut is maybe just in the biscuit, and was not enough to kill it for me, but I would have preferred something else. Still, excellent for 780 yen including tax. Also seasonal, but was available June thru August last year.

This was a café, so double those prices to include the fruit tea. The Pomme Caramel is excellent, though. The Douce Fruits was not so exciting.

Très Calme: Ebene, Savarin Orange, Soleil

Over a couple days, I had a few more cakes from Très Calme, all good but none excellent. I also had the Mont Blanc again, which I might reclassify as excellent, but I should again emphasize that it is probably only excellent/great if you're not that into chestnut flavor, so the mildness in a meringue is a nice surprise.

The Ebene (my guess from the name  エベーヌ) is chocolate, like almost a block of chocolate on, although the bottom is not quite that hard, so I would probably a ganache, maybe with blackberry, since there is a blackberry on top and blackberry is not such a strong flavor that it would dominate chocolate. It's very similar to a chocolate tart. I've already thrown out all my receipts, but these were all 500+ yen with tax.

The Soleil was quick choice when I found out that there was no Mont Blanc. It is (mascarpone) cheese, I think with red fruit (strawberry and maybe raspberry shown). Also good. 

Finally, on the second day when we went back to get the promised Mont Blanc, we also go Savarin Orange. I hadn't see a Savarin in a class before, but obviously you need something to keep the rum in the sponge, so I have no objections and the orange worked well. Again, good.

Très Calme: Mont Blanc

Today, I tried this week's visiting patisserie at Isetan, which is new to me, P. Très Calme, and, because it was the chef's recommendation and meringue (also their #1 seller), got the Mont Blanc for 518 yen, even though usually I skip both short cakes and mont blancs when selecting first (or really up until almost everything else that I can probably call a) cake. This particular mont blanc, being chestnut meringue, had a very subtle chestnut flavor. Inside, was some cassis mousse, and maybe one actual fruit, though that might have just been the core of the mousse that only lightly touched the rest (my memory lasts only seconds). This worked very well for me, as someone who doesn't appreciate a heavy mont blanc, and I will say that was was great. I'll be sure to get back there while they are are easy walking range.

Arcachon: Puuruka

Keeping close to home and avoiding straining my knee (which I'll keep doing for another week and a half), I got a third cake from Arcachon. This one didn't work out so well. I wrote down "Puuruka", which was 480 yen. I let the nuts on top convince me. It's also got white, milk, and dark chocolate mousses, strawberry gelatin, and probably pistachio base. Even getting it home fairly quickly with 2 cold packs in the box, which I kept a while in the refrigerator, the base was still not firm enough to support it. It was not really well constructed and the flavors don't really add up to anything, so I'm going to have to say that it was just okay.

In fairness, I put carob powder in my cheesecake filling, which worked okay, which is to say, never do this, or at least not if you don't know what you're doing.

Palace Hotel Sweets & Deli: Caramel/Chocolate/Poire

Went to Cuoco at Mitsukoshi (where I essentially have a discount) to buy baking supplies. Didn't buy custard powder because I wanted more time to think about whether what they were selling was the same as what I was looking for. I problem is different translations into Japanese. I wasn't sure whether Fran Poudre was really the same as what they were selling, which was custard powder where you just need to add milk (well, heat is also probably necessary), whereas I had a recipe that requires pastry cream, which adds Fran Poudre to milk, cream, half a vanilla bean (which I also didn't buy), and a couple kinds of sugar. I need buy the cherry liquor for the corresponding recipe, but really I need to practice my Marjolaine first (for which I bought a fourth 14 cm tart form and another 100 g of hazelnut powder) and use up my praliné almonde before then, although I could use up the praline just as topping for brownies or baked cheesecake.

Following up on last week, I went to the nearest new place of the six, which was much farther than my left leg really wanted to go. This is the Palace Hotel Sweets & Deli. Not a huge selection, although comparable to a department store counter, and not a lot that attracted me. I kept it simple and went for the Caramel/Chocolate/Poire, for 648 yen. I'm going to say it was good, which is sort of giving them the benefit of the doubt, since it was not as sweet as I would like, I'm not that into pears, and I was disappointed by the soft biscuit rather than something crunchy. So, no reason to get back there, particularly.

Arcachon: Rose Pink

I kept things simple and went back to Arcachon at Isetan and got the Rose Pink (I think) for 540 yen. This is strawberry as the outer coating (just a couple millimeters) with the inside mascarpone cheese. I choose this just as the first cake in the lineup (although there are things I would have skipped with this strategy) and it is not something I would expect to be in the mood for, but actually it worked out well. It's not exciting again, but it was excellent for what it was, with the strawberry not too strong, and actually left me quite satisfied (and very full, since I ate it after lunch).

Arcachon: Equinox

Got my cake from Isetan again today, from the visiting shop, Arcachon. It was Equinox, for 500 yen, and seems to be tea cream inside chocolate mousse with a raspberry and mini blueberry macaron on top. Now, I thought there was blueberry inside, and maybe there was a subtle amount in the chocolate, but I'll need to go back to find out, which I intended to do because I've decided, partially from giving them the benefit of the doubt, that this was excellent. It's tiny, which is fine, put it puts some of the excellent shops in perspective, because they hold their cake sizes and just raise their prices as ingredient costs go up.

In other news, I've gone almost all the way with a cake recipe from my (the library's really) Super Patissier Book for "cake/batter/biscuit" (it's hard to translate "kiji" into English), which is by the Salon de thé Cerisier guy, where I've never been. There is some overlap between this and the SPB dictionary of "batter/cake", which is available in bookstores.

The first recipe, which was not the first I tried parts of, is the Marjolaine, which has a Japonaismasse (which is German) biscuit as the cake layers, between which it has ganache, creme praline, and creme chantilly. I don't do the creme chantilly for the top or the fancy decoration.

The biscuit is in the proportions 600 g egg white, 600 g granulated sugar, "appropriate" vanilla essence (so I skip, because I don't know, have, or care so much), 500 g hazelnut powder, 100 g of (not bread) flour and 200 g of powdered sugar. From my previous experience, I also add powdered egg white with the granulated sugar, because I can't make meringue without it. All the cakes in the beginning are nut-based biscuits as the cake theme. This makes 4 30-by-40 cm pans, which is 27 pieces of cake final 4-layer cake. For one 14 cm round tart form, which is what I've used, I only need 3% (18 g) of the base recipe, so one large egg is enough for two, and I can cut one in half, although I'd really like to get a fourth form and make all four layers together. Really, you are supposed to cut after you assemble and freeze.

As I was saying, you make a meringue with the egg white and graduated sugar (plus 5-15% of egg white power by weight of egg white, depending on the season) and whip it until the peaks just bend a little before cutting in the other ingredients, which should be sifted (I've got two sifters now, a big one for flour and powdered sugar and a tiny with big homes for nut powders). Then I spread it carefully in oil-sprayed and bread-floured 14 cm tart forms and bake for 30 minutes at 170 deg C in my convection oven (the recipe says 180 deg C, which is edible, but seems overly burnt, but the normal -10 deg C for a convention oven seems to work out).

The ganache for this is 150 g milk, which you boil (which seems extreme, but this is pretty much my first experience with ganache) and then add 300 g of 66% cacao chocolate and then 45 g of rum. For the creme praline, you need 600 g 38% fat cream and 200 g praline almonde (the paste). You combine and whip 7 minutes (or maybe the Japanese means seven-tenths), which means until paste-like. For the creme chantilly, you also need 600 g of 38 % fat cream and 40 g of granulated sugar and otherwise do the same thing. If you made topping, you would need another 150 g of 45% cream and 21 g of granulated sugar and do the same thing, plus some red food coloring and chocolate powder or something. The cake is assembled bottom to top, biscuit, filling, biscuit, filling, ..., so it gets thicker but lighter as you go up; but I couldn't pile the creme praline that high, so that's the one thing I left over of. Actually, I made extra fillings for the first try, so all the fillings were at refrigerator temperature this time, which is not actually part of the recipe. I'm thinking I'm put the creme praline in the freezer next time for long enough to get it thick enough to support the top two layers.

As a said at the beginning, after assembling, you put it in the freezer to harden before cutting, and of course, before eating. The first time, I just cut one biscuit disk into fourths, but this time I cut two disks into halves, so I'll try to actually cut that into two little pieces when it's ready. I'm not ready to take a picture.