Bel Amer: Caramel Amer

Working my way through the list of possible quite good shops/brands that I have only evaluated two cakes from, I went to Isetan and got a cake from Bel Amer. As expected, they were busy with chocolate sales, but they still had a supply of chocolate cakes. I choose the Caramel Amer. I thought later that I should have checked whether it was bitter or sweet caramel, but chocolate was obviously dominate, so I figured I didn't have to worry about it.

For the run, I did clockwise around the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu loop (the first time in the current version) and the Nishi-Azabu northwest loop, no problems, other than taxis that don't stop where they are supposed to (the latter is the most dangerous loop in that respect, I think). With the run to a suitable start point and a shopping detour, it was quite a long run. Also, I decided I should add a couple sites further up Aoyama-doori Avenue around Gaien, though I'm not sure when I'll get over there next in the day time to take the photos.

The cake was very good. It could come from Amer's deli/coffee shop back home, though it would be much bigger in that case. The caramel is not a very dramatic accent to the chocolate, so I didn't have to worry about my dislike for bitter caramel. It's sort of a dense café cake and would probably benefit from a whipped cream topping, which I'm not prepared to provide at home. As it is, this shop probably won't make the cut to stay in quite good.