Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Saint Honoré Caramel over Origines Cacao's Tarte Caramel Chocolat

Started off trying to get a cake from JPH at Isetan for a cake-off, but they've changed the line-up mid-February, despite what I was told in January. Unfortunately, the change doesn't bring back one that I was looking for, but I'm not sure how stable the line-up is now, so I should probably check to see whether they slip anything else in in coming weeks before the text announced change (Tonka remains).

I stuck with my plan for the other cake in the cake-off, the Paris S'éveille's Saint Honoré Caramel. On the way, I dropped by the Tokyo Mid-Town JPH, just in case they had it (that was where they told me, after a long search through records, that it would be around until Feb. 28), they had switched the line-up there too. I also stopped at the chocolate shop Chapon and saw that that it had some café customers, so I guess they're okay. For the Paris S. cake, it's hard to get because they make it in the afternoon (when I asked once, they said could get it it 1 pm, but it seemed like even that was hurrying things), apparently. This time I was there just after 14:00, and there were a couple left, so they don't seem excited about making a lot of them. For convenience, I went to the opposite end of the shopping area there in Jiyuugaoka and got the Tarte Caramel Chocolat from Origines Cacao.

I was not thinking ahead of time that I wanted to compare two caramel cakes, but that's the way it turned out. It took a little bit to recognize the greatness, but I definitely got there with Saint Honoré Caramel by half way through. Usually I can judge each cake on its merits, but I think the fact that I had the saint honoré Caramel meant that it was harder to appreciate the Tarte Caramel Chocolat. It's definitely excellent, but I didn't feel that the chocolate was especially complementary to the caramel, whereas the small amount of nuts with the saint honoré were. I just don't need the former if I have the latter. However, the tart won its previous round, so it will get another chance in the third round. So the Saint Honoré Caramel gets its second cake-off win in a row and I'll probably get to its third round within the next month or so. As far as a follow-up to Paris S., I was one cake ahead (some weekend when I didn't have another distance shop in mind) already, and the three untested cakes  I saw today were all coffee-flavored, so I think I'll wait a while.