Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin over Dalloyau's Croquant Fraise

Monday, I did a cake-off with what I could get together on a Monday afternoon. I first picked up Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raison on the way back from the airport. I was thinking that I could get a cake from BE, but they were closed down for walk-in cake for weekdays (which they had announced and I forgot), so I ended up cruising south in the late afternoon searching for a matching cake. I had to try two more shops, but found Croquant Fraise at the Jiyuugaoka Dalloyau. This was for a 4th-round cake-off for two wins to one loss. However, as it happens, these are both rather weak entries to the great list, or at least the Rhum Raisin failed to impress me last time as deserving to be among the greats, so it needed recognition this time to stay. It got it: I appreciated its simplicity and how filled a niche. The Croquant Fraise also fills a niche, being an excellent balance of tastes and textures, except I should remove the croquant part as early as possible, because it tends to soak up moisture too quickly as take-out. I actually had more trouble with that the previous time (now I remember), but the Rhum Raisin has the edge regardless. I maintain my respect for both these cakes. 

P. Mont Plus: 4 cakes

Sunday, I went to one of the few shops with eat-in open, Mont Plus, a shop with some history, I think. For eat in, we got two cakes: Optomiste and Chiboust Paysanne. Naturally, I choose the chiboust. It was a standard (sauteed) apple chiboust with chiboust cream and sour cream, and was excellent. 

The other was also very nice, with caramelized butter cream and walnuts in a rum raisin cake. I'm calling the Optomiste semi-excellent, at least for my companion. 

These were good enough to get two more for take out, which is more important than my vague memory. Neither was chosen by me. One was Valencia. This is a (soft?) meringue cake with almond, orange mousse, and orange pieces. I recall it being

quite nice, so I'm also putting it down as semi-excellent. 

And the last one was an Ali-Baba, which I'll also say was semi-excellent, because it was at least that, but I should probably have both these again and update the entry. I guess I need to visit Kobe more and speed up my updates.

Blogger has updated, and now trying to edit labels destroys the file, so no labels. I'm try to update them later when I figure out how to get the old interface.

 

L'Avenue: Vivienne, Mode, and L'orangerie

Vivienne, by L'Avenue

Saturday, I went to the correct shop, and I didn't go alone, so it was three cakes for two people. We got the Vivienne, Mode, L'orangerie. These were all a huge improvement on Friday's cake, so I was satisfied.

L'orangerie, by L'Avenue

I think the better ones were Mode and L'orangerie, so I'm recording those as semi-excellent, but the Vivienne was definitely good. For Kobe, this makes this shop of special note, though my resurvey has not extended far yet.

Mode, by L'Avenue

Akito, Marjolaine and Saint-Marc

Friday, I got two cakes to go for two from Akito. Actually, I had misunderstood where I was supposed to go for cakes, but I had been here once before the cake was at least good. This time I got to classics, Saint-Marc and Marjolaine. Or at least, I expected these to be classics (or maybe they are and I've been eating the modern improvements), but the Saint-Marc had really thick sponge layers (more sponge than cream), which I could never imagine as an improvement. it wasn't bad, just the diluted the taste of the cake from somewhat subtle to completely bland, so I can't say this was more than okay.

I'm not sure what was going on with the Marjolaine, which broke into dry pieces when cut and didn't have much texture, like there was no egg white in the biscuit, maybe; something seemed weird, anyway. Now I'm going to have to get abvt's version to remember what can be great about a marjolaine. Also only okay.

I assume that these were exactly as designed and I just don't like the style of cakes so much, but either way I need to stay away from this place, I guess.

Ladurée, Saint-Honoré Rose Framboise

My last cake, bought and eaten, of the weekend was a new cake from a reopened shop on the exceptional list, Ladurée. Usually I would buy from Ginza Mitsukoshi, which was still closed, so this is from the Aoyama shop, which also has indoor and outdoor eat-in space, which was in use, though I got take-out. This was the only new cake, as they were keeping their line-up lean for the first weekend reopening in a neighborhood that's still mostly closed. It is the Saint-Honoré Rose Framboise. I like saint-honoré, but I've had one from them before, and the pastry is different from what I'm used to. For example, the large bottom is flaky, which seems impossible, though I haven't experimented with choux pastry that much. Anyway, the rose and raspberry flavors were sufficient rich, that I forgave them this time and allowed that maybe this pastry could be allowed, at least enough to call this an excellent cake.

I had after an evening running where I got maybe 60% through my 13 km neighborhood running course around Daikanyama. I was coming up to a turn and noticing a red brick tower in the distance ahead and had trouble thinking what building by the station it might beyond to. Then I noticed a cross on top and realized that I had missed a church on a side street. It's a nice building, too, though there a couple bigger ones in this neighbor (which has more churches than any other I know in Japan), so I was happy to find it, and quite my run, went back to my bicycle, and got some photos I was missing for Shibuya sites.

Il Pleut sur la Seine, Today's Cake

Visiting exceptional shops, I hit Il Pleut sur la Seine second on Sunday, which opened after being closed from the beginning of the state of emergency being declared, I think. I got "Today's Cake", which was how it was labeled. I asked the name and they told me, but I've forgotten, something not helpful or original, 1 word, like "seduction" or "satisfaction", but neither of those, I think. Anyway, I don't think it's a regular, although it s standard type I've seen elsewhere and once thought was great: it's three layers of bitter, milk, and white chocolate. Really, my tastes have moved on, so I should no better. It's not cheap, either. Of course, it is well made with good ingredients, so it was good, but it didn't make me want to return soon.

Bien-être, Shimanami Lemon Fromage

Sunday, I visited some places I haven't been to for a while, first by running and then walking a loop. There was more running in the late afternoon. First, I visited Bien-être. I got a late start and arrived at noon, but no line fortunately (one person ahead of me and one person showed up just behind me). There was one new cake, Shimanami Lemon Fromage, Shimanami being a major (maybe the largest) lemon producer in Japan. This seems to be basically a lemon meringue tart, so I assume the cheese is the base for the lemon part.

On my route, as a last stop, I got a pastry for the road, my first from Atsushi Hatae. Rather than struggle on what to get, I went with my standard pastry, the Pain au Chocolat. It was tricky to find a place to eat it, but there is a kind of park-like area long Shibuya River; lighting wasn't idea, but my seat was precarious. I'm calling this excellent. It's fluffier than I consider ideal, but beautifully constructed, and it was fresh and had delicious chocolate, which they don't always have.

The Shiamanami Lemon Fromage cake was also excellent, after lunch. It was not particularly cheesy, but tasted like a normal lemon meringue tart. Among lemon tarts, though, it was less tart in flavor (and thus didn't need as much sugar to balance it) as the most traditional ones, but not as mild as ones that substitute Yuzu or something else, which are usually too mild for me. It is still challenging for a position in the superb group, so once they get a new cake, I can try another one, though how long that will take, I don't know. Maybe whenever they replace this one, since it's obviously seasonal. In other good news, their regular baked chocolate cake is back, so I can do a cake-off with it.

Sadly, Kantou remains under a state of emergency, so I'm not going to see department stores open up this weekend here. Kansai, on the other hand, is opening up, but I don't think I'm going to get to Kyoto or Osaka.

Ryoura, Marquise

Saturday, as well as the Mont-Blanc for the cake-off, I bought a second cake at Ryoura for efficiency/social distancing's sake, since I expected getting more cakes from Ryoura, a quite exceptional shop, would be the next thing, since I was about to catch up on exceptional shops. However, the demotion of the Mont-Blanc actually meant that Ryoura was at the bottom of the quite exceptional group and likely to get replaced by one of two up-and-comers, so the 19th new cake is maybe several years ahead of its time, or at least I'll have to consider carefully after the next cake-off win whether the reward has already been given, but that's not likely to be until next year until the caramel salt tart finally returns: I'll have to watch for hints online, since I don't expect to get out that way.

Last time I went with a variation of a cake I've had before, so this time I choose something I definitely not had, Marquise, which is white peach flavored and, I was warned, has alcohol. The flavor was nice, but as the shape suggests, this requires a good amount of gelatin to maintain form and the resulting texture didn't agree with me, though I've had similar cakes that were excellent. In this cake, good as the best I'm willing to say, but I can certainly imagine someone else appreciating this cake more, as it is well made.

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.

Ryoura, Éclair Jardinage

Tuesday, I ran out to Youga again, this time for new cake. Even more crowded than before, with children literally stepping on me in a line that was not following social distancing, but how much can I complain about whole families crowding into a small shop (which at least was making people line up outside, but only to the point that people inside could have avoided physically touching each other, except for the little kids dashing around) when I didn't urgently need cake from there, just it was on my list and open. (If Sadaharu Aoki had been open, I would have gone there, though eventually I would have visited Ryoura again).

Backing up, I stopped for a pastry at Bigarreaux. I wanted their almond croissant, but they didn't have that. Instead, I got their Kouign Amann, which was different. It was a loosely packed, so to speak, as they go, and inside there was actual melted butter, in liquid form, which I've never had in one of these butter cakes. I'm going to have to say it was great just because I've never had another like it and it was worth having again and comparing to other types.

Back to Ryoura, I survived with no problems so far and got as my new cake one of their Éclair Jardinage, one of two types of eclair currently running, eclair being one of their regular things, and I've had an excellent one before. The major ingredients of this one, besides the pastry, are pistachio and tayberry, though there is some strawberry. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too excited by this. Maybe tayberry is too subtle for me. Still, it was good, so I'm sticking with Ryoura as a quite exceptional shop.

One note is I walked home, which was a mistake, though one I mad the day before. That time it was after quite a long run. This time, just a fairly straight run to Ryoura, but walking uses different movements and is hard on my hip and feet. The next day I jogged both ways (though to a nearer shop), which turned out much better, and I could even still run in the evening (though thunder sent me hope early).

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Printanière

Got an early start, about 8 am, with the intention to try the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisu-Nishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. I'm not too surprised that I failed, though large parts of it are unchanged. It's up to 13 km now and I did most of it before I saw that I had skipped a cafe in a religious bookstore; it was on the map, but I needed to make a little loop around it at around halfway. Otherwise, I made some on-the-fly changes, which would have be fine (I knew the official route, but could see how it needed to be fixed). Will try again tomorrow if I wake up early, which I tend to do. On the way, and only 30 minutes out (which wasn't that early with my breakfast before 6 am), I tried a Croissant d'Almonde (not sure if that was the name they used), from the Crossroad Bakery over in Ebisu-Nishi. They require a drink to eat in, so I got takeout and ducked into a garage next door to get out of the rain and maintain social distancing from anyone using the sidewalk, though the streets were pretty empty everywhere I went, except maybe near the supermarket coming back. The Croissant was the kind I liked: baked through, not wet. Definitely good, but didn't seem like the best I've had, or I'm just not into this particular pastry now. I didn't bother to get a picture.

After finding where I went wrong, at around 10:20, I had an hour plus walk (I had had enough running) to Jiyuugaoka, where I got a new cake from Paris S'éveille: Tarte Printanière (Spring Tart). This is a cherry compote tart (with a lot of cherry) as a base and I think almond and pistachio paste/top. I'm not that into cherry, but I'm trying to have an open mind. Certainly, appreciate the nuts and it's a quality tart, so I have to say it's excellent. I'll look forward to the next tart, if that's what comes next, but I'm up to day now, so probably I won't have anything to get from this this month unless it's for a cake-off, but next one with them probably won't be until August.

I also got a Croissant from them (which I ate immediately coming home, whereas the cake was after the first half of lunch), which I've give them the benefit of the doubt and say was excellent. Unless I want to include their brioche, I might be up to date surveying their pastries, though there are probably some pastry-like baked goods that I could retry, but don't necessarily need to be fresh, which is my excuse for revisiting shops for pastries.

Cake-off: Ryoura's Soyeux over Pierre Gagnaire's Mousse au Chocolat et Yuzu

Trying to catch up through May cakes, I did a fourth round with the recent Mousse au Chocolat et Yuzu, which is two for three rounds. Next in line to match it (chronologically by month then year), was Ryoura's Soyeux. I ran for the mousse cake and then walked it carefully back. Since I wasn't sure what the situation would be with Soyeux (so I might have to search for a replacement), I went by bicycle, even though I knew transporting it home safely would be a challenge that way. No problem with Soyeux, except Yoga's shopping street is crowded and customers in the shop weren't into the whole social distancing thing, nor was staff limiting people coming in. After a month of "stay at home", adherence seems to be dropping, as is the usage of masks (though that might be related to the heat). Anyway, I escape as soon as I could and carefully got my cake home.

The mousse was as always, so no complaints there, but I'm more interested in pistachio these days, plus the Soyeux offered more variation in texture, between the pistachio mousse and the crumble and fruit inside, so it's not hard to give the win to Soyeux, even though it isn't the strongest cake (it's only lost once, but to a cake that's only two and two).

Afternoon, I tried to do the Nogizaka--Roppongi Sta. clump, but failed trying to do the new Akasaka west loop counterclockwise where I had to cut through basically the driveway of apartment building, which there is more than one. Hopefully I recognize it next time, maybe tomorrow. Abandoning that project, I spent time in south Roppongi taking photos (or not) to confirm (or not) sites for that future part revised part of the neighborhood course.

En Vedette, Macaron Printemps

Only yesterday, when I was busy in the morning, I did a run out to Miyoshi (where the parks have lots of people, unlike more local parks, which have been taped off) to get a new cake from En Vedette. This time I went for a cake that was actually marked as new, Macaron Printemps, and took the last one on display. We're in the final month of strawberry season, apparently, and strawberries are the most popular fruit (apparently there are more Japanese varieties than any other country's, though China has the biggest production), so no surprise that this is full of strawberries.

Starting with the positive, I walked the cake all the way back, but first had a Pain au Chocolat, also from En Vedette. My breakfast was long before I set out, so I was pretty hungry, which might be why I found this pastry relatively light (so easy to eat), but I believe it was excellent.

Actually, I'm not so hot on this cake. I don't like my macarons too soft, even though that's a deliberate goal for some macaron desserts. The strawberries were fine (I have no idea what variety) and it's reasonable to call it good, but I would steer clear of similar cakes, given a choice. Still, they call all please me and this shop is still in line to be promoted. I'll probably get there back for a new cake.

The running was in the evening, where I finished off confirming my revisions to three of the loops at the corner of Omote-Sandou.

Pierre Gagnaire, Crème de Fraises et Citron

The midweek cake for the midweek holiday was Crème de Fraises et Citron from Pierre Gagnaire, where everything was 20% off. Hope they're still in business for my next cake-off. As the name implies, this is basically just cream flavored with lemon and strawberry, with a thin sablé cookie underneath and some sheet chocolate to fence it in. But again, its a collection of good stuff that works together, so I'm happy to call it an excellent cake.

I ran in the afternoon on neighborhood courses around Omote-Sandou, where I've had to revise the loops to the north, east, and south loops due to finding additional sites. I decided to dump a park site that's attached to a public housing area that's now fenced off, probably about to be torn down, now that they're done with the south half, in order to simply the north loop somewhat. Looking ahead, the next Saturday, I finally got them all sorted out and confirmed clockwise and counterclockwise, so I can move on to other things. I'm mention, that I decided I shouldn't discriminate against the fast food places if they have takeout desserts, so I added McDonald's (okay syrupy apple pie), Freshness Burger (okay poundcake), and Mos Burger (frozen mini cheesecakes). I'm adding a couple cafes as well, if I can ever catch them open (if they are open during the state of emergency).

L'Abricotier, Fraisier

Sunday, my goal was just one cake, since I knew I'd have the coming Wednesday off, so I could get one cake during the week. As a challenger for promotion to superb, I got a 24th new cake from L'Abricotier; learning somewhat from the day before, I ran there and mostly walked it back, so it was mostly in good shape. Really, I need to walk my cakes back or use the trains (which are pretty empty these days, so they feel pretty safe, but I should still walk if I can) to maintain photo quality. This was another one of those I-can't-believe-I-haven't-had-this-yet cakes. It's a standard cake various places. On one hand, it's just a way to eat custard and strawberries in cake form, but on the other hand, there isn't anything wrong with that in principle, and I had to admit at the end that it was excellent. Still not the first thing I would go for elsewhere, but I respect it as a reliable standard.

The afternoon was me exploring/practicing the revised neighborhood course around Daikanyama, where there were way too many people out on the north side for a state of emergency, including a pack of about 7 elementary school kids, a procession of three foreign teens girls on bikes without masks, and a lot of people at the restaurants by the main area video/bookstore. I think I'll choose a different time of day than lunch time next time I run through there.

En Vedette, Fromage Blanche

Saturday's other cake (cutting down on trips) was Fromage Blanche (I know, but that's the logical interpretation of the phonetic Japanese; if only there was some Chou pastry, it could be Fromage Blanc Chou). White cheese is pretty tasteless, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the raspberry was just the right amount, and cheese mousse has a great texture, so I'm much more confident calling this excellent than the previous cheese cake I reported. Also, it didn't suffer from the travel by bicycle as much as other cakes last Saturday.