Frédéric Cassel, Roulé Pêche

As I mentioned in the previous post, I got a Frédéric Cassel, Roulé Pêche on Sunday, as my third cake. This is a peach role cake with cream and mascarpone cheese (a common ingredient at FC). The description doesn't indicate anything about the biscuit part, but it seems less spongy that roll cake usually is, so I suspect some almond powder. It it may just because it includes a crust, whereas usually they cut that off. Anyway, I think it's an improvement and the peach goes well and is a nice variation, so I can say this was excellent, which might be a first time for saying that about a roll cake.

On the running front, I think that was the day I tried the full cake shop neighbor route I've constructed, which extends from southwest Yotsuya Sta., past Sendagaya Sta. and around the park to southeast Shinjuku/Shinjuku San-choume Sta. It's about 12 km and covers 16 neighborhoods (though there are fewer than 16 cake shop sites and it doesn't actually enter every neighborhood, unlike the Top site course). Friday night covered a longer course, 16 km 20 neighborhoods. More recently, I'm working on a major park (namely, the ones with toilets) neighbor course, though I'm working late and haven't even done the part I know.

Cake-off: Bien-être's Mont-Blanc over Au Bon Vieux Temps' Chocolat Framboise

Sunday, I went out by bicycle, as a little cross-training is good, plus it was predicted to be around 30 degC, although it wasn't sunny, so it didn't seem especially hot on a bicycle. The goal was to get cakes for a third-round cake-off, which I'm still trying to finish off: I'm up to October at the same time I'm current on the fourth-round. This time was between two one and one cakes. I started by going to Au Bon Vieux Temps to get Chocolat Framboise, as the far point. I got few hundred meters and I was thinking I would visit Paris S. nearby, and realized that I hadn't actually looked carefully at ABVT, so I went back and confirmed that the two great cakes I haven't seen for a while there still aren't there, whereas the other one I have is there, ready for its next round. At PS, I saw they had a new cake, so I made a plan to visit Sunday, but kept to the schedule to go up to Bien-être to get their Mont-Blanc, which they always have (and it was early enough that they we're close to selling out). They seemed to have three new cakes, but (looking ahead) one had disappeared the next day and one turned out to be a known cake by a different name. Still, I should get the Melon Shortcake soon, before it's gone.

Got home and had lunched and then went out again, this to to Ginza Mitsukoshi to get what I missed the previous weekend, special croissants from Frédéric Cassel, by #2 shop. These just started last weekend, only on the weekend, don't start selling until noon, and were sold-out last Sunday before 3 pm. I got the regular Croissant and the Croissant aux Almondes. While I was there, and because I've been busy during the week and gotten into the habit of squeezing all my cakes into the weekend (plus I'll be busy next weekend), I also got a new cake, though I was surprised that they had two. My choice was two cakes similar to ones I just had, but that's not much of a problem with a shop this good. I went with the Roulé Pêche, though I'll get to that in a different post.

The croissants came with instructions for heating them up, so I followed them, even though usually I prefer not to, as I'm not so much into the soft croissant. I have a regular oven rather than a toaster over, so I went with 150 degC, which seemed about right. These were both excellent, I can say, and certainly high quality, but didn't convince me that FC's viennoiserie should be that high a priority, though these were only the 2nd and 3rd of those, since usually they stick with cake and packaged things (and macarons). Still, after their cakes, these are the best I've found from them so far, but usually (when they aren't closed for two months), I don't have trouble satisfying myself with just cakes from them.

Having put it off to the end, as my might have noticed from the photo, the Chocolat Framboise was a little worse for wear: the top of the brownie shifted off the rest of the base and circled, so I had to shift it back and break it up a little to get it back together. Probably not a big deal, since the different parts don't hold together under cutting anyway, so I don't think it affected the texture. Still, I have to acknowledge that, as I have having trouble feeling the greatness this time. It's appear is chocolate and raspberry, of course, a little strong on the raspberry and definitely rich with the chocolate on top, with the brownie base there to keep it grounded. Still excellent, but I'm not sure. The Mont-Blanc, which doesn't have any obvious tricks or accents, like currant or meringue, and yet still great. I think maybe there is liquor or something that vaporizes so that you get a lot of flavor in the back of your mouth. Despite moving to lose some excess mont-blanc from the greats list, this one definitely stays, and should see a fourth round this year, since it's only got one loss.

Sadaharu Aoki, Chou au Mâtcha

I'll make an attempt to finally catch up, and start with the picture of the cake so it shows up at the top when I do a search (I give the cake in the post title, but then I have to actually read). I didn't get my second cake of the weekday until Thursday. I ran every day, though.

Tuesday, I ran down to Lattest, a latte shop on Jinguumai Shopping Street. They close at 7 pm, and were closed during most of the emergency. Cookies come from a jar rather than a wrapper, but I don't know the actual source. At 400 yen, not cheap, but certainly big. They also have a pound cake and a muffin. I would say this was excellent, as cookies go, on the hard side, to maintain shape, but not too hard. Either that day or the next day I went on to shop for nuts and garlic and did a long run back with a heavy pack.

Wednesday, I went to the same street and stopped a few doors down at Neko Neko Shokupan, where they were sold out of their signature item, of course, but they had the French toast version. Even that was very soft, softer than bread really should be for French toast, but still good.

Thursday, I went to Isetan, where my plan was to get a cake-off winner cake from PH, or a repeat cake from JPH, but Sadaharu Aoki had a something I couldn't find any record of having had (despite conflicting memories), so I got the Chou au Mâtcha shown above. It like their usual cream puff, not the "Chou Ginza" ones at Mitsukoshi now. This was definitely excellent, with a nice rich custard balanced by the pastry and definitely flavored with powdered green tea. Unless you really had green tea, it's worth a try, and if you really love it, you shouldn't miss it.

I'll mention that on Friday I ran for 2 hours (though not quickly in the heat, humidity, and mask) to do my recently created top sites neighborhood running course from Yotsuya Sta. to Shinjuku Sta. and down as far as Jinguumae 2. I need to not wear those shoes for that long a run again: they're too light and old and my right foot is not so good.

Lenôtre, Verrine Baba Agrume

Monday, wanting to fit in a couple weekday cakes this week (since I was busy this weekend), I did my first run to Ginza Mitsukoshi and was somewhat successful. I wanted to get a cake from Lenôtre, which has two seasonal cakes that I haven't tried yet. I could get my preferred choice, but I figured that I would get to both eventually, so no worries. I got the Verrine Baba Agrume, which is a baba in a glass with lots of fruit, specifically orange, pear, and Japanese apricot. While verrine and baba aren't my preference, I found the abundance of a fruit an improvement over my previous similar cake and can say that this was definitely good. Actually, this puts the shop in danger from challengers below, so I'm not sure that I'll actually get to the other cake, but there are also cake-offs coming up, so I remain optimistic.

Sadaharu Aoki, Hassaku Passion

Sadaharu Aoki: Hassaku Passion

My running Sunday night was actually to get more cake, which was less ambitious than I originally planned, though I wasn't expecting to be successful, since it was late on a Sunday, when everything is usually sold-out. I went to the south Tokyo Sta. area and naturally went first to the Sadaharu Aoki main shop. I was looking for their yearly exclusive, which I still haven't gotten, even though the year starts in April. I did get something that they just promoted again, but I could have gotten to Isetan, if I were more patient, Hassaku Passion, which is hassaku orange (which is a Japanese variety which is apparently somewhat grapefruit like) and passion fruit on a coconut accented sablé. The description makes clear that it is mild, which it is, so not really my thing, but good.

Frédéric Cassel, Jardin d'été

The other cake I got in the running on the afternoon of Sunday from Frédéric Cassel was Jardin d'été, which poses a problem, as it seems to be exactly the same as Fraisier, which I just confirmed was a great cake, only with different fruit. The different fruits are at least as good, probably better, so I guess this one qualifies as a great cake too, which is not after all a problem, except I still need a cake from another shop to do a first-round cake-off.

Frédéric Cassel, Roulé Fraise Vanille

Frédéric Cassel: Roulé Fraise Vanille

Sunday, I had just enough time in the afternoon to run to Ginza Mitsukoshi and get some cake for two. Since I'm "behind" on Frédéric Cassel, I got two cakes from them. Actually, my plan had been to get two croissant from them, but they sold out by the third hour, so I'll have to try again next weekend. One cake I knew about, Roulé Fraise Vanille, so I'll start with that. Obviously, a strawberry roll cake with vanilla. It's a fairly fine cake, versus very spongy. In this case, that probably was good, since it's a high-end cake, though for simple roll cakes, I prefer the spongier. It was definitely good, but didn't convert me to a roll cake fan. Of course, that's only based on the second half of the cake.

Kyobashi Sembikiya, Fruits Savarin

Saturday, I was busy, but was offered cake, and I guess I was tired, because I accepted buying at Odakyu rather than going to Isetan, just because it was too hard to think what I wanted at Isetan (whereas I know there's nothing I want at Odakyu). Anyway, Kyobashi Sembikiya is not bad, so we got a couple things, including, I think Fruits Savarin. Note that this had no alcohol taste, just fruit, but otherwise was reasonably good. The other is a melon bavarois, which could be an ingredient of cake, but here is just cream, so I'm not keeping track of it. It was fine, and the melon was more memorable than the other fruit, at least.

Viron, Rouge

Last week, wasn't quite so late, so one day, I managed to get to Viron early enough to get cake, though I failed three days with Sadaharu Aoki and F. Cassel. Actually, even that one cake was one cake ahead, but since I expected to busy the next week, and it felt like Tokyo could go back into shutdown, it was justified. Actually, this was the cake I expected to get on Sunday, but I found something else. This time I was getting from the Marunouchi shop, which is more focused on the restaurant side, so maybe they don't have as many take-out cakes. Anyway, it's Rouge, which is obviously a fruity cake, and obviously has some gelatin, from the shape. An unusual point is that this is coconut cream, rather than some other medium. The fruit is specifically raspberry, I think. The reality isn't so exciting or different from other fruit dome cake, but it was good.

Viron, Abricot Amande

Last Sunday, I did an early run to Viron before my 10 am appointment. The Shibuya shop opens at 9 am and had a cake I was not expecting, the Abricot Amande (or maybe it was Apricot Almond or some mixture of French, English, and Japanese). I also got a pastry, since they've had pretty nice ones so far. I went with the big Croissant Amande, which is a meal by itself, appropriate since I hadn't eaten since the night before. The croissant was excellent, so I'll keep getting fresh pastries from their as I have the opportunity.

The cake was definitely good, and certainly had a traditional feel. Not exciting, but nice, and I could see trying to pair it with a nice English tea, if I wasn't always moving on to the next new thing.

Cake-off: Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille over Michalak's Mont-Blanc

Last Sunday, I had a 4th round cake-off between Michalak's Mont-Blanc, which was next up based on when I first sampled it (though it's actually available year round), paired against another Isetan great cake with two wins to one loss, Pierre Hermé's Tarte Infiniment Vanille. These were definitely both great, so it's hard to decide, but I'm going with the Tarte Infiniment Vanille, which might be my favorite vanilla cake of Tokyo, though there is one more contender for that title. Maybe it will get resolved in next year's cake-offs. The Mont-Blanc, though was still great. It's distinction is a little chocolate, I think, which mellows the chestnut.

Lenôtre, Schuss Citron

The third cake of last Satuday was from Lenôtre, which saw En Vedette's challenge fade. Also, Ginza Mitsukoshi being closed was not helping. There are three seasonal cakes for the summer, and I took my best shot at Schuss Citron, which is cheese mousse with lemon cream in a 6-layer cake. This was definitely excellent, and really better than I expected, frankly. Lemon as a flavoring to cheesecake is not so innovative, but it works and I liked the cheese mousse and somewhat mild flavor even though I would expect dense cheesecake to suit me best, or at least one that depended more on sugar. Very nice, but still overpriced, so be aware. I look forward to getting another cake from them, maybe next weekend.

Pierre Gagnaire, Éclair Fraise Pistache

I'm falling behind again, but last Saturday I visitied Pierre Gagnaire's pastry and bread shop again, which has a very limited selection, but apparently I hadn't had their Éclair Fraise Pistache yet, or any éclair from them. Not sure whether it's reasonable to want a harder/crispier pastry, but it was fine. The mixture of strawberry and pistachio was definitely nice, but what really did it for me was an abundance of honey/sugar pistachios. Really, it would be bad if I had a bag of those, because they would disappear really quickly.

Sadaharu Aoki, Chou Ginza Vanille

Trying to catch up, I'm trying to get two post in before sleep, so let me mention Saturday. Saturday was rain most of the day, so I walked to Ginza Mitsukoshi via Pierre Gagnaire starting around 9 am, looked around at Marunouchi at the usual places (Viron and main shop of Sadaharu Aoki, which hadn't opened for the day yet), and came back. In the evening, I ran my new top sites route on the neighborhood running map, which I had only developed as far as the northeast tip of Sendagaya. Still, that was almost 1.5 hours, so enough with light rain, wearing a mask, and having walked at least the same duration in the morning.

But back to catching up, after scoring three cakes (since I was trying to get specific cakes and don't know when things are going to get shut down again, with Tokyo one case short of the re-evaluation level the next day), my shut-down all cakes on the weekend strategy is continuing. Coming back, I ate one of these after a half lunch, the Chou Ginza Vanille from Sadaharu Aoki, the last of the current special chuu cream selection at their Ginza counter that will continue through August (Tokyo Sta. area shops supporting each other, I suspect, as one shop doesn't usual dominate that counter for that long). This time, I knew what to expect from the Chou Ginza Vanille, so I wasn't disappointed. Not sure that the chou pastry is my favorite type, but it's fine and the filling is good, so this was definitely good.

En Vedette, Cocoanana

After a long week of mostly long work days (except Monday and Friday, which is the reverse of usual), I took advantage of the reopening of Shibuya Scramble Square and its relatively late hours even under pandemic conditions (compared to local department stores), and got a new cake from En Vedette, which is challenging the quite exceptional shop list. This time I got new cake Cocoanana as (maybe, I'm suspecting I'm overlooking one) the 16th cake from there. Note to parse as Coco+Anana, as in coconut and pineapple, though there is also, I think some passion fruit sauce. The coconut aspect was fine, but pineapple cake isn't so exciting. Good, but it's starting to look doubtful that the shop will get a promotion. Still, they have a great cake that's only done one round, so I'd probably get back there soon regardless, if I can get two new great cakes available and the same time.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Verrine Framboise Litchi

As with other cakes last Sunday, the evaluation is based on half, in this case of something that is pretty small to begin with. This is Jean-Paul Hévin, again from Ginza Mitsukoshi (I was busy, and bought everything in one go) chocolate mousse with raspberry and lychee: Verrine Framboise Litchi. I can that it was excellent, keeping in mind that it's a verrine, so only marginally cake. Nevertheless, it holds of the standard of JPH.

I'll insert here, that there was running, probably in the neighborhood. I'm mostly abandoned my old neighborhood maps for the time, or at least the routes, as I try to great more reasonal paths, plus I worked late most days, so I had less than am hour run. Mostly I ran in the Yotsuya San-choume Sta. south areas, either along a path connecting up the 4 cake shops or the top site course, that includes whatever I judge the most worth visiting in each neighborhood, down to the choume level, which includes some but not all the cake shops. I'm still refining the course, and have it down to the part north of and immediately north of Sendagaya wrapping around to the extreme southeast of Shinjuku Sta., and I've identified the sites down through Jinguumae, but not completely gotten the course yet.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Guayaquil over Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier

Ginza Mitsukoshi with a line before the start.

Did a shared cake-off last Sunday, so I was basing on half a cake, which probably matters, but is not so important. This top it was cakes from the top two cake shops, both a Ginza Mitsukoshi, and both newly available again, though they were still on short hours that weekend.

Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier was the seasonal priority, whereas Jean-Paul Hévin's Guayaquil is their main chocolate cake, and always available. As far as cake-offs go, this is a fourth round, with both of these having lost one of three. Great cakes, but I really like the strong chocolate taste of Guayaquil. Wish I had a little more, because there was something about the texture that I was noticing---I might get this again this year just to do some temperature experiments, since I'm due for another cake from them, and they don't even have excellent cakes that I haven't had twice yet.

Sadaharu Aoki, Chou Ginza Chocolat Pralin, Matcha, and Saya

Sadaharu Aoki has a counter at Ginza Mitsukoshi through August 25th, so I went there last Sunday. I didn't know they would be there that long, and I was buying a snack for two, so I got three special items: Chou Ginza. I say special, because they are different from their usual variety, not being split open, and they have flavors matching their cakes, except the vanilla, though I suppose they have a vanilla mille-feuille. I got Chuu Ginza Chocolat Pralin, Chuu Ginza Chocolat Matcha, and Chuu Ginza Saya. Unfortunately, not very exciting, though all good, and the shop remains in my top three shops for now. Hopefully the vanilla is better, and hopefully they'll have other new cakes soon, either there or their main shop. Under current conditions, they are just trying to get back on their feet, so I can't blame them for doing what they can.

Konditerei Kobe, White Cheese Roll

For completeness, I'll mention that Friday of last week (and Saturday), I had slices of Koditerei Kobe's White Cheese Roll, which I suspect was bought at Kobe Airport. It was good, but very white(bread).

Imperfect, Choux Cream Chocolate

Last Saturday, I was busy, so no running, but I did make a first visit to Imperfect in Omotesandou Hills. They do nuts, chocolates, ice cream coffee, and choux cream, which I count as fresh cakes, since they require refrigeration for the filling. Only one of the three types was available, and I could buy the one in the early afternoon. I got Choux Cream Chocolate (not sure how to spell with the French-English mix). The choux pasty didn't seem like anything special (though also not bad), but the chocolate filling was definitely rich, so it gets an excellent.

Frédéric Cassel, Addiction

Finally, the last cake of May was Addiction from Frédéric Cassel. This is coconut mousse, passion fruit, mango, lemon biscuit, and raspberry. It's a cube held together by rigid wall and is really white. It definitely would be about the last cake I would choose from anywhere else, but it was a new cake from Frédéric Cassel and I just couldn't get that excited about the strawberry rollcake. As it happens, this was a great cake that I could recommend to about anyone, though maybe someone who wants something light, because coconut is high in fat and there's plenty of sugar as well, so I'm not saying whether it's healthy. If I'm lucky it will stick around long enough for me to find another cake to do a cake-off with, as right now I don't have anything to match it with.

En Vedette, Chou Nougat

From now I guess the last Sunday of the previous month, the other shop I visited was En Vedette. Well, I also visited Éclat des Jours to return some glasses and get a croissant, but I've already forgotten how the croissant was, so I'll just have to get a different pastry from there. The cake of En Vedette, though was more like a pastry than cake, though with extra touches tipping back toward cake: Chou Nougat, where I'm not sure what's in the nougat, but there are some almond slices in there. The cream is crème diplomate, which I need to look up. In the middle there, protecting the bottom from the cream, is a macaron. It's a weird chou cream, but I've decided it's unique design deserves at least a semi-excellent rating. It's small, actually, but only half the price of a normal cake. 
 

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Rouge Printemps

Sunday the 1st was a greedy day, though I have to fit everything nice into the weekend with shops closed during the week. Now, things are starting to open up a little bit and maybe work is occasionally calmer. I started with some Tokyo viennoiserie in the form a visit to Sadaharu Aoki, which is compensating for lack of other things by making more pastries. I had in the past, but not in my review of getting this fresh (that is, not at the end of the day), by getting their Canelé Nature, which I at least haven't labeled before, even if I've posted before.
As I recall, it was excellent. However, I also got something new that fell more or less under the viennoiserie category, since it had certain elements but was not all dry. Actually, the name is actually Paris Viennoiserie on the receipt, but I'm pretty sure that's not what it was called. I need to go back and update this, if they still have it. Unfortunately, it's only good, being not such a greet idea. It is mille-feuille pastry, raspberry filling, and an florentin top, so let's call it Framboise Florentin for now and then forget about it.

For cake, I went to two places, one being Frédéric Cassel. They had three new cakes (to me) and I showed great restraint after some months and only got two of them. The first I ate was a tart, Tarte Rouge Printemps, which is a fruit tart with strawberry and rhubarb as filling on a biscuit that has hibiscus. I'm afraid it's too subtle for me, but it sounds like it should be matched to the right tea. Still, of course it was good, though the strawberry pieces got pretty scattered on the bicycle ride, so that above is a reconstruction.

Éclat des Jours, Shortcake Verrine

The other cake I got last Saturday (more than a week ago now) was the verrine version of their (strawberry) shortcake, which I had to search online to get an opinion about what it's called, though I was sure of the two words Shortcake Verrine, if not the order. I'll say that I've been slow to appreciate either shortcake or verrine and they still haven't risen to greatness in my opinion, but in this case, the combination works better than been than either on average (or this shop's own shortcake, as far as I can recall), which is probably why this is their signature item, not withstanding that I'm just getting to it now as a 21st cake. 

Their previous only good cake but them under threat from slipping from quite exceptional, but I gave them another cake due to winning a cake-off. This excellent cake doesn't reverse that, but it does raise the bar for the previously under-threat shop it replaces to now prove that it really is better, not just that it had fewer chances to disappoint me. We'll see. 

Cake-off: Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit over Très Calme's Mont-blanc

Saturday, I tried again and was successful at getting Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit. I wasn't quite as early as I intended, but it didn't look like they had sold much based on other items, even though they only had two of these out. It's was too light for the trip back, even though I was half running half walking. I did come back a longer way than I needed to because, in my confusion, I stopped at the newly opened Isetan, though the counter I wanted for the other cake-off cake was not available. Still, I bought the nonfood item I wanted. Once home, I took off by bicycling to get up to Très Calme and get their Mont-blanc, as a second two-wins-one-loss cake for a fourth-round cake-off. 

It was getting late at this point, so I also got a croissant there, as my first pastry and ate that first. It had a coating of syrup, I assume, or at least a coating that ended up sweet in the overall flavor, which is what I ask for in a pastry croissant versus a bakery croissant, so I can easily call this excellent. I'm back to the new interface on Blogger, which doesn't give me an option to rotate photos before uploading (whereas, somewhere something automatically decides to rotate long pictures so they are vertically oriented).

The Chocolat Cuit, despite the name, is pretty raw, being a very rich chocolate mass, which I'm giving the win. The Mont-Blanc is distinctive in being my favorite coffee cake, which adds coffee-flavored meringue to chestnut paste with cassis accent on whipped cream  in a way that you can taste all the flavors and yet the bitternesses of the chestnut and coffee cancel out and are together pacified by the sugar in a way that makes this acceptable to someone who doesn't like coffee (me) or chestnut (the chef). It stays among the greats, no problem.

Éclat des Jours, Tropicot

Last Monday, besides the cake for the cake-off, I got one extra cake from Éclat des Jours, for efficiency in the era of virus, long work hours, and short store hours: Tropicot. This has been around for a relatively long time, though not as far back as the first visit. It's a mango, passion fruit, and banana tart, with some shredded coconut. I knew it wasn't really my thing, but I was running out of choices as a 20th cake, but it was their turn or a new cake as one of the quite exceptional shops, at least until this one, which was only good. Betting cakes from here and with tropical fruit coming up, so I didn't give up on either. For some reason, blogger has gone back to the old interface, now that I've figured out the new one. There's probably some way to toggle between them.

I realize, I should really get some pictures of things other than cakes, because there are actually a couple people besides me that read this blog. I'll see if I can come up with at least some shops or pictures of the returned crowds, with more masks than typically this time of year (it's getting too hot for my surgical masks, which I already don't run or bicycle with, but I have other options).