Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille versus Jean-Paul Hévin's Guayaquil

Thursday, I took off in the morning and did got cakes for the cake-up skipped last weekend, when I was busy. Since I didn't manage to find a new great cake, I worked through my list to run a 5th-round cake-off for cakes that have only one loss. This pair has the advantage that they are both available at Ginza Mitsukoshi: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille and Jean-Paul Hévin's Guayaquil. These are both pretty basic cakes in their ways, but great. Guayaquil is JPH's base straight chocolate cake; I still haven't tried the thing he showed on public TV of microwaving it to experience the change in flavor chocolate flavor from change in temperature, but that remains a good idea. It's got various layers, so there are texture variations, but the Choux Vanille still has a better contrast, or maybe I'm just a sucker fro the sugar on the pastry, but once again I have to give the win to the one puff pastry on my greats list. Check it out if you get a chance.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille over Lenôtre's Feuille d'Automne

I got my cakes out of the order that I ate them, but figure I should report in order. So there was running to get the first cake bought, down to Shibuya Sta. and Shibuya Scramble Square, where I got a cake from En Vedette to confirm their promotion, and then tried to get a new cake from BE, but whereas there were two about a week ago, they've regressed back to the basics (or the season for the other two cakes ended), and I got nothing. At that pointed, I needed to get the first cake home, so I used the train, but since the route had me almost to Ginza anyway, I decided to continue there and get all my other cakes for the day rather than go home, run all the way back to Ginza and take the train again anyway. It was there that I got Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille and Lenôtre's Feuille d'Automne, which I have both down for as first sample in July (two and one year ago), for a fourth-round cake-off between two-time winners. These are both clearly great cakes, and I could have them again next week, no problem, so it's a shame that under the current system I'll have to wait a year. Anyway, no knockouts, so I have to make a judgement and I'll decide similarly to what I have in the past: the Feuille d'Automne suits my sweet tooth and has great texture, but the simply Choux Vanille is the only great Choux I know, and manages it will a simple form, so it has to get the win.

In Ginza Mitsukoshi news, the Sadaharu Aoki counter now has four of their cakes. Not sure whether this was true Saturday, but I saw it Sunday, so I'll note it now.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille over Bien-être's Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust

Sunday, I collected cakes for a cake-off. I've something going in my throat that's probably from a sinus drip, so took it slow by bicycle to collect cakes and will skip running. Not that I have a fever or anything (I'm not that crazy about cake), but I'm being cautious. I went to Frédéric Cassel first to get their Choux Vanille, but I went out late enough that I could have revered the order of the visits. By the time I could visit Bien-être for their limit-time Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust, it was 12:30 pm and their were only two pieces left. But they were in the back of the case, so it looked more like they were selling off the tail-end of this season's run. I was lucky to get it, though my backup cake was nearby. Both these cakes are one and one going into a third-round cake-off. Actually, I couldn't choose between these based on taste, so I'm going by simplicity, my overall shop evaluation, and distinctiveness of the type with my greats list to give the win to Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille

Took the afternoon off and started by getting Très Calme's Pistache Apricot from Isetan, where they did have their specialty, a Mont-Blanc, this time. The latter should have warned me, even though my longer memory had failed, that I was going to run into trouble running to En Vedette in the afternoon, because the cake of the same name, their specialty, was sold out. I do need to get new cake from them, and they had lots of cake, but I was already committed to a cake-off. Already wet and cold, from there I ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi, which has the other available great cakes needing a second round. I tried the Choux Vanille from F. Cassel first, since that definitely sells out as well and it was already past 4 pm, and was finally successful.

Though it looks like a mismatch, this Choux wouldn't be in the great list, with one win, if it couldn't hold its own. However, Pistache Apricot is also definitely great, so I had to choose. I decided to go for the heavy fruity tart over light vanille simplicity, but I could eat another Choux Vanille, no problem. These are great cakes.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille over Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne

Started off at about 10 am for Ginza Mitsukoshi to get cakes for a first-round cake-off between Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille and Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, which was just restored in the August line-up. Besides being available from the same department store, they are from my top two favorite shops and are both unique among my great list. As types, though they are completely opposites. This round goes to Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille. The simplicity and quality of the filling is key, but sugar coating of the pastry really gives this cake a nice texture as well. I really need to try one of their variations. The macaron is sort of an excuse to eat a lot of fairly solid dark chocolate, which is not a bad thing, and I like a dry chewy macaron compared to a moist one, in general.

I did about another 90 minutes of running later, taking photos to fill in/verify a bunch of locations on my local running courses, in this case on the east side, so I ended up running around the American Embassy. In the last couple years or so, they built a big commercial development across from it that has nothing much of interest to me (I'm interested in the old Austrian cake shop on the far side, though they are always closed Sundays). As part of that, there is a kind of park running through it with narrow twisty paths, so I did not notice the cop in the middle until fairly close. Not a problem, but I wonder how far he can see just standing there. Maybe it it's not that dense and you can see through well enough once you get used to it, at least from that exact spot.

Frédéric Cassel: Choux Vanille

Did a walk and run to Ginza Mitsukoshi for a cake from Frédéric Cassel. I've been trying to get Choux Vanille for some time without luck. This week, I was ready to get this month's tart (raspberry), but they finally had the choux pastry, lots, actually (and lots of everything else; apparently, Tuesday is a good day to go there), so I got one.

The running was only 2 km in the middle of the outbound run. My feet were not totally unaffected by yesterday's run, so I didn't try to increase the running (though I increased the walking).

The shell on this pastry is very thin, which is not a complaint. The custard was not too wet (not sure that this is a real thing, but there is surely a spectrum of custard) or eggy, so the excellent vanilla flavor came through well and I enjoyed this very much. I tend to like complicated cakes, but I'm going to say that this was great and see how it stands up to the competition.