Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Myrtille

Back on September 4, I visited Frédéric Cassel for a new cake. Two weeks the previous month they had special domestic blueberry cakes. Next, they had blueberries as the month's theme. This cake goes by simply Tarte Myrtille, and was excellent, as usual, and suitably different from the recent maybe more traditional limited domestic blueberry version. This is almond cream in the bottom and blueberry cream on tip, with crepe added for texture, I'll say.

Toshi Yoroizuka, Tarte Myrtille

Back on August 25th, so still no memory of the running, but I was certainly on foot, and it was Toshi Yoruizuka's turn for a new cake. It's blueberry season and I went with Tarte Myrtille. It was definitely good, but not act the same level as FC's, though that was special domestic berries, versus berries from where I'm not sure.

Frédéric Cassel, Domestic Blueberry Mille-Feuille

Sunday the 16th, while busy, I had a window to run to Ginza and get cake, so I did. My target was a different cake, but I needed a pair and this was also new from the same shop, Frédéric Cassel. This was one of a couple cakes with domestic blueberries with a two week scheduled run, but I note that they must have liked blueberries, as they became September's theme. Anyway, obviously this is Domestic Blueberry Mille-Feuille. It's like their other theme mille-feuille, which are excellently made but don't vary so much and aren't my favorite type of mille-feuille (I don't like the gelatin in the middle, which I think also requires some sponge around it, which is just wrong for mille-feuille). I complain, but they tend to be excellent anyway. However, blueberry is maybe not the best choice, or I'm just getting too tired of these, as it was only good.

Domestic Blueberry Mille-Feuille

Frédéric Cassel, Domestic Blueberry Tart

Last Wednesday August 5th, I jogged (?) to Frédéric Cassel, just on the off chance of getting their blueberry tart on it's first day of a couple-week run. I was rather surprised to snag the last one, which makes three days in row of such success for new cakes, though maybe Monday's wasn't the last one. 

It's a fairly solid tart base (with almond cream) and while blueberries aren't the flavorful fruit (not that I'm that into any fruit, really), I was also happily surprised to find it definitely excellent. The announcement left off the name, but probably Domestic Blueberry Tart, based on the mille-feuille name, which I wasn't trying to get. Since they used phonetic "blueberry" in describing it, I translated the name as English rather than French, though I'm not sure what was on the card, if they even use anything other the the Japanese. 

Frédéric Cassel: Mille-feuille Chocolat Fruits Rouges

Sunday, as a reward for a cake-off win the previous day, I visited Frédéric Cassel to get a new cake, trying to make up for missed cakes during illness. On weekends, they have special mille-feuille that I like to try once in a while. This time was Mille-feuille Chocolat Fruits Rouges, which uses strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, so more berry than red fruit. It was comparable to previous versions, so I'll say it was excellent. I'm still waiting for the combination that really excites me.

Might allow them another cake during the week, since the cake-off doesn't really have to count and I'm catching up resolving the borders between different shop categories. Still, maybe not until Thursday, if things go smoothly earlier in the week. 

Mariage Frères: blueberry cassis tea tart and figgy pudding

Saturday, went to a fancy café around the corner north of Ginza Mitsukoshi. It's their "new" tea salon, being only 2 years old. It was good, but maybe not high return on cost, though it depends how much you value atmosphere. For an older crowd than my typical choices. It was lunch and cake for two and the cake was from the base choices (versus any of the items requiring an extra expense). I went with a blueberry tart with a base of cassis and some sort of tea (like every dessert there) that I've forgotten. Not sure whether these had official names, so I'm sticking to descriptions.

The other dessert chosen was figgy pudding, which is like fruitcake without the cake, I found. Both were certainly good, though once with figgy pudding was enough, though it cake whipped cream, which at least makes it fresh as a café dessert.

La Base Secrète du GAMIN: Marbré W Fromage

Still at the beginning of working through under-visited shops from my bloated quite good list. I'm skipping a couple A's for logistic reasons and ran to (La) Base Secrète du GAMIN, which seems farther than it is because of the slow down going through Shibuya station. I'd try running further north, in front of NHK Studio Park next time, but that's not looking necessary. Round trip is 14 to 15 km.

Got there several minutes before closing on the day before their rest day and the person ahead of be bought 4 pieces, so not a big selection, which is true every time I go there. This time I went with Marbré W Fromage, which is a baked cheesecake base with a marbled cheese souffle on top. Considered coming back by train, but it requires a line transfer and isn't that direct, so I was able to convince myself that there was not much benefit, plus I could use some more exercise after the heavy eating last weekend. I had a windbreaker in my backpack that I didn't get out, but I definitely was feeling that I was activating brown fat cells on the way back.

My major complaint is that this cake was put in the box with nothing to keep it in its place, so it was just rolling around in there. On the other hand, it's not delicate at all and was fine (it probably didn't roll around so much as settle in the corner and shift a little bit). It's a nice cake: nothing special but I didn't feel disappointed in it. Definitely good. When this shop category get's revised, it will probably get moved to the good group, but eventually that bloated group will get revised and it will remain in a definitely good group, I expect, though I'm a long way from needing to go through the good shops to see whether I overlooked something deserving more attention.

The plan for tomorrow is to visit the slightly nearer Ueno counter of a shop that otherwise is definitely farther (and open later, so I might end up there anyway, if I failed to find anything new in Marui Dept. Store.

Bien-être: Seasonal Tart (berries)

Did a run to Bien-être, who I'm still trying to catch up with Paris S'éveille as superb shops. I got the Seasonal (Fruit) Tart again, since the season has changed. It's cold and rainy, but not windy and the rain was not heavy, so I wasn't uncomfortable. A counter seat was open, so I ate in. I'm not that excited by tarts, which is why I waited pretty late to have the first one and I guess I'm already tired of this one, or maybe it's just that I don't like strawberries much. It was good and no complaint about the quality, I just am not that into the fruit. The new cake right now is a strawberry mille-feuille, which I'm not sure whether I'd like better. Maybe I'll find out next week. I was not tempted to walk back (though I did have a pocket umbrella with me). I'm still building up my amount of exercises to strengthen my ankles: up to 100 one-food hops on each side and then the same number of ankle raises (or whatever you call raising to tip-toe). This time I did 10 on a step, though both feet at the same time in both cases.

Atelier de Mar: Fig and Blueberry Tart

Did yet another run of (most of) the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Nishi-Shinjuku loop and finally got it right, so that's another area that I can consider part of the running neighborhood. Along the way, I stopped at the Hatagaya Atelier de Mar (despite the receipt having a different branch's address on it) and got a Fig and Blueberry Tart. It was good, but I guess I'm already tired of this type of tart, as it isn't that much different from the previous one, which I rated excellent.

In other neighborhood running news, though I still have another loop needing practice, I figured that would be done this week and I'd get to the next 12th level loop. However, I've realized that under my current rules it should be merged with a few of it's neighboring loops (like soap bubbles merging), making it on the order of 30 km long, which is longer than I've run recently, so I'm going to have to reconsider how I approach the order I run new parts. Of course, first I suddenly have a lot of new landmarks that I need pictures for, so that alone is going to slow me down. I hope that Saturday afternoon is clear enough that I can make some progress on that.

Frédéric Cassel: Tarte Myrtille Creamcheese

Despite the rain (though the rain was less than earlier in the day), I did a run out to Ginza Mitsukoshi to finally visit Frédéric Cassel again. Forgot to look to see whether they still have their mont-blanc, so I'll have to try to do that on Saturday was reconnaissance for the next cake-off. Don't remember the window being that narrow last time, or I could have waited to do La Figue. Full disclosure, because of the rain, caring cake, not wanting to over-strain my foot, and being behind on getting other things done, I took the train back.

Today, my target was Tarte Myrtille Creamcheese, though there were two other new cakes that I could have chosen from. The name pretty much defines it. It was definitely good, but the blueberry was too subtle for me to get too excited about. I might be getting tired of this tart series, though the quality remains high, so I'm still looking forward to next month's flavor, if they keep the same pattern, but Sadaharu Aoki is now a higher priority, after Bien-être.

Cacao Store (Théobroma): Tarte Berries

Went to Bien-être, but, no surprise, Friday evening they were sold out of the newer cake items in the lineup, so I went for a second cake from Cacao Store, the nearest shop I wanted to follow up on. The cakes are double-listed with Théobroma, which is reasonable since Cacao Store's focus is bean-to-bar chocolate, not cake. The only choice was the Tarte Berries, which is self-explanatory, at least with the picture. I walked back, still not that interested in running with cake, at least not in the evening heat. My expectations were low, and this tart failed to meet them. The fruit quality was reasonable, although blueberries (or whatever) aren't very flavorful and the base tart didn't have anything good going on in terms of crust or filling (there is custard, obviously, but this was very dry for a custard tart but not good as a butter tart). It was still ok, but "ok" is not okay with me, so I won't be back probably unless their first cake, which seemed great, wins a cake-off round.

Frédéric Cassel: Soleil

Did a slow jog, because it's still very hot and very humid with a little rain from the passing typhoon. Today was just to Ginza Mitsukoshi to visit Frédéric Cassel, though I walked from the scramble underground and passed by Dalloyau on my way back. I got the Soleil, which is a layered rare/baked cheese cake flavored with lemon, which is not very original, with some ornamental blueberries. For some reason this seemed perfect, so I'm going to say it was great until I can prove otherwise.

Dalloyau: Tarte Fruits des Bois

The rain slowed and stopped and my health seemed improved, so I could take a long run to Jean-Paul Hévin to confirm that they had nothing new I needed and then to Dalloyau. It was about 13 km total, with half at 10 km/h and returning with cake at 9 km/h by a not very direct, or flat, route. No running budget issues, since I missed a day and ran short yesterday.

The "cake" was Tarte Fruits des Bois (594 yen), which is to say a tart of fruits of the wood, which in this case are a strawberry, blueberries, and raspberries on a dense almond tart base. This was plenty sweet for me, in a good way, and I found it really satisfying and was not bothered by the simplicity. I haven't been a big fan of fruit tarts, but I'm calling this one great because I enjoyed it and it is the best of type that I can recall. I'd be interesting in making it and want to eat it again.

Dalloyau: Tarte a la Myrtille

Walked and ran to Ginza, this time by the long preferred way, so the total trip was almost 12 km. Walked down to Meiji Gaien track and then ran, apparently really slowly (6 km/h) at least on average with the hill past Akasakamitsuke, until the rain made me pull out my umbrella and I walked to and along the Moat course to the Sakuradamon Station entrance and then ran again, this time 7 km/h average, to Dalloyau (this time I took a picture from the front entrance),



where I got Tarte a la Myrtille for 594 yen, I think. Sorry, it's facing backward, but I didn't trust myself to get it turned around without wrecking it.

Went to the park by the overpass rather than wait for Hibiya Park. It's better lit, but someone lit up a cigarette near me just after I finished my cake, so the location has it's good and bad points. The blueberry tart was, I'll say generously, excellent. This is a solid butter tart (I imagine) base. The nice thing about blueberries is that they are not overpowering. I haven't had the strawberry one yet, and I'm worried that might be too much strawberry for me. I would have gotten the regular Mont-Blanc maybe, but it was sold out (though they had the pricier seasonal one with Wakayama chestnuts that I posted about before).

Coming back, even though I was not sure of my distances, I knew I was going slow, so I worked in a little more running (1.5 km), again averaging 7 km/h (no steep hills), before walking the rest of the way home. It's good to expand my running distance, but I'd like to at least do it at a faster speed than my walking, so I'll try to step it up tomorrow night.

Paris S'éveille: Tarte aux Fruits Noir and Pont Neuf

Walked to Paris S'éveille, as planned, averaging almost exactly 6 km/h. Coming back was slower, but still closer to 6 km/h than 5 km/h. Next exercise plan is go to track and try a kilometer at 7 km/h again.

At Paris S'éveille got one "fresh cake", the Tarte aux Fruits Noir for 600 yen, and one "pastry" (my terms) , the Pont Neuf for 450 yen. Both of these are good, but nothing special that I would want them again.

The picture of the tarte didn't work out, but came out super bright, as it tried to use the really dark fruit as a light reference maybe. It was blackberries and a dark blueberry or something similar on a custard tart. Good fruit, but I want cake and the tart doesn't really add anything (I'd rather eat each alone). This was the "Chef"'s (their term) recommendation, or I would have gone for the pistachio eclair. One more not-excellent cake before a great one and I'd have to demote them, and the other unsampled cake is another fruit tart. However, I've left out the Fondant, which I count as fresh cake (although it has a separate display) and I'm optimistic about.

The Pont Neuf is a standard type that I see around patisseries but have never tried before. It's sort of a butter tart with a baked custard dome (not solid custard, but more like the inside of a canele). Also, there was a lump of fruit baked inside the bottom, maybe apricot, as well as some fruity (?) glaze.

Photos of the shop were also poor, so instead I got one of the entrance to a shrine that is an official sightseeing point in Meguro District (#55) that I've often seen the edge of just off my main route but not the entrance. Now that I've found it, sometime I'll actually go in to see the old trees and statues.

Sunday & Monday: Isetan

Left leg still having a problem,  so did not go far. Actually seemed okay for walking until just now: not happy from sitting in front of TV, but seemed pretty okay going out for shopping today. I'll see whether I want to walk somewhere tomorrow. Hand is somewhat better, but I need to stop using it so much still.

Yesterday, got Blueberry from Shiseido Parlour for 561 yen. It is cheese/yogurt mousse cake. It's good, but not special.

Today I got Duja for 623 yen, which is chocolate and hazelnut, but I ate it without letting it cool back down enough in the refrigerator first. Hard season for cake lovers, so it was good, but not more than that. I'd like to try again under better conditions.

Same goes for an Henri le Roux Dauphinois (also hazelnut praline and chocolate) chocolate from yesterday, because I'm a slow learner, though there I made the mistake of not getting ice. 

Arcachon: Equinox

Got my cake from Isetan again today, from the visiting shop, Arcachon. It was Equinox, for 500 yen, and seems to be tea cream inside chocolate mousse with a raspberry and mini blueberry macaron on top. Now, I thought there was blueberry inside, and maybe there was a subtle amount in the chocolate, but I'll need to go back to find out, which I intended to do because I've decided, partially from giving them the benefit of the doubt, that this was excellent. It's tiny, which is fine, put it puts some of the excellent shops in perspective, because they hold their cake sizes and just raise their prices as ingredient costs go up.

In other news, I've gone almost all the way with a cake recipe from my (the library's really) Super Patissier Book for "cake/batter/biscuit" (it's hard to translate "kiji" into English), which is by the Salon de thé Cerisier guy, where I've never been. There is some overlap between this and the SPB dictionary of "batter/cake", which is available in bookstores.

The first recipe, which was not the first I tried parts of, is the Marjolaine, which has a Japonaismasse (which is German) biscuit as the cake layers, between which it has ganache, creme praline, and creme chantilly. I don't do the creme chantilly for the top or the fancy decoration.

The biscuit is in the proportions 600 g egg white, 600 g granulated sugar, "appropriate" vanilla essence (so I skip, because I don't know, have, or care so much), 500 g hazelnut powder, 100 g of (not bread) flour and 200 g of powdered sugar. From my previous experience, I also add powdered egg white with the granulated sugar, because I can't make meringue without it. All the cakes in the beginning are nut-based biscuits as the cake theme. This makes 4 30-by-40 cm pans, which is 27 pieces of cake final 4-layer cake. For one 14 cm round tart form, which is what I've used, I only need 3% (18 g) of the base recipe, so one large egg is enough for two, and I can cut one in half, although I'd really like to get a fourth form and make all four layers together. Really, you are supposed to cut after you assemble and freeze.

As I was saying, you make a meringue with the egg white and graduated sugar (plus 5-15% of egg white power by weight of egg white, depending on the season) and whip it until the peaks just bend a little before cutting in the other ingredients, which should be sifted (I've got two sifters now, a big one for flour and powdered sugar and a tiny with big homes for nut powders). Then I spread it carefully in oil-sprayed and bread-floured 14 cm tart forms and bake for 30 minutes at 170 deg C in my convection oven (the recipe says 180 deg C, which is edible, but seems overly burnt, but the normal -10 deg C for a convention oven seems to work out).

The ganache for this is 150 g milk, which you boil (which seems extreme, but this is pretty much my first experience with ganache) and then add 300 g of 66% cacao chocolate and then 45 g of rum. For the creme praline, you need 600 g 38% fat cream and 200 g praline almonde (the paste). You combine and whip 7 minutes (or maybe the Japanese means seven-tenths), which means until paste-like. For the creme chantilly, you also need 600 g of 38 % fat cream and 40 g of granulated sugar and otherwise do the same thing. If you made topping, you would need another 150 g of 45% cream and 21 g of granulated sugar and do the same thing, plus some red food coloring and chocolate powder or something. The cake is assembled bottom to top, biscuit, filling, biscuit, filling, ..., so it gets thicker but lighter as you go up; but I couldn't pile the creme praline that high, so that's the one thing I left over of. Actually, I made extra fillings for the first try, so all the fillings were at refrigerator temperature this time, which is not actually part of the recipe. I'm thinking I'm put the creme praline in the freezer next time for long enough to get it thick enough to support the top two layers.

As a said at the beginning, after assembling, you put it in the freezer to harden before cutting, and of course, before eating. The first time, I just cut one biscuit disk into fourths, but this time I cut two disks into halves, so I'll try to actually cut that into two little pieces when it's ready. I'm not ready to take a picture.

One-way run to Dalloyau: Croquant Fraise

Jogged to Ginza, getting two sets of 5 30/20/10 intervals in before I got to the moat course and it became impossible. Went to Origines Cacao first and the pickings were slim, just rare cheese cake and strawberry cheese cake, neither of which were likely to be great (both probably both fine), so I went to Dalloyau and got the Croquant Fraise (crunchy strawberry). This has a macaron base, a custard/caramel middle (not sure) with chocolate around it, a little strawberry gel in the middle, one whole strawberry and one whole blueberry, and a large piece of caramelized sliced almonds. Definitely great, for 540 yen. The chocolate is just enough to complement the custard, the macron is delicious, and the other pieces vary the flavor.

Passed several other shops that I've never been too on my way, but today was a great cake day, so I passed them by. Specifically, I went by Ginza Marquise and Piece Montée, about which I knew nothing, but the first seems to have a hazelnut cake that I'd like to try, Gaku, and the second has a couple, although the ones they list that are not currently for sale sound very good. Maybe they are seasonal. Neither are cheap, but then they are in Ginza.

 I was tired from the intense intervals and I had things I need to do at home, so I took the train back.

Ginza run to Kimuraya

Usual route to Ginza and went to Kimuraya, which I had gone past in going to the Nihonbashi Origines Cacao recently. Established 1900, it seemed like I shouldn't ignore it. Not really focused on the kinds of cakes I'm into, but got a blueberry tart. It's not listed in their online menu, so I don't have the real name. It's blueberries piled onto some sort of cream or mild cheese on top of a plain butter tart, I think. It was reasonable, at about 485 yen. It was good enough, for 8 pm (the tart was obviously not freshly baked). I'd go again as a backup or if I needed a cafe in that neighborhood.

35 km to Seijo Alpes

This is the running route map. The first leg was to Shinagawa Station. This was good, although muggy even at 5:30 am, and I should have bypassed the route I took through Roppongi: very crowded with people doing the bars or working for the bars (I assume).

Next was Shinagawa to Jiyuugaoka, which had the usual problem of me having trouble navigating Ota-ku. Trying to follow the path above a train line where it is underground, I took a wrong turn just after here

at a five-way intersection. I should stay of Ota-ku unless I'm following a river or something obvious.

After the turn at Jiyuugaoka, I got a sports drink from a convenience and drank it pretty quickly (although I carry two 500 ml water bottles and refill them as I go past park drinking fountains) and then past Nakameguro, I got a Bostoc at Aux Bacchanales,

so now I know what this is. I didn't like it as much as the one from Fraoula. I think this one was a lot moister in the middle. It was okay and only 180 yen, so it was a good midway snack.

I turned east near Yoyogi Park. The last leg following the train line to Seijo Gakuenmae Station (named after a school) was great: enough pedestrian traffic to slow cars but not enough to be a problem except maybe the last couple stations where first there were first almost no pedestrians and then for the last little bit, where I had lost sight of the train line (even though I was near the station), suddenly there were dozens of high school girls going the other way. I think there must have been an open campus event, since they were from different high schools (they wear uniforms, so you can tell, although they tend to travel in packs of like uniforms).

Today, the humidity seemed to burn off a little around 7 am but never felt any hotter and it was cloudy. Guess I'm going to have to pay attention to the weather reports more: no running when the heat stroke index is in the red "danger" zone (last night they said noon for southern Kanto, which includes Tokyo, but actually the temperature was falling by 11 am in eastern Tokyo. It rained from around noon and sometimes afterward, which spikes the humidity, so my timing was good. I'd like to leave earlier next time, though, maybe 4:00 or 4:30.

The cake was okay, but not great. I should have left it in the refrigerator for a few more hours or popped it in the freezer to firm up the mousse, but it did not actually melt. They ask you how long you have to carry it when you buy, but the question is either rhetorical or they have no sense of the difference between summer and winter, since they put in only one tiny freezer pack with my three pieces of cake. Even if I'm not dressed for a cafe, I should eat in.

I got the Noble （ノーブル）for 470 yen、which is hazelnuts in ganache with bavarois (Bavarian cream) chocolate.

Then I had the Mireille (ミレイユ) for 440 yen, which is blueberry and cassis (blackcurrant) mousse with condensed milk cream, with a little white chocolate on top and the chocolate shop name plate, which I respect.

Finally, I had the mousse chocolate and Tahiti vanilla cream, Anphicles (アンフィクレ）for 450 yen. They all seemed fine. If I lived near here, I would go back (actually, my next route takes me back there anyway, but they'll probably be closed when I pass them), but I don't need to.

In the evening, I got this linzer tort and a baguette from Le Petit Mec. This is tiny for 300 yen, but actually the right size. It's raspberry and very good.