Frédéric Cassel, Mille-Feuille Finger Chocolat et Vanille

Another week, another great cake from Frédéric Cassel. The running was much like yesterday (same route, same destination), only I walked a little less (but substituting a dash for 1 min walking on the grounds that I had rested at a traffic light during the preceding running period) but again decided that walking back was good for the cake and my body (also, it had been raining, so it was seriously humid). I got my target cake, which was the Mille-Feuille Finger Chocolat et Vanille (otherwise, I was considering going elsewhere and trying again tomorrow). There was a time where every month had a different flavor of this as part of the monthly "inspiration", but not lately. Instead, I think that they've had this mille-feuille finger for a while. I can't find the official announcement for Ginza Mitsukoshi, though it was at Ebisu for a few days back in April, so maybe it's been around since then. Great texture (the base has some crunch, as well as the mille-feuille) and great chocolate, so how can I resist. I'm never going to get to third-round cake-offs of older cakes at this rate, although the only other new cake at FC is about to be replaced (from mangue (mago) to maron (chestnut)) and FC has to keep winning cake-offs or else eventually I'll get fewer cakes from there even if they have new cakes. Still, It's the kind of probably that you want to have. At home, I did the base indoor workout, to get some more exercise, and so that I don't feel compelled to stay in on Friday night. I should do more upper body tomorrow, though, when I plan to run to a different Ginza shop.

Lenôtre, Éclair Chocolat

Did the first run to Ginza of the week, but expect to be repeating it a few times. I only ran one way, as far as Hibiya, and then walked back with cake from Ginza Mitsukoshi, protecting my cake more than my feet. Pretty light exercise after two days without running, but the cake comes first and I'm hoping for longer runs Friday and Saturday. Today's target was Lenôtre, as the top shop in the quite fine category that was challenging all the shops in the higher exceptional category. I've gone through the traditional fresh cakes there and I'm starting on the éclair types. Today I got what seems to be a standard, the Éclair Chocolat. It's not easy to stand out as an éclair, but this convinced me that it was excellent, with a nice rich chocolate filling with some nibs (?) on top to add to the texture. This puts Lenôtre even in number of cakes with a shop in the exceptional group, so I have to bump the bottom of that group, Fraoula, back to the quite fine group (which doesn't have a great effect, as I've oversampled this shop even as an exceptional shop, so I wasn't getting a new cake from them any time soon). Now Lenôtre is tied for the top of the exceptional group with the fewest cakes and having new cakes available, and marginally challenging the bottom of the quite exceptional group in terms of rating, so it still remains a top priority, after cake-off winners. However, when I do get a chance, now Fiorentina Pastry Boutique is the top of the quite fine shops and is challenging at least some of the exceptional ones, but with fewer cakes, so it's next in priority. Probably won't get to it this week, though, as FC deserves another visit for its cake-off wins, and then I'll take another shot at the 2-cake quite fine list, which has two shops in Ginza that should now both be open.

Mandarin Oriental Gourmet Shop, Mango Short Cake and Tart Lemon

Sunday, I was busy, but I got a chance to do cake for two at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Gourmet Shop, which was on the list of shops to get third cakes from. Actually, I got two cakes of course. There was not a big selection left at a little bit before 5 pm on a Sunday, so I recommend going earlier (there was also some sort of glass desert and a coffee desert), but we could get the last Mango Short Cake and the Tart Lemon, both at hotel café prices.
We would have rather eaten inside, due to the heat, but having stopped walking and purchased iced tea, it was actually fine at an outside table. Both cakes were good, although difficult to eat (big pieces of mango don't cut easily and the tart was designed for looks), but not any more than that. It's a fine shop, but this will probably be my last visit. Only five shops to visit, and I might get to two over the next week, if plans go as expected.

I didn't actually run on Monday but instead did a fuller upper body workout than I've done for a long time. The next few days will probably also keep me from doing runs on the neighborhood course, but even if I do indoors again on Friday, Saturday evening I should be able to hit the neighborhood loops from last Saturday again. I need considerable running to burn off this weekend (extended to Monday), so maybe I'll fit in some extra running on a smaller or more convenient loop, like around Akasaka Palace to Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Inspiration Passion Framboise over Pierre Hermé, Baba Infiniment Citron

Friday night, I tried to do some neighborhood loops. I knew I wouldn't do a run on Saturday until evening, since it would be hot, and I had used up my cake quota by Friday, so I was free to run wherever I wanted. To speed things up, I went by bicycle and parked at Shibuya Hikarie (2 hours for free, so I had a target time). There were some wrong turns that required backing up and in particular I lost my nerve near the end after Tokyo Shibuya Evangelical church (this loop is full of churches) and turned where I should have gone straight and wasn't confident what to do to correct it until I went back and looked, so I had to call that a failure. I wasn't even able to do either of the side loops correctly and my ankle was feeling twisted near the end.

Saturday, I walked to Ginza to get cake for a cake-off in the morning, Frédéric Cassel's Inspiration Passion Framboise, to match against a cake I had put on the great list 4 years ago, Pierre Hermé's Baba Infiniment Citron, before my definition of "great" was very firm or I had any intention of doing cake-offs. Also I should mention that I'm not a fan of baba's in general, so I had little confidence in my old relative evaluation. Still, it was on the list, so I wanted to have it again and give it chance. The baba was as I expected, very nice for a baba with interesting accents. Definitely excellent, but not something that I really needed to have again. That leaves Frédéric Cassel's Inspiration Passion Framboise as the winner, and it was definitely superior, but the sourness of the baba (which was fine for it) carried over a little too much to the Inspiration Passion Framboise, so I was less confident about it this time around. My plan for next week is to pair the latter with something that is super sweet for its second round, so hopefully it will be able to show itself off better. I'll have time for a third round at the end of the month (and it's run), so no need to do extra cake-offs.

Saturday night, I tried Friday's run again. On the way, I confirmed Blenz Coffee and expanded the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loop to include it. While I as at it, I added the Toraya Café / An Stand ("an" as in the beans, since this is traditional Japanese sweets maker). Having changed the loop, practiced the clockwise run and was successful. The main loop in this run was again the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop (it's a huge loop and there are lots of little neighbhorhoods), which I did satisfactory this time. I should say that I walked down to it, running only to do the Jinnguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loop, and then on the big loop, rather than using the timer for walking or doing any dashing, I was careful walking up stairs and steep slopes, and also making sharp turns, so my ankles were much better off. Also, Saturday was the hottest day this year in Tokyo I think, which is saying something (high was around 36 degC), so even in the evening, it was still quite hot. I tried to do the Douzenzaka--Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop there in the crowded area between Shinsenchou Station and Shibuya Station, to the west of the latter. I had already realized that I needed to break that loop into two, according to the rules applied elsewhere (not having to remember which side of the street I need to be on when there's a choice and a figure eight being two loops, not one), so it's not cheating to report that I was successful with the (newly designated) Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop, but failed on the Douzenzaka west loop, though even looking at the map now, I'm not sure where I went wrong for the latter. Anyway, now that I'm recognizing this as a pair of loops, they aren't side loops and I can put off doing them for another time. I also was successful with the Douzenzaka east loop, which circles parts of Shibuya Station, though I have to allow a deviation for construction. So four loops successfully down clockwise (though only one major one).

Le Précieuse, Caramel Salé

I originally planned to bicycle to a nearby place and get cake and then go for a long run, but the first shop apparently closed early for the Obon season and the search was on. I was trying shops I'm trying to get a third cake from. There are six left that theoretically available on a weekday, but apparently not this week. The first was Pascal Le Gac. Then I tried the hotel cafe at Tokyo Midtown, but found out that they are renovating for the next 5 weeks, which is good to know. From there I tried south Ginza, where they were closed for the week, then north Ginza, where they were sold out, and then Nihonbashi, where they close early, this time at least posting a sign so I knew that was what had happened. I ended up coming back to the closed place, Le Précieuse at Yotsuya Station. By then there were only 15 minutes left to eat in, but it was enough. I got Caramel Salé (salt caramel) which includes nuts (I'll guess roasted peanuts). I thought it was definitely excellent, which surprised me, because I keep underestimating this place. Anyway, it's good enough to keep them in the quite fine category, leaving only six to check. I wouldn't be trying again this week anyway, so at least 4 should be available on a weekday next week and maybe in a couple weeks I'll get to the last remote one. I should also say that on the way I found another patisserie in Akasaka, but it requires using subway tunnels to get there without using a traffic signal.

Vincennes, Délice au Cassis

Working through a list of cakes I want a third cake from, I finally got to Vincennes out in Meguro-ku, when I went to by bicycle, taking a break from running and doing my short indoor workout. I got Délice au Cassis, which is almond biscuit with some cassis butter cream (?), and some "raw" chocolate on top. It's a nice little cake from a nice little shop, for a nice price, and was good. Don't imagine that I'll need a fourth cake, but I respect them, even if I search for fancier things.

Frédéric Cassel, Inspiration Passion Framboise

Managed to get to Ginza and back without seeing the rain that made the street wet. Just under 54 minutes, or 6 cycles at a 1:9 walk:run split, not counting forced stops and underground walking. I've finally got back to Frédéric Cassel for a new cake, in response to probably a couple cake-off wins. There were three new choices, which should be enough for this month. I went with the one cake from this month's inspiration series, Inspiration Passion Framboise, which is raspberry mousse, passion fruit mousseline, and a fairly thick biscuit in the bottom of that dome to balance out the texture. It's not a combination that I see or would think to search out, but I think it was great. Finding the next great cake was easier than I expected, I just needed to get back to the best shop with new available cakes. For cake-offs, it's not so convenient, since it will be gone at the end of the month and will probably never reappear, but that gives it time for the maximum three rounds, so it deserves its chance while its here.