Presqu'île Chocolaterie, Mont-blanc

Having brought Presqu'île Chocolaterie, a quite fine shop, up to the target 4th cake level, I went back the next day to get one cake ahead with them on the grounds that it could be years before they come back to Isetan (whereas normally they are inconveniently far from central Tokyo). I went with the only cake of theirs that has no chocolate at all, the Mont-Blanc. The unique feature for me was the base, which has pastry more like what I only see with quiche: salted filo crust. Inside the base is almond cream. It's definitely excellent even among the crowded category of mont-blanc.

Presqu'île Chocolaterie, Ruby

I took advantage of Presqu'île Chocolaterie being at Isetan to pick up a 4th cake from them, which is my goal for the 48 shops in my quite fine category. Ruby chocolate is still rare, and it can be great, so I went with their Ruby, though it's closest relative is probably Mure, which was my least favorite of theirs at the time. Nevertheless, it turned out well, as this was excellent, which means it will make the next cut (32 shops is the target number for this category, but just 3 cakes wasn't enough to make that fine a division). Besides being ruby chocolate with the traditional raspberry addition, the center is lychee liquor marinated grapefruit in lychee cream. It works. These days, I'm working late and doing more indoor exercises, though I still got in some running (not that I can remember now whether it was a 30-min or 45-min day).

  

Fiorentina Pastry Boutique, Autunno

It was a hard week, so I'm behind again. Tuesday, I was late out the door, but it didn't really matter because the two local shops I want to visit were both closed already earlier than the online information I had. I had consider going back to Odakyu but decided to keep that as a backup from Wednesday and went down to Fiorentina Pastry Boutique in Roppongi Hills to recover from the previous day. I got their Autunno, which is similar in style to their Estate, which is my favorite from their. I'm not completely sure I remember what was in it, but I certainly something brulée, as their was caramelized chocolate. Also, their was alcohol, I think related to (Western) pear. It was definitely a relative sophisticated cake for adults and that was what I was in mood for, and found it excellent. Note sure that I got the spelling right, but that was closest to what I could recall of the phonetic Japanese at the time.

Wittamer, Thé et Raisin

Had some coupons for the food sections of Odakyu. The cake selection is pretty weak, but I never willowed the "fine" list of shops that seem to be just average, so now I'm after getting second cakes from all, which should take a few years. The first of two counters (and coupons), was Wittamer, which is a Belgian brand, apparently. It's pretty widespread, though this was also probably where I got my first cake from them. This time I steered clear of the obvious choices and when with Thé et Raisin, maybe because I previous takeout cake was a basic chocolate cake. As the name suggests, this is tea (Earl Grey) and grape (though it actually is raisin, the dried form), with some rum. It was a well-made cake with no out of place flavors. Good but bland in a competent way. Certainly, being a safe place to get consistent cakes had it's merits, but I don't expect I'll need to visit again.

The above was the cake from Monday night. Full disclosure, I had some non-patisserie cakes of high quality Saturday afternoon as a part of an afternoon tea set. 

I think the ones with berry halves are actually pear, whereas the little one's above are chestnut madeleines, with the larger ones to the left behind the glass desserts being sweet potato mont-blancs. The middle layers was savories and the bottom was mainly tiny scones. This was also at Odakyu, in that it was their 20th floor lounge in the Southern Tower of the Century Hotel at Shinjuku.

Les Cacaos, Chuao

Thursday, I took the morning off, so I stuck to just my indoor routine Wednesday night and got to bed early. After a short run to the local government building to dispose of an old power block from a printer I was getting rid of the same day, I did a run out to Chez Lui near Shimo-Kitazawa for a mid-run pastry (resisting the temptation to stop to see what Paddlers Coffee, which was open, had). I went with the standard Pain au Chocolat, and it was good in a standard kind of way, so I'll try somewhere else next time. From there, I looped back south to pick up the trail that leads to Meguro River ran along there most of the way down to Gotanda. I stopped about about 2.2 km and 30 minutes out and walked from there (still arriving before opening and before anyone else had lined up, but just after they had put out the bench, so perfect timing). I went with Chuao, which is the name of a cacao growing region in Venezuela. Though this was new to me, it seems to be their standard chocolate cake, for a chocolate shop. Top is milk chocolate cream, whereas the layers are all mostly more substantial. Balance seems perfect, but like fruit, I'm not a great judge of gourmet chocolate perhaps. Not sure whether I'll make it that far before I give myself diabetes and have to give up sugar (I'm still getting an A on my blood sugar reports, though, so I'm safe for another year). Definitely good cake, which I enjoyed. They stay an exceptional shop, and I'll look forward when it's time to get the 9th cake. 

Tamago Cocco, Cheesecake

Monday, I tried hitting a couple cafés on the local map, Stadium Café and Café Casa, but both were closed, contrary to posted hours. The latter at least had a sign on the door, as well a message on its website, that they were closing for three days. Other potential places for lower-level snacks were also closed, as expected, so I ended up going to the other side of Meiji-dori for a visit to Eataly across from Harajuku Sta. Hazelnut and chocolate is definitely nice, and quite pricy. it was about 1 h of running after pushups, curls, and dance exercise.

Tuesday, I went from work to Tamago Cocco, off north, so outside the neighborhood course but still close. It's not much of a cake shop, but they have a couple things. The cream puffs were sold out, so I got the Cheesecake. It was good, though eggy, of course. Eventually (might take a couple years), I'll get around to trying the cream puff.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours's Baked Cheesecake over Toshi Yoroizuka's Saint Marc

Tried to do a proper long run before Saturday's cake-off, which I did. This was a fourth-round cake-off between the last two available three-time winners. First I ran to Éclat des Jours to get their Baked Cheesecake. Then I mostly ran back to get Toshi Yoroizuka's returned Saint Marc from the Kyoubashi shop. Despite the three wins, I wasn't able to get into the Saint Marc for some reason. I'd think I was off chocolate, but that doesn't seem to be the case generally. It's possible that the recipe changed, but I won't think so. This is only it's first loss, so should get to again next year. If I can, I'll do that early, before it disappears again. No problem with the cheesecake which while not dramatically superior remains by best guess for best cheesecake in Tokyo; every time it wins, I'm kind of surprised, and yet it keeps winning. If it's not broke... 

As implied, recently I speculated that not doing enough exercise before eating lunch and then doing a cake-off might have interfered with my enjoyment, which still seems reasonable. In this case, I ran three times the distance, but I did get a snack from Éclat des Jours that might have nullified this, Chapeau. I got this as a pastry, although the shop person referred to is as "pan", so I was a little afraid about the inside, but this is plenty decadent and definitely more than one person should eat by themselves (not that the price hides this). Can't wait until I can get it again, but not on a cake-off day and maybe I'll try to get it home first.