I tried this Soy Milk Yuzu Muffin by Gokoku Japanese Bakery as I was intrigued on two counts - yuzu is still not a common flavour in muffins, and I also wanted to know what a soya milk muffin was like. And Gokoku did a great job bringing out both aspects.
As you can see visually, there did not appear to be a lot of yuzu fruit bits within the muffin itself. There is just 1 more obvious bit in the picture (the darker shiny spot near the corner of the muffin in the top right), and it looks like a somewhat candied fruit. I'm not sure what part of the yuzu fruit it is, but it might be the candied yuzu peel.
Nonetheless, the yuzu fragrance was very prominent.
The yuzu's herbal and fruity notes were very strong, almost like having a very fragrant warm yuzu tea or putting a lot of yuzu marmalade on the muffin, except without the sweetness.The muffin cake itself had a neutral, non-sweet wheat cake taste, reminding me of a scone in taste rather than a typical muffin, because scones tend to be less sweet. So imagine putting that non-sweet yuzu marmalade on a scone and that's the flavour it tasted like. I think this non-sweet wheat taste was achieved by using soymilk instead of cow milk, as I noticed that soymilk tends to make drinks seem less sweet due to the absence of lactose.
Furthermore, the texture was interesting. I had reheated it until the muffin crust was crisp and crunchy, but nonetheless, the inside of the muffin was extremely moist and fluffy, reminding me of a fluffy steamed cake, but a bit denser. Perhaps this was another effect of the soymilk. I don't think I've quite tried another muffin like this before.
Overall, it was a very comforting muffin and a great dairy free alternative. It seems like a seasonal offering, however, so I'm not sure how long it will be available for.
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