Satsumaimodo (Satsumaimo Donuts) by Mister Donut - Rich Sweet Potato Cake, Melted Salted Butter and Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style flavours compared

For fall in Japan, Mister Donut releases a Satsumaimo donut series called Satsumaimo-do. It comes in many flavours, and for this post, I tried 2 - Rich Sweet Potato Cake and Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style. The other flavours I hope to try another time are Plain, Caramelized Crème Brûlée and Melted Salted Butter.
Satsumaimodo (Satsumaimo Donuts) by Mister Donut - Rich Sweet Potato Cake and Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style flavours
Satsuma-imo has a burgundy coloured skin and golden yellow flesh. It tends to taste like a rich and nutty potato with floral and honey notes. This entire series seems to feature the plain version as a base, which is like an old-fashion cake-like donut flavoured with satsuma-imo and sporting a deep golden yellow colour, then segmented into 3 knots before the various toppings or glazes are applied. 

Satsumaimo-do - Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style Donut
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style Donut - inside texture
This featured a satsuma-imo flavoured old fashion cake-like donut base with a purple glaze that provided the stone-roasted sweet potato flavour. 

The old-fashion cake donut was deep fried such that there was a pleasant, fine and sandy slight crisp on the surface despite the glazing being applied over it. I love dense cakes, so I'm glad that this was a dense donut as opposed to a puffy and light one.

Overall, there was a clear rich, creamy and nutty satsuma-imo flavour in the dough, and also a darker earthy flavour with a slight tinge of bitterness akin to the burnt and caramelised skin and edges of a roasted sweet potato. 

This overlaid the floral vanilla satsuma-imo fragrance and nutty body in a way that complemented it very well. So overall I really liked this flavour.

You can see in this photo below that the base where the glaze doesn't touch is like an old fashion donut in texture.
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style Donut - donut texture
Finally, this is a picture of the store display and label. It is slightly cheaper than the Rich Sweet Potato Cake version.
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - Stone-Roasted Sweet Potato Style Donut - store display and price
Satsumaimo-do - Rich Sweet Potato Cake Satsuma-imo Donut

This was interesting to try after I had the Stone-Roasted flavour, because the difference was immediately apparent.
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - Rich Sweet Potato Cake - dough texture
There was no darkness or earthiness at all! It was just a very nutty, creamy body with fragrant notes of floral vanilla and honey. 

When I ate the Stone-Roasted version again after this, it was clear that this Rich Sweet Potato Cake version was slightly less floral and also less sweet that the Stone-Roasted version. Perhaps not having the glaze made it less sweet.

Here is a photo of the store display. The price is slightly higher than most of the other flavours for some reason. Perhaps because they top it with satsumaimo paste, which may cost slightly more (about 10%) for the extra sweet potato used.
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - Rich Sweet Potato Cake - store display and price
Satsumaimo-do - Melted Salted Butter Sweet Potato Donut
Satsumaimodo (Satsumaimo Donuts) by Mister Donut - Melted Salted Butter Flavour
I visited again and managed to try the Melted Salted Butter donut.

It was like a salted butter custard with sweet potato flavour was injected into each of the 3 segments of the original sweet potato donut, like you can see in the image below.
Satsumaimodo (Satsumaimo Donuts) by Mister Donut - Melted Salted Butter Flavour - filling close-up
The filling had a fragrant sweet potato flavour with creamy and floral notes, over a base that was nutty without earthiness.

However, the custardy filling did not have any noticeable butter flavour. Instead, it came across as artificial, with corny notes, like margarine made with corn oil or some filled milk made with vegetable oil was used instead. For that matter, I really did not enjoy it.

If you like the creamy nutty flavour of sweet potato, go for the Rich Sweet Potato Cake instead. This salted butter variation was not nice.

Verdict

Overall, if you prefer something a bit more natural, less sweet and creamier, get the Rich Sweet Potato Cake.

If you prefer something a bit more complex with darker flavours, get the Stone-Roasted Style.

Finally, here is the store display and label for the other flavours. The Crème Brûlée version is also slightly more expensive and the plain one the cheapest as expected. Unfortunately, they had sold out of the Crème Brûlée version when I visited the second time so I could not try it.
Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut Creme Brulee and Melted Salted Butter Flavours - store display and price
Plain Satsumaimodo by Mister Donut - store display and price
Discover other donut and sweet potato treats

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