The autumn season specials are starting to make their way onto store shelves across Japan, and I couldn't resist my curiosity when I saw 2 types of Sweet Potato Souffle by Seven Premium at 7-Eleven. I avoided this first one because it had margarine, but after a while I decided to buy it just to see how it tasted. The second one (called Roasted Sweet Potato Souffle) had no margarine and was also much better in every way, even visually! Scroll down to read more.
Sweet Potato Souffle
For context, my reference point is somewhere between FLIPPER'S pudding-like eggy souffle (which is more like a custard or standard souffle) and Hoshino's fluffy but slightly more doughy souffle pancake.
With that in mind, the first thing I noted about the texture was that it was quite different and unlike anything close to Flipper's or Hoshino. It was not fluffy like a pancake or creamy like a pudding, but rather pasty, moist and dense like somewhat dense and slightly undercooked American pancake. Or perhaps like a very fluffy mashed potato. I believe you can see the texture in the photo above. It was still nice, but I think I still prefer either fluffy like Hoshino or pudding-like, like Flipper's.
As for the taste, it did not disappoint on the sweet potato part. There was a very creamy, floral and fragrant sweet potato flavour. Nutty too, but not earthy.
However, it felt like that was all there was to the taste - there was no clear taste of egg, cream or vanilla. So it really tasted like a smooth mashed sweet potato paste that was exceptionally fragrant and slightly sweet instead of savoury.
Finally, here is the ingredients list. As you can see, there was margarine. The main sweet potato ingredient seemed to also be sweet potato paste mixed with white bean paste, so it is not pure. And perhaps that accounts for the mashed potato texture. There is also a sweet potato flavoured powder... so because it is described as "flavoured", I think it's not really sweet potato. Finally, despite the not so obvious flavours of these, there is actually egg, butter and milk as well.
The price was a bit on the higher side for typical desserts at 7-Eleven, but it is also quite large and I shared it with some friends.
Roasted Sweet Potato Souffle
This one was much nicer and prettier! But it came in a set of 4 so I had to wait until I had an occasion to share it with others before trying it.
Check out the pretty pastel purple colour contrasting with the pastel yellow!
The sweet potato taste was very fragrant and prominent. It was very light and not heavy or greasy, and also unlike the name, it didn't really have any dark roasted or caramel flavour that I noticed. Just like a normal yellow sweet potato flavour.
This pancake was also exceptionally fluffy, like a soft and moist chiffon cake! So I highly recommend this version instead.
Here's the ingredients list (click photo to enlarge). The ingredients are: sugar, egg, whipped cream, wheat flour, satsuma-imo white bean paste, custard cream, vegetable oil, processed vegetable oil, egg white, mountain yam flour, processed egg white, kanten/processed denbun, sorbitol, emulsifier etc. So there is a small possibility that the processed oil is either shortening or margarine, but usually when these are listed, they are just called shortening or margarine, so this is probably something else.
Discover other sweet potato treats
- Ube Latte or Purple Sweet Potato Latte (iced and hot) by Cafe Yasuragi
- Purple Sweet Potato Taro Egg Tart, Macau Portuguese style, by Zok Noodle House
- Okinawan Beni-imo Tart
- Annou Satsumaimo Sweet Potato "Oimo Financier" by Imokawa and Minamimachi Coffee, Tokyo
- Unagi-imo Tart by Unagiimo Store and Hokkaido Potato Jaga Butter Sweet Potato by Wakasayahonpo's Potato House
- Carrot, Pumpkin, Gobo, Yomogi (mug wort) and Purple Sweet Potato Macrobiotic Cookies
- Purple Potato Vegetable Waffle by MOS Burger
- Sweet Potato Chocolates with Mochi and Bean Fillings
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