Each doughnut represents a different stage of the cherry blossoms in bloom, so we eat our way through all of them to find our favourites. 

On 28 February, Mister Donut, Japan’s leading premier doughnut chain, added four delights to their menu for a limited time to celebrate the upcoming cherry blossom season.

Called Sakura Mochitto Doughnuts, with “mochitto” referring to their chewy texture — this range is particularly unusual as it represents the four stages of the blossoms, from bud to fallen petals. With each doughnut having a unique beauty of its own, we were keen to find out if they tasted as good as they looked, so we picked up all four for a taste test.

▼ Let’s begin with the first stage of the blooms — “Tsubomi“, or “Bud“.

The first thing to catch our eye was the beautiful pink sakura design on the paper bags, and when we plucked out the bud, we could see it was a tasty shade of brown, thanks to the soybean flour dusting.

▼ The back of the bud, however, was soybean flour-free, coated in a sweet glaze instead.

Tearing into the bud revealed a hidden secret — a beautiful cherry blossom-flavoured dough, representing the flower inside the bud waiting to bloom.

Plump, chewy and sweet, yet subdued in flavour due to the simplicity of the ingredients, this was a beautiful introduction to the sakura series.

▼ Next up, we have the “Gobuzaki” (“Half-bloom“)

With a slightly more eye-catching appearance than the bud, this doughnut does a great job of representing a flower that’s about to unfurl all its petals, with a dusting of iced sugar and a strawberry chocolate dip adding extra beauty and sweetness.

▼ The true highlight, however, is the Sakura-flavoured whipped cream filling, which imparts a strong sakura taste in every mouthful.

▼ Moving on to the next stage of the flowering process, we have the “Mankai” (“Full Bloom”).

This is the pinkest of them all, with sakura-flavoured chocolate flakes scattered all over its surface to represent the dazzling nature of the flowers in full bloom. It’s also the strongest in terms of sakura flavour, with a thin layer of glaze beneath the chocolate flakes adding an extra hit of sweetness.

▼ The final stage is the “Maizakura” (“Dancing Sakura”)

“Maizakura” refers to the way the petals dance on the wind as they fall from the trees at the end of the season, and the arty topping represents this dance, with a flurry of petals against a backdrop of branches, now exposed at the end of the season.

Things are equally beautiful inside, with a ring of sweet adzuki red bean paste giving it a pop of Japanese flavour, which pairs beautifully with the cherry blossom flavoured doughnut.

After tasting all four stages of the blooms, our favourites were the final ones, the Mankai and Maizakura, but we were excited to work our way through all the stages, as each one lit up our imagination and our taste buds at the same time.

The doughnuts are on the menu for a limited period until late March, priced at 183 yen (US$1.22) for takeout or 187 yen for eat-in, except the “Bud” doughnut, which is a little cheaper, at 162 yen for takeout or 165 yen for eat-in. Alternatively, you can pick up all four in the “Sakura Mankitsu Set” (“Cherry Blossom Full Enjoyment Set“), only for takeout customers, priced at 711 yen.

Photos © SoraNews24
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