Crosstown Doughnuts, 29th July

Well Crosstown Doughnuts, I expected more from you and you let me down. But then totally redeemed yourselves.

How so? Well, let me explain.

On a sunny day at Lovebox, instead of the usual summer treat of ice cream, we decided to have a doughnut from Crosstown while we sat in the shade and listened to some 90s R n B. They had several smaller doughnuts with interesting flavours (3 for £5) or a single, classic vanilla iced doughnut for £3.50. I chose that. And wished I hadn’t. The glaze was tasty enough but the doughnut itself? A bit too dry (horrible memories of Dum Dum Donutterie surfaced) and too airy – practically the whole top of mine was a hole.

My friends had also chosen the same and we all shrugged with complacency when we’d finished it. Not much to get excited about.

And yet, something made me think I should give them another chance. Pictures I’d seen of other doughnuts of theirs looked much more inviting. And fortuitously, they can be found daily at Leather Lane – just five minutes away from my office.

So, I went back. And had one hell of a heavenly doughnut. Sea salted caramel banana cream. A filled doughnut with caramel glaze, sticky toffee and cakey crumbled bits, with a wobbly, thick banana custard inside. The topping was more cinder toffee than just salted caramel, giving a deliciously burnt edge to the otherwise very sweet pastry. The dough on its own was still slightly dry, but meant it was a more than able prison for the abundant custard (that was just the right side of bananaey), not allowing it to get too boisterous and fall out all over the place, getting your fingers all sticky.

Do not go to Leather Lane without getting one of these.

But finally – a word on their paper bags. They are high quality bags, the type of bag you feel guilty throwing away. What is the point of them? I appreciate the feel of the heavy paper and the pretty branding on them, but it seems like a bit of a waste of money. It is, ultimately just going to be thrown away (don’t worry – I use the recycling bin). As long as the doughnut inside is up to scratch, fancy paper is irrelevant! 

Cocodough from Cocomaya, 10th June

I was disappointed before I’d even bought my Cocodough – they were all tiny and they were all expensive. But they were meant to be good and I’d rushed here in my lunch hour to get one so get one I did. I picked the flavour (from chocolate, salted caramel, vanilla and red velvet among others) based on which seemed to be the biggest. Lemon it was. They were all very pretty, most decorated with curls or petals and pretty pastel colours.

I paid my £3.50 (*balk*) and had my cocodough boxed up. But as time was running out I decided to eat it on the way back to the office. A mistake. I hadn’t realized that piped through was a lemon crème patisserie that spurted out at the first bite all over my skirt and continually leaked as I ate it. It was a lovely and tasty surprise but it 
did leave me rather sticky.

The cronut itself was pretty faultless – it had a bit of a crust, a proper doughnut texture, the requisite layers of a croissant and the lemon crème was luscious – tasted like lemon curd but much lighter. But, it was small and it was expensive. Small and cheap? Ok. Big and expensive? Yeah, sure. One or the other. But I guess that’s what you get from a West London chocolatier and patisserie in the leafy environs of Hyde Park (looking at the other baked goods and confections, they were all similarly wince-inducing). Tasty as it was, it made me wistful for the beasts you can get from Rinkoff, a mere quarter of which satisfies a cronut craving at a much cheaper price!
  

Bread Ahead Doughnuts, 26th April

I'm really enjoying this new doughnut craze happening in London. Doughnut-only vendors are popping up all over the place, and also restaurants and bakeries are bringing them into their repertoire.

So far, my favourites have been Rinkoff with their version of the cronut and Glazed and Confused's ring doughnuts, where I explain that a ring doughnut is my personal preference. But I'm open to any good 'nut and as we found ourselves on the Southbank last Saturday, I thought a stroll up to Borough Market to try the wares of Bread Ahead was an eminently sensible thing to do.

It took a little while to find them among the throbbing crowd so thick it was sometimes impenetrable, but with some persistence, there they were. Bread Ahead is the partnering of the founder of Flour Power Bakery (pretty much ubiquitous at every market for a while) and an ex-baker from St John's Bakery, already famed for their doughnuts, which are pretty good.

When we got there, there was but one of their renowned salted caramel and honeycombs, plus a few rhubarbs and some vanilla (I think). We had one rhubarb and snapped up the last salted caramel one, actually managing to wait until we'd got all the way home before tucking in.

I think, for both of us, the rhubarb was the surprise winner. It was the perfect blend of tartness and sweetness and a hint of orange gave it a nice citrus freshness. I also loved the salted caramel custard with chewy bit of honeycomb protruding but Stephen didn't like that it wasn't quite custard, wasn't quite salted caramel, whereas I appreciated the airy lightness of the filling and that it wasn't too sweet. These could almost persuade me that filled doughnuts are the way to go.

Weirdly enough, my only complaint is that they are too stuffed with filling. I'd actually like a little more doughnut with my jam or custard - there was so much they were tricky to eat; you almost had to spoon some out before getting a hold of the doughnut and eating the rest.

What kind of complaint is that? Well, a pretty weak one by all accounts. Will overfilling stop me from going back? Hells no. I can't wait to have another one!

Dum Dum Donutterie, 1st April

After our filling (at least physically if not in terms of contentment) lunch/dinner at On the Bab it was time for dessert – a wander down to Boxpark to nab a doughnut. It was nearing 4 pm and I was under no illusion that we would have the pick of the bunch. Most of the doughnuts had sold out but they still had three flavours to choose from - an almond pistachio cronut, a creme brulee, and a morello cherry ring doughnut. I felt compelled to opt for the creme brulee while Stephen was enticed by the promise of cherry.

We took them home and Stephen finished his in about four bites and proclaimed he wasn't too impressed. He felt like he was eating an iced bun rather than a doughnut. I had mine and was also underwhelmed. I knew already that they were baked not fried and so expected a 'healthier' taste, but the dough to mine seemed very dry. I know they'd been sat there a while but still. The shell on top which mimicked the top of a creme brulee I actually thought was too sticky – it got all stuck in my teeth in an unpleasant way. It was filled with a vanilla cream though and this was its saving grace. Sadly, even making allowances for the lack of fat, they weren't a patch on Glazed and Confused's inventions. 

Not wanting ot give up on the place, I wanted to go back and try the thing I'd been seeing so much praise for on Twitter – the zebra cronut. And I ended up doing so when I got a hot dog from Coffee Dogs - they stock Dum Dum's wares.

This was definitely better than the doughnut I'd had - with chocolate cream piped through it. Had I not had a crodough from Rinkoff's I might have forgiven Dum Dums the creme brulee. But I had and Rinkoff's were a work of art. These ones were more akin to their bread brethren than their doughnut cousins and just lacked that indulgence I want from a doughnut. I wouldn't be so rash as to say I wouldn't bother with another but, for me, they're not hitting the spot.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Glazed and confused, 4th March

Blogging as much as I do drains my wallet and makes me fat but occasionally there is an upside when I am given the opportunity to try something for free. In this case, it may still make me fat but at least it isn't costing me anything.

I was given such an opportunity by Glazed and Confused after tweeting that I'd just picked up some of their doughnuts from White Mulberries. Stephen and I had bought a coffeetoffeenut and a cherry bakewell. There was no sharing as I don't like almonds and he doesn't like coffee.

Which I'm pretty glad about as I wouldn't have wanted to give away any of mine. It was chewy and caramelly, and the coffee flavour was actually in the doughnut, not just in the topping. I was impressed. After having these on the Saturday I was eagerly awaiting the delivery to my office on Tuesday.

I was brought six flavours. The lovely guy who made the delivery (one half of the brains behind the outfit) did mention what they were but by the time I'd taken them upstairs I'd forgotten. But through taste testing I deduced I had:

Raspberry pavlova

Coffee toffee hazelnut

Lemon curd filled

Rhubarb filled 

Cherry bakewell

Ginger 

They're not a light, sugary nothingness confection a la Krispy Kreme (though don't get me wrong, I love Krispy Kremes) where you can scoff several before you feel bloated. They're substantial and just one is actually quite filling. They have a dense, chewy texture, that reminds you of the 'dough' they're named for, rather than cake, or an airy mouthful of grease and too much sugar. Doughnuts are pretty ubiquitous in the States but Glazed are trying to do them their own way by creating flavours that will appeal to English sensibilities. These are adult doughnuts with some grown-up flavours. But that doesn't mean they don't have a fun side - whoever dreamt up a doughnut/pavlovla hybrid clearly has a playful heart. 

I truly liked them all and they received positive murmurings from my colleagues as well. Its hard to pick a favourite. The raspberry pavlova was amazing, with lovely chewy meringue on the top and raspberry cream in the middle, if quite messy to eat. But I think the ginger might take the crown. I had thought it was just a regular vanilla flavoured doughnut so the flavour took me by pleasant surprise and I loved its spicy, ginger warmth.

I prefer ring doughnuts but if a filled doughnut was my bag then the lemon curd one would have been my favourite. A good amount of sharp, zesty lemon filling. 

The rhubarb doughnut was one of the weaker ones. In fact, it's a rhubarb and custard doughnut but I didn't see any evidence of custard. I didn't think the rhubarb flavour was strong enough, I wanted more of that sharp rhubarb tang, although perhaps it was diluted by the custard flavour being mixed in.

I didn't try the cherry bakewell doughnut myself, but from the feedback this one was also not the strongest offering. One person didn't think almonds really belonged on a doughnut, and my boyfriend thought there could have been more to it – that it was a bit plain with just almond flakes and a couple of cherries on top. Maybe it would be better as a filled doughnut with cherry jam inside. 

I have noticed a spate of doughnut vendors popping up in the wake of Glazed and Confused – Dum Dum Donutterie and 1235 Doughnuts, both based in East London. I haven't yet tried either so I can't compare. However, if they're even halfway equal to Glazed's doughnuts then Londoners are in for a treat.