Yummy freshly baked doughnuts (Krispy Kreme)

Member Name: whiteroseuk

Product:	Krispy Kreme
Date:	31/01/09 (445 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious, many flavours to choose from

Disadvantages: too many flavours to choose from, not the healthiest option

I was in Birmingham the other day with my husband, and when we were almost ready for home he asked me if there was anywhere else I wanted to go. I had been thinking of visiting the Krispy Kreme doughnuts bar in the Selfridges in the Bull ring, and we weren't too far away froim there, so I suggested we try these doughnuts that I had heard so much about.

As we approached the shop which is on Level one of Selfridges in the Bull ring, there was a huge rotating neon sign letting us know that there were doughnuts being cooked at that moment, so it was possible to get them 'hot'. We then noticed a long queue, and this almost put us off, but we decided to wait, as we weren't particularly in a hurry, and we didn't have too long to wait as the queue moved quite quickly.

Where we were standing was interesting as you could see the hot doughnuts coming out of the oven and then being glazed, leaving them looking shiny, and delicious. The sugary glaze is poured over the ring doughnuts, and then the surplus drops into a big tank which I assume is pumped around to go over the next lot. There were so many! Hundreds of doughnuts being made, so although we had never tried them before, we realised just how popular they must be.

I knew they were an American company, that had opened franchises in this country, so I looked on the web site (www. krispykreme.co.uk) for a little bit more information about them. I won't reproduce the information here, as if you want to know the history it is all available on the website, but I'll just say that they started in North Carolina in 1937, and opened their first store in the UK in Harrods in October 2003. There are quite a few franchises now in the UK, (again yo u can find out exactly where on the website) and there are even some Tesco branches that stock them, sadly not the Tesco near me!

We probably held the queue up longer than anyone else, because we couldn't make out minds up which ones to try, they all look so delicious. They are sold singly or in dozens, and if you buy a double dozen, there is a bulk discount, and you get £2 off. These doughnuts are not cheap. THe glazed ones were £1.10, and the prices go up from there.

As there are only two of us, we didn't think we could manage a dozen so I didn't take note of how much a dozen cost. There are 15 varieties, so something to please every taste. We tried four of the varieties, and because we both wanted to try them all, we cut them in half, and had half of each of the four flavours we bought!

Original glazed: we had to try this one as we had seen them being made. This is a ring doughnut with a crispy sugar glaze, making the doughnut look a little like a bagel, but much shinier, and more delicious looking! When you sink your teeth into the glaze it cracks easily, and your teeth slide through it easily into the fluffy doughnut below. I like doughnuts, always have, but this has to be the king of doughnuts. I have never tasted anything so delicious, and the glaze is so much easier to eat than a regular sugared doughnut, and even tastier, absolutely gorgeous, light and fluffy, gone all too soon, so now I'm beginning to understand how a regular family could eat a dozen!

Cinnamon apple filled: This is like a regular jam doughnut, but instead of a jam filling it is filled with an apple and cinnamon filling. Again the dough was fluffy and light, and there was plenty of filling, which was full of chunks of apple, and with just the right amount of cinnamon, so that it was flavourful, but not overpowering. Very tasty, with an icing sugar sprinkled top.

Chocolate iced, custard filled: Again similar to a jam doughnut but this one had a chocolate iced topping, and instead of jam was filled with creamy custard. I recently wrote a review on custard slices, so if you read that you know I'm a fan of this type of confectioner's custard, and this was no disappointment, it was sweet and creamy, and complimented the doughnut and chocolate beautifully. Move over custard slices, here come custard doughnuts!

Chocolate Dreamcake: What can I say, this is a chocoholics delight! The beautiful fluffy light doughnut, filled with a creamy soft chocolate filling, iced with chocolate flavoured icing and then sprinkled with milk, dark and white chocolate curls. Mmmmm!! Delicious! My husband was worried that this one might be sickly, or the chocolate filling would be too runny, but it was just perfect, nice chocolatey flavour, just the right consitency. We were both very impressed.

We didn't eat them all at the same time, but had two halves when we got home, and the other two later on in the evening, but I'm sure we could have made room for more if we'd forced ourselves. I would imagine it would be very difficult to stop at one, if you had a dozen available, so I don't think I shall ever indulge to that degree unless I know there are more people than my husband and I to eat them! the are definitely moreish, and when you think about the fat and sugar content, these can't be healthy eating. They are very enjoyable though, and ideal as an occasional treat.

The other flavours that we didn't try:

Cinnamon bun: flavoured with cinnamon and topped with the original glaze
Glazed lemon filled: jam doughnut type filled with lemon filling and topped with original glaze
Chocolate Iced Glazed: an original glazed doughnut dipped in chocolate icing
Maple Iced Glazed: an original glazed doughnut dipped in maple icing
Glazed Raspberry filled: raspberry jam doughnut covered top and bottom in glaze
Chocolate Iced Creme filled: the 'jam' doughnut type filled with a smooth white creme filling, topped off with chocolate icing
Glazed Cruller: a cruller shape (a wheel with diagonal slices into it, no I never heard of it either) topped with original glaze
Glazed chocolate cake: rich moist chocolate cake topped with original glaze
Vanilla cake: Rich moist cake doughnut flavoured with sour cream and topped with glaze
Powdered blueberry filled: A regular 'jam' doughnut but filled with blueberry and topped with icing sugar

So there are plenty more to try next time we have a visit to Birmingham. I'm looking forward to it!

Summary: A great treat when you're near a Krispy Kreme franchise