I’ve been vegan for a couple of years now and in that time I’ve pretty much perfected (big claim, I know) re-creating most of my favourite desserts at home, plant-based and cruelty free. From birthday cake to sticky date pudding to lemon meringue pie, I’ve got it down pat, and if I can’t bake it, I can usually find somewhere to buy it (hello vegan Golden Gaytimes). But you know what I am yet to find? A vegan equivalent of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
There are few pleasures greater than a fresh Original Glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, a high I have been chasing since I first cut out eggs and dairy from my diet.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent vegan doughnuts out there — I’ve had vegan cinnamon doughnuts that are better than anything I had pre-plant-based life, and there’s a bakery near my home that makes fresh vegan jam and cream doughnuts that I would sell my first-born for.
But a simple glazed doughnut? For some reason, no one has perfected a vegan version of it — and sadly, neither has Krispy Kreme. The iconic doughnut brand released two (2) new vegan doughnuts, and neither of them were versions of the OG glazed. Tragic! And yet, for the sake of journalism, I persevered to try them.
Krispy Kreme’s first vegan offering, the Apple Custard Crumble, is a fluffy, round doughnut dipped in icing that tastes like cinnamon and rolled in vanilla biscuit crumble. And it’s stuffed with an apple-flavoured custard. The fruity-flavoured custard sounded weird to me at first, but I can confirm: it works. The entire doughnut genuinely tastes like a spicy, sweet apple crumble in doughnut form, and I inhaled two at once because I was amazed. My professional verdict? That shit is good.
The doughnuts are super soft, the custard manages to taste like real stewed apples (so basically, it doesn’t taste like that artificial green apple nonsense), and the crumble on top nails the precarious balance between cinnamon and sugar. It’s not too much of either but has a lovely (and delicious) symmetry.
But, I hear you, how can I truly attest for the quality of this doughnut if I haven’t had a dairy one recently? How can I compare the two?
Well, I did share my spoils with the PTV office, and my non-vegan colleague Ellie exclaimed: “I’m so surprised these are vegan, they don’t taste like it at all.”
Backhanded compliment aside (RIP), I consider this to be an endorsement.
As for the Fudge Brownie Bliss, to me this was… mid. I must preface this with the fact that I have never loved chocolate-FLAVOURED things (chocolate ice cream, chocolate mousse) and instead prefer my chocolate to be in the form of a bar (or in desserts I make myself). So I was already biased against the doughnut.
The Fudge Brownie Bliss doughnut is also a fluffy doughnut with a filling. It’s stuffed with super rich brownie batter, dipped in chocolate icing and then sprinkled with chocolate biscuit crumb.
Honestly, it was just a little too chocolatey for me. It took me three sittings and two cups of tea to get that bad boy down because it was so rich and sweet. It’s probably not something I would personally eat again or buy, but I can say you’ll get your money’s worth — I got three hits out of the one treat. A little goes a long way?
At the end of the day, I think vegans will really like these doughnuts, and I personally would go feral for another box of the Apple Crumble Custard ones.
But I do want to know — when is Krispy Kreme going to introduce vegan Original Glazed doughnuts? Trust me, that’s what the (plant-based) people want!
Oh, I also want to note that the vegan Krispy Kreme doughnuts are sadly limited edition and only on shelves until December 4. After that, vegans, we must fend for ourselves yet again.
