Donuts, cronuts, crodoughs, whatever you call them

Geoff and I commenced a scientific study last weekend – to find the most delicious donut-like pastry in London.  A tough job, but we’re up to the challenge (and all those clichés).  This is not to say that we’ve been avoiding donuts since we moved here but we’re now adopting a rigorous, scientific approach.  This may involve re-visiting bakeries that we’ve previously enjoyed, but it’s all in the name of science!

The first experiment involved ‘cronuts’ from Rinkoff (about £2) and Dum Dum Donutterie (£3). 

Rinkoff is a small baker/cafe tucked in amongst flats down in Whitechapel.  In fact, it felt like we were in the communal area attached to the flats, rather than a public area.  Rinkoff opened in 1911 and it looks like it has been a while since a refurbishment.  However, they are clearly a well-loved part of the community as evidenced by the number of customers who came in and out, ordering quickly, as Geoff and I chose our treats.  We bought a peanut butter and jam crodough and a caramel brownie.

Dum Dum Donutterie, on Brick Lane, is not far from Rinkoff in distance, but a long way in terms of style; it’s a shiny and bright store, selling modern pastries.  We bought a zebra ‘cro’ – vanilla and chocolate. 

First, the Rinkoffs crodough looked more like a donut – any layers of pastry were very close to one another, so hard to distinguish croissant-like layers.  As well as peanut butter and jam on top, there was some jam inside and the overall PB&J flavour was good, the donut was nice and not heavy but not much like a croissant.

The Dum Dum zebra was more croissant-like with very obvious layers of pastry, probably enhanced by the colour variation between the chocolate and vanilla pastry layers.  The overall chocolate taste was too light – the stronger flavour was general sweetness. 

Finally, the Rinkoff brownie was amazing.  Rich and chocolatey, gooey and oozing swirls of caramel.  The overall winner.