A Three-way Doughnut Duke-it-Out

(A quick note: Doughnuts are good, and any attempt to quantify their goodness is doomed to failure. This being true, I don’t have particularly high hopes for this post, but I’m not going to let that stop me.)

As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of doughnuts, I have always expected that my relatives, associates, and friends would take my considered opinions of doughnuts as fact. To my dismay this has not always been the case. So, in an attempt to strengthen my position, I present this post – a comparison of three brands of doughnuts – complete with pictures and video. It is my hope that the visual presentation of the forthcoming doughnut facts will, once and for all, establish my personal objectivity and rightness on all doughnut subject matter. Naysayers, prepare yourselves.

Let’s meet the contenders!

First up, the mother of all doughnut makers… the keeper of the glaze wall… the activator of the HOT NOW signage… the favorite of millions of Americans… Kriiiiiissssspy Krrrrremmmme:

[flv]http://www.krispykreme.com/tv/flv/GLAZEDOVER_KISP_7015_001.flv[/flv]

Second to the ring, it’s the friendly doughnut store down the street… the hexagonal doughnut deliverer… Carmellllllla’s Creeeemmmme:

And our final contender, the Boston beauty… the arch-nemesis of Starbucks… the purported under-runner of America… Dunkin’ Dooooonuuuuuts:

The Rules

No points will be awarded in this match. The three brands of doughnuts will be examined in a haphazard way by the judge, Scott “Crispy” Cromar. A winner will be declared at the end by the judge. There will be no appeal of the final decision. No degree of fairness is implied. You may comment on the battle at the end of the post, but be aware that deletion of your comment is at the discretion of the judge. Game on!

The Match

I went to each of the three doughnut stores so that I could try out the doughnuts. The first stop was Krispy Kreme:

(This is not the actual store I went to, but it was something like that). My doughnuts were delivered to me in a beautiful, green polka dotted box. The presentation was really spectacular, and the green and red logo on the box truly caught my eye. It reminded me of a wonderful holiday. I have to say, I was very impressed from the get-go with Krispy Kreme.

My second stop was Carmella’s Creme Donuts. The store is right down the street, and has a sweet, inviting atmosphere.

The doughnuts were loaded into a white paper sack. That was a little disappointing after the nice box I got at Krispy Kreme, but they were also significantly lower priced than either Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’.

The final stop was Dunkin’ Donuts. I went to a brand new store in Champaign, and although I found it clean, the color scheme was a little distracting.

Even though the doughnuts at Dunkin’ were more expensive than at either Carmella’s or Krispy Kreme, they also came in a paper sack. Unfortunately, the sack was covered with the pink and orange color scheme, which kind of made me lose my appetite.

Actually, it reminds me of a great scene from The Simpsons:

[flv]http://www.crispycromar.com/wp-content/uploads/video/Simpsons13x15BlameitonLisa_moneyclip.flv[/flv]

Dunkin’ really disappointed me when it came to presentation of their product.

Once I had acquired all the doughnuts, it was time to get down to business. For the sake of brevity, I limited the doughnut comparison to two specific types: glazed raised, and chocolate raised. Let’s take a look at the glazed first.

The first thing you’ll notice when you look at the glazed doughnuts together is how misshapen the offerings from Dunkin’ and Carmella’s are. This is quickly forgiven in the case of Carmella’s because of the large size of the doughnut. No such redeeming qualities can be found in the Dunkin’. What is not apparent in the picture is the taste and texture of the doughnuts, but I’ll get to that in a second. Now let’s look at the chocolate raised.

Similar observations can be made in the chocolate raised offerings. The Krispy Kreme is stunningly beautiful, with an ample supply of chocolate. Carmella’s is again slightly misshapen, but covered in chocolate and ample in size. Dunkin’s doughnut… kind of lacking in every area. Not enough chocolate, misshapen, and small. This just isn’t expected from the most expensive doughnut in the bunch. The Krispy Kreme on the other hand offers even more than meets the eye: not only is there chocolate on the top, but the doughnut is glazed too. Good show Krispy Kreme.

So how do the tastes and textures compare?

	Glazed	Chocolate
	Nearly engulfed in glaze!; light and melt in your mouth texture; when eaten cold Krispy Kreme triumphs; when hot, it is on a whole different scale of goodness	Maybe one of the best donuts ever!; the combination of glaze and chocolate is doubly-delicious; even the underside of the donut is flavorful
	Very fluffy, light texture; better flavored dough than Dunkin’; plenty of glaze with a good flavor	Much lighter and fluffier than Dunkin’; ample amounts of chocolate; chocolate was rich and yummy
	Junky dough texture (spongy, dry, dense); good buttery glaze, but there was only a thin layer of it (it is so thin in fact, that can’t tell which side of the donut is the top)	Too dense, no flavor in the dough; chocolate flavor is okay, but it needed more

(Catherine helped in the creation of this table and the final analysis.)

Conclusion

In the final analysis, Krispy Kreme is the clear winner. Krispy Kreme had both the best looking doughnut, and the best tasting doughnut. The texture of the doughnuts was excellent, as was the overall presentation. After Krispy Kreme came the other two competitors. I don’t really want to rank the losers, but if you were to ask me, I would say Carmella’s comes in second. Why? Well, their doughnuts are bigger and cheaper than Dunkin’s doughnuts, and the texture and taste are superior also. As a concession to the Dunkin’ lovers out there, in analysis not presented here, I found the Boston cream doughnut of Dunkin’ to be considerably more tasty than that of Carmella’s, but we all were expecting as much.

(For further information on doughnuts and the doughnut war read my other post.)