On April 24, Dough Doughnuts opened a new location in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Normally I wouldn’t go out of my way for a doughnut, but I had witnessed the mountains of accolades heaped upon this legendary bakery and now, since it had found a home in my neighborhood, I braved the lines and selected four:
(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)
From upper left, clockwise:
• Boston Cream, custard filled and topped with chocolate glaze and “soil”
• Brooklyn Blackout, a chocolate doughnut filled with chocolate pastry cream and topped with “chocolate soil”
• Banana Hazelnut, not a filled variety
• Cheesecake with Red Velvet Topping
And for those who crave a look into the inner workings:
Boston Cream
Brooklyn Blackout
Banana Hazelnut
Cheesecake with Red Velvet Topping
Now for the heresy: I’m glad I bought four (at $4.50 each!) because had there been only one, I would have thought, “Damn, it’s a little stale – probably a day or two old”, but the odds of all four being substandard were infinitesimal. They were thick, dry, dense, heavy, bready, not flavorful – actually a little sour tasting but not in a yeasty good way, with a paucity of filling – and not very good filling at that.
And just to be snarky, here’s a photo from years ago of the outstanding product from Doughnut Plant that I hadn’t really intended to include in this post until now.
Top row: coconut crème (filled), peanut butter blackberry jam (filled); bottom: vanilla blackberry jam dough seed, crème brûlée dough seed, marzipan star.
Had the opening been on April 1 rather than April 24, I might have caught the joke. But it wasn’t.
Seriously, people, what am I missing?
If you’re one of those folks who get all twitterpated over Dough’s doughnuts, please explain your passion to me – particularly if you’ve ever reveled in the joy that is a Doughnut Plant doughnut.
Visually these are compelling and I like the names and descriptions. But if I want cake I will get cake. Personally I like a super fresh high quality plain glaze and I like it hot. I don’t require a lot of wow factor. Just excellence. But I would try that star shaped one. It looks like it has a really good texture.
I hear you – and these are closer to bread than they are to cake IMHO. That star-shaped one (and the rest in just that box) came from one of Dough’s rivals, Doughnut Plant, my current fave. And yes, the star-shaped one was spectacular!
I am a fan of the the cake doughnuts at Dough (19th street store in Manhattan). They have only 2 varieties: sour cream and lemon. They often sell out of the cake doughnuts, and I usually don’t bother with their raised varieties. I also think Doughnut Plant makes better doughnuts but the one near me in Chelsea is closed. Not sure about the Grand Street store. It was closed the last time I went by. So, Dough, if there’s cake.
I went in there, too, shortly after they opened, lured by the blackboard outside advertising “Brooklyn Blackout Donuts.” Blackout? I said to myself. Like Ebinger’s??? But, alas, when I went in and asked, I found out they were a chocolate donut filled with chocolate cream and that crumb on top. Not Ebinger’s and the cream filling is not for me. I wanted Ebinger’s blackout cake. But I did buy another chocolate covered kind and paid the $4.50 (WHAT?) and shared it with Matt when I got home. It was OK – not at all stale like you described. But I’m not a donut lover, anyway, so I’ll probably never go back. But $4.50? Really?
Exactly! And from one mavin to another: Ebinger’s! 🥰
I went to Dough once in Clinton Hill. I am a doughnut lover and freshness and the place where fried dough and glaze come together is what I particularly love. No sprinkles, no chocolate. Dough (then) made bready big doughnuts that did not have a good fried surface , with weird glazes. Since I do also like cake doughnuts I will hit them up for a try of these. Doughnut plant is superior, we love the coconut cream, made with coconut milk and they do good glazed jelly. However, the maple cinnamon rolls at Cinnamon Girl will top all of these doughnuts in the dangerous starch category.