Krispy Kreme Donuts

Update Review, October 2024

For Halloween, a co-worker brought in a bunch of Krispy Kreme.  I've never really cared for Krispy Kreme in the past, but I haven't had it that many times, so decided to give it another try.

Halloween Donuts: Slimer ($3.49), Ecto-Sprinkled ($3.19),
Ghostbusters Cookies N' Creme ($3.49), 
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man ($3.99).

For Halloween, we had a bunch of special edition Ghostbusters donuts.  I of course went for the most ridiculous of them all: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

"Original Glazed® doughnut with powdered topping, topped with marshmallow flavored buttercreme and a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man candy."

Um, wow.  This was an incredibly sweet donut.  Which I expected of course, but, wow.  Sugar on sugar on sugar on sugar.  

Yes, this was a glazed donut, with powdered sugar on top of that, stuffed with marshmallow cream, AND frosted.  As I said, sugar on sugar on sugar on sugar.

As always, I disliked the actual donut.  Krispy Kreme just truly doesn't do it for me.  They taste too processed, not fresh enough, meh.  The marshmallow buttercreme was true to the marshmallow taste, crazy sweet, fluffy, and enjoyable ... but in much smaller quantities.  I scraped some off and spread on strawberries and liked it quite a bit that way.  So tasty, but cloying sweet marshmallow components, awful donut, **. 

Update Reviews, May 2019, November 2019

More attempts at Krispy Kreme, even trying the fancier donuts, but ... meh.

Donut Wall.

Sometimes life brings you donut walls.  This is always exciting, but, I'll admit I was let down when I discovered the donuts were from Krispy Kreme.

Still, I dug in to several.

Cake Donuts

I don't think Krispy Kreme is particularly known for the cake donuts, but they do offer a few classic varieties (plain cake, powdered, cinnamon sugar), and a few more interesting ones (glazed blueberry cake, sour cream glazed, and glazed chocolate), several of which are also available as donut holes.

This was my first Krispy Kreme cake donut.

Glazed Chocolate Cake.  May 2019

"If you love chocolate cake then you love this doughnut. It is rich, moist and full of chocolate flavor. We then top it off with our signature glaze."

This was my first Krispy Kreme cake donut.  I applaud the generous glaze.  Standard sweet Krispy Kreme glaze.

But the donut base itself is fairly ... eh.  It was not rich and moist as described.  Just kinda dry, chocolate-y but not rich.  A bit greasy.  No crispy exterior.

Very generic, very uninteresting, besides the glaze.

Raised Filled Donuts

And also my first filled Krispy Kreme donuts.

Santa Belly. Nov 2019.

"A jolly Santa belly doughnut filled with Chocolate Kreme™, dipped in red icing with sparkling sugar and a hand-decorated belt."

Part of the 2019 seasonal offerings, the "Santa Belly".  I'll admit, I was impressed with how decently it was decorated, for a mass market item.

However, I found it looked better than it tasted.  The decorations were good - the red icing was crazy sweet, particularly with the sparkling sugar, and the belt pieces were hard candy that were just sugar, but, tasty.

But the rest of it?  Meh, it is still a Krispy Kreme donut.

Santa Belly: Inside.

The chocolate filling was not quite as generous as I was hoping, but, once I tasted it, I was glad.  I didn't really like it.  It is their signature Chocolate Kreme™ and it was somehow not very chocolatey, nor very creamy.  Just ... more sweet.  It made me sad, as I was hoping for a rich chocolate pudding, or a light fluffy cream.

And the donut base?  Meh, just a not very interesting, kinda dry, Krispy Kreme.

I gave away the other half.

New York Cheesecake. Nov 2019.

"Our version of this popular dessert is filled with rich, creamy cheesecake filling, topped with cream cheese icing and sprinkled with crunchy graham."

I didn't know what kind this was when I plucked it from the donut wall, but it looked filled, and topped with interesting things, so, I grabbed it.  It turned out to be "cheesecake".

The toppings were ok, although the icing didn't seem to really be cream cheese flavored, I mostly just found it sweet.  It was fine, but not any different from a vanilla glaze to me.  The graham I actually thought was cake bits or crumble, not "crunchy" as advertised, but also not bad.

Toppings were ... ok.

But again, the rest?  MEH.

New York Cheesecake: Inside.

We again have a lackluster Krispy Kreme donut base, mediocre amount of filling.

And the filling ... I HATED.  It was richer and creamy I suppose, but it tasted like lemon and sugar more than cheesecake.  I know cheesecake can often have a lemon hint, but this was far too citrus-forward, and fake tasting, for me.

I definitely did not like this one.

Update Review, September 2015

As I mentioned in my original review of Krispy Kreme , I didn't grow up with Krispy Kreme.  The few times I had Krispy Kreme as an adult, I wasn't been impressed.  I certainly don't seek it out.

But ... it was National Coffee Day, and Krispy Kreme was giving out free coffee AND donuts (take that Dunkin' Donuts! They *only* gave out coffee!).  Normally, I'd skip this, even though I just can't resist a freebie, because, well, there isn't one convenient to my house.

But, as luck would have it, when National Coffee Day rolled around, I was actually out of town, down in Santa Monica, and happened to be staying a few blocks from a Krispy Kreme (I swear I didn't plan this).  So, I obviously had to check it out.  Plus, I hadn't ever actually experienced a hot fresh Krispy Kreme, and I was hoping I'd luck out.

Original Glazed Donut. $1.

Sadly, the donuts were not hot and fresh.  I'm assuming this was still a bit fresher than when I've tried them in the past, not directly purchased at a Krispy Kreme.  But certainly no warm magic here.

The donut was ... fine.  It was fluffy and airy.  It wasn't stale tasting, it wasn't oily.  But it wasn't particularly interesting.  It was perfectly glazed, in a nice, sweet glaze.  I give them points for the perfect glazing.

Overall though, certainly nothing special, and not something I'd go back for.

(The coffee served was from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, it was fine, not particularly interesting either).

I didn't actually finish the entire thing in my first sitting, as I went right after breakfast at my hotel.  I had a chunk left.  For some reason I didn't throw it out.  I'm really not sure why, as it wasn't like I was in love with it.

I discovered it 12 hours later, post-dinner.  And ... for some reason, I felt compelled to eat it.   Yes, many many hour old, likely stale, totally forgot mediocre donut.  And ... I actually liked it more this way.  The glaze had gotten hard, and it was a bit crispy.  I ... liked that.  And the donut itself had gotten drier, which I also liked more.  It still wasn't amazing, but I was pretty weirded out by the fact that I actually preferred a 12 hour old donut ...

Original Review, November 2013

Mmm, donuts.  I love a good donut!  Yet somehow, I'd never had a Krispy Kreme before.  They didn't have them where I grew up, and somehow, once reaching adulthood, I never sought them out.  It isn't that I don't eat donuts, but I tend to go for the fancy pants versions these days.

Anyway, I recently attended an event that had boxes and boxes of Krispy Kreme lined up!  I was excited to try them out, since I obviously knew about Krispy Kreme.  But I also knew that part of the experience is getting the hot fresh ones at the store.  I wasn't going to have that experience, but I was at least going to have some donuts!

Sadly, I didn't really care for any of them.

Original Glazed.

I started with the basic donut they are most known for.  The original glazed.

It looks like a very good donut.  The glazing is very uniform and covers the entire donut.  It is soft.  But ... honestly, just not a very interesting donut.  I'm told that the real magic is when you get one hot and fresh at Krispy Kreme, which I've never actually done.  So maybe I'm just missing the real thing.

Maple Glazed Iced.

When I opened the box of donuts, there was one aroma that was overwhelming: maple.  I'm from the land of maple syrup, so I was really excited by this one.

It was shocked to discover that it was also glazed.  Turns out, they take the original glazed donut and THEN add additional maple icing.  Wowzer.  Sweet overload.

Again, very well formed donut, perfectly iced.  And it tasted like maple, sorta.  But ... again, just not that remarkable.  I wouldn't get another.

Chocolate Iced With Sprinkles (Halloween Version)

The seasonal variety was a chocolate iced donut topped with sprinkles, featuring orange and blank sprinkles for Halloween.

Again, an original glazed donut is the base.  Then topped with chocolate icing.  And then covered in sprinkles.  Yes, ZOMG, sugar.

This was hands down my favorite.  The donut was obviously the same and kinda meh, but I liked the chocolate flavor of the frosting, and the sprinkles added a nice crunch.

If I were to get another Krispy Kreme, I'd probably go for this one.

Glazed Cruller.

I enjoy crullers, but this wasn't really one.  It seemed to just be a regular donut, shaped like a cruller.  That is, it didn't have a lighter, eggy dough that actually makes a cruller a cruller.

I really did not like this.  It just tasted like bad oil.  Way too fried.  I think the extra surface area of the ridges trapped even more oil than normal.

Didn't even want a second bite of this!

Glazed Sour Cream.

And, for one a bit different, the glazed sour cream.  I didn't really taste sour cream specifically, but it did have a bit of a tang to it.  A little more crunchy, a bit more rustic in appearance.  Absolutely loaded up with glaze.

This reminded me more of the donuts I ate growing up.  I liked it for that reason, but overall, nothing remarkable.  My second favorite though.