Cronuts/Crodoughs, Rinkoff Bakery

Rinkoff Bakery:
Addresses: 224 Jubilee Street, E1 3BS or 79 Vallance Road, E1 5BS
Tube Station: Whitechapel - Aldgate East 

[repost from my review on my fashion blog - it's more appropriate and it's too good to not share with you]

Ah, the cronut. A croissant-doughnut hybrid that's taken the baking world by storm and has earned itself a top spot in every pastry lover's wishlist. If you know me in real life, you've most probably heard me go on and on and on about wanting to try one since I first heard about them in May.

It was first pioneered by the genius Dominique Ansel for his bakery in New York. The queues were long and there were rumours that a single cronut sold on the black market (there's a black market for doughnuts? get me there) for over $40 a piece. My doughnut-shaped prayers were answered when I spotted a tweet from a bakery named Rinkoff Bakery selling a variant of the fried good 'the crodough' and it was only a 10 minute stroll from work. If I'm sinning indulging, you bet I'm bringing people down with me. I convinced 10 of my work colleagues to try it and after organising a bulk order of 17 crodoughs last Friday, I can confirm that the staff (and owner) is just as sweet as the goods themselves. I had such a positive experience with their customer service that I thought I'd just highlight that fact as I think they deserve that extra bit of positive recognition! : ) 

Two visits later, I've finally tried all four of the flavours (obviously for the purpose of this review) Warning: grab a bowl, you'll be drooling. Scratch that, get your Oyster card/train tickets out and be ready to run out of the door for these after this post.

[pictured above from t-b: toffee apple crumble and custard crodough]

Toffee Apple Crumble Crodough: £2.80
Rinkoff's description: filled with fresh apple and cinnamon, topped with crunchy crumble and drizzled with toffee.

If you're a lover of apple pie/crumble/cinnamon then feast your eyes (and stomach) on this. With your first bite, you're met with the soft sinking texture of a freshly fried doughnut. The aroma of the apple crumble filling inside then meets you and it tastes exactly like a just baked apple pie/turnover. It finishes off with the buttery layers and chewiness of a croissant. In other words, it's beautiful and I need to lay off the overly sexual descriptions. It's getting awkward.

You want a close up shot? Of course you do.

Custard Crodough: £3.00

Rinkoff's description: our custard crodough is filled with fresh custard with a layer on top for good measure

Do you have a sweet tooth? If so, this one's for you. There's a custard layer on top and it's filled with the stuff inside too. Some people mentioned that the taste was too artificial but I liked it. It reminded me of school dinners and impromptu desserts at home in the best way possible. It wasn't overly sweet and I can imagine this to be the perfect companion after a hearty British dinner in front of a crackling fire. Eating this obviously made me want to talk like a spiffin' ol British man too.

[pictured above from l-r: toffee apple crumble and raspberry crodough]

Raspberry Crodough: £2.80

Rinkoff's description: the raspberry Crodough is filled with jam and dusted with sugar with a fresh raspberry

Think of the best jam doughnut that you've ever had and multiply it by 10. I thought I'd like this flavour the least but it's surprisingly battling for the winning flavour. The raspberry filling has the right balance of a sweet, sour and sharp tang against the sugary dough.

Chocolate Fudge Crodough: £2.80

Rinkoff's Description: this Crodough is filled and topped with delicious chocolate fudge fondant

The chocolate ganache has the right amount of creaminess and isn't overpowering 'chocolatey' thanks to the mix of fudge fondant included. The flakes on top adds a nice texture to the crodough and differs from your average generic sprinkled doughnut. 

...and there we have it!

Are you now a drooling mess?

I thought so.

As much as I love them, I find half of a crodough to be the perfect portion size. They're huge and I'm somewhat obsessed with having everything in half portions. Don't fret your calories away, it'll give you the chance to taste another half of another flavour. Smart thinking all round.

Several restaurants and cafes dotted around London now stock them too so it's worth checking online to see if there's one close to you! It's definitely worth the extra walk (and you'll be thankful for it after you've eaten one of these)

As I'm feelin' extra cruel today, I'll leave you with a final image of the crodoughs.

Have you tried a cronut/crodough?
What are your thoughts on it? :)

Note: This post isn't sponsored by Rinkoff Bakeries. I just love anything to do with croissants/doughnuts and much like Pokemon, I gotta catch 'em all. I loved my experience with Rinkoff's crodoughs and customer service so much that this post was inevitable :)