#NationalDoughnutWeek custard doughnut testing. And the winner is…

At Bookends we take our jobs very seriously. We’re hugely passionate about what we do, the fantastic authors we get to work with and of course their amazing books.

Occasionally, our line of duty even extends to foodie-type activity. Enter Stella Newman’s THE DISH, which is packed with mouth-watering food references: top London restaurants, flaky Parisian croissants and the finest of roasted coffee beans to name a few. But the one which really piqued our interest was the famous St. John custard doughnut.

Restaurant critic, Laura and top chef, Adam meet in difficult circumstances in THE DISH, when they realise they have both ordered the day’s last custard doughnut (you can read an extract of their meet-cute here. But, you might ask yourself, how could a humble doughnut be so good that it brings two strangers together? It seemed only right to put this situation to the test. The fact that last week was also #NationalDoughnutWeek left us in no doubt.

We packed up our book bags and headed to foodie nirvana Borough Market, home to Bread Ahead Bakery. Bread Ahead was founded by doughnut king Justin Gellatly, formerly Head Baker and Pastry Chef at St John, and their doughnuts are stuff of food legend. They change their guest flavours daily, with the vanilla custard a perennial favourite. Our Friday flavours were: Honeycomb, Salted Caramel and Bourbon, Praline, and Vanilla.

Here’s how they looked before we tucked in…

After extensive testing and much discussion, the winner was *drumroll* VANILLA. It turns out the original is the best, and — we can confirm — definitely worth fighting over.

THE DISH is out now in ebook and in paperback from Thursday 21^st May. You can buy your copy here.

For blogs, foodie inspiration and books news visit www.stellanewman.co.uk, @stellanewman on Twitter and @stellanewman_author_eater on Instagram.

If this post gave you an appetite for more foodie fiction, why not discover 5 delicious stories for fans of the Great British Bake Off?