Tesco Chocolate Flavour Iced Ring Doughnuts

Not to get things off on the wrong foot, but ring donuts aren’t my go-to snack. If I were to delve for a donut, I’d decide on one of those ones that are smothered in sugar and filled with custard or jam. Virtually diabetes in a bite.

The ringed ones that have white icing and multi-coloured sprinkles (I’d call them ‘hundreds and thousands’ – but is that just a Northern thing?) on top are satisfying, but it was the chocolate version that was reduced to clear for 79p at Tesco – and that ain’t bad for four full-sized rings of fun (usually, they’re a precise £1.20 – which is equally unpainful). Currently, it’s five stars from my bank balance.

Each donut is basic in its design, but in keeping with what you can reasonably expect for the price. All four are of a decent size and thickness and are layered with an acceptable depth and expanse of chocolate (no “hey, Big Spender”, but no short-changing either). Generously covering the top are dark, milk and white chocolate sprinkles, which are key to adding a slight crunch and extra taste.

Crucially, the bottoms are not soggy!

To eat, the donuts are desirably soft, but the taste of the chocolate is marginally too mild in comparison to the bread base. They are also surprisingly stodgy – I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they’re like a plate at a Toby Carvery, filled to the ceiling with burnt roasties and undercooked Yorkshire puddings (I’ve always wondered how they manage to persistently fail to cook them properly), but they are unnervingly filling – an ungrateful reminder of the amount of carbohydrates and chemicals that mould them, which I really don’t want from a cheeky snack.

Because of their substantial size, the donuts have another advantage of being able to last more than one sitting – unless you’re on a three-day Netflix binge. The packaging, although a plastic casing (which obviously isn’t as nice to turtles as a paper bag), is minimalistic, so should at least stop David Attenborough from going nuclear.

The Tesco Chocolate Flavour Iced Ring Donuts are, therefore, pretty good value for money: you don’t get the Taj Mahal, but you do get more than 79p’s worth of snack (from some shops that money wouldn’t even buy you a lick of the dustbin lid). They are, however, too doughy to really be considered enjoyable and for similar money the sugar coated variety would offer a better experience.

Don’t yell at me: 3* out of 5.


By JAMES LEWIS
Wanderer, wonderer and editor of the Chocolate Dissection blog (which will ideally melt hearts rather than brains). Reliable with sarcasm, less so with a scalpel. Twitter: @IdeasJimbound


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