Doughnuts, puns and glorious sugar rushes.
Hot ring doughnuts, a paper bag and a bit of sand: the seaside doughnut van is one of Britain's great culinary institutions. A love letter to the promenade hatch, the promenade turf wars and the humble sugar-dusted ring.
The communal office doughnut box is a tiny, sugary model of society — and someone has just taken the best one. A field guide to the vultures, halvers and last-doughnut standoffs that define UK workplace sugar politics.
Artisan doughnuts are lovely to photograph and terrible to afford. In 2026, the real hero of British sugar culture is the supermarket bakery doughnut — slightly warm, faintly greasy and criminally cheap. I will defend the paper bag to my last crumb.
There is a moment, somewhere between the second crisp and the third doughnut, when the UK snack cupboard starts to feel like a wine list. We sent our least qualified correspondent to investigate. The results are salty, sweet and faintly unhinged.
Yorkshire pudding dough, roast chicken, potato, carrot and a gravy glaze: the Sunday roast doughnut was inevitable. It was also messy, magnificent and mildly unhinged. Here's the recipe, the chaos and the brutally honest verdict.
Custard or jam? In 2026 the question has split families, postcodes and at least one WhatsApp group. We ran a gloriously unscientific UK poll, dodged a few flying doughnuts and crowned a filling, while ring doughnuts sat smugly on the sidelines.
Ten supermarkets, one very full kitchen and a mountain of festive fried dough. We ate every Christmas doughnut the UK's big shops are pushing for 2026 and scored them on glaze, filling, festive flair and value — so your party spread doesn't end in tears.
Somewhere along the way, the humble doughnut became a platform for edible glitter, unnecessary pork products and prices that require a deposit. Here are seven UK doughnut trends we're officially retiring in 2026 — plus three underrated classics that deserve a heroic comeback.