This is a brand new find for us. From a brand new store that I have personally never come across before. This shop was called Batch’d and upon research they appear to be a pretty big franchise with pop up shops largely in the midlands and up towards Manchester. But for me, this was a first and we also happened to visit their new St Albans store on it’s first day of opening. Now when I tell you that this store looked like Willy Wonka’s factory I would not be exaggerating too much – the store itself was decorated quite neutrally but the cakes and treats I saw on display were something extra.
Now you will all know by now that I love a good donut. The bigger the better in my opinion. And one of my favourite places to find these big, dramatic donuts is Doughnut Time because their donuts are not only delicious, but are so extravagant that they are a whole culinary experience on their own. However as they are based in London it is definitely more of a treat for me that I will only ever get when I go into London which usually happens every few months. So definitely not a treat I can just pick up when the mood hits me.
So I was very excited to see Batch’d and their choices of donuts, cookies and cakes. Now I use the term ‘donut’, ‘cookie’ and ‘cake’ loosely because they are not normal treat size. Honestly I think some of the donuts on offer were bigger than my head, and their cake ‘slices’ are the size of literal bricks. Not a bad thing in my book, but just be warned if you do order anything from them that their portions are HUGE. They also appeared to have a decent amount of vegan options, especially as it was their first day opening. So of course, I had to try a donut.
We therefore went for their Bubblegum Millions Donut. Yes…it was a donut, with bubblegum flavoured icing, topped with bubblegum million sweets. I was expecting to go into a diabetic coma after two bites of this as donuts are usually very sugary and bubblegum is about as sugary as a flavour can possibly get, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually quite understated. The donut itself tasted and had the texture of sponge: it was very light and airy and was super spongey to bite into. The bubblegum icing definitely had that bubblegum flavour, but it was not overly sweet or sickly.
The bubblegum millions were a bit of a curve ball though. If you’ve never had millions before, they are little balls of quite hard chewy sweets. I find them to be a little bit like toffee, where you need to suck on them for a little bit to soften them up before you chew them because they start off rock hard. So while the extra texture was nice, having the very soft sponge of the donut mixed with the very hard millions was a bit odd, and there were a few bites where I genuinely feared I’d cracked a tooth by chomping down on millions. Personally, while the millions were a cute addition and added to the whole ‘bubblegum appearance’, I don’t think they overly added anything to the donut.
Now even though this donut is not too sickly sweet, it is also the size of a baby’s head so I definitely had to share this with my partner to avoid feeling super sick afterwards. Perfect to share, unless you are feeling very brave on your own. I personally could have finished it alone but I would have felt sick for the rest of the day, so you have been warned. I do think this is very good value for money though as this donut was £3.95, which seemed the average price of their donuts on offer. Now while it is more expensive than your Krispee Kreme options, it is still a fair amount cheaper than your Doughnut Time donuts, and I think still on the same level. Now Doughnut Time donuts do seem to market themselves as very extra donuts: their size, the flavours they offer, the decorations of them. They are all higher quality and do make for a very special food experience. But this Batch’d donut did a very good job at being a mid-level offering: It was tasty, very well decorated, and felt like a more high end treat without being the most expensive option on the market.
Taylor Talks Vegan 