The dos and doughnuts of sufganiot

“One of the best parts of Chanukah is the sheer amount of doughnuts we get to eat.” “I could eat 10 of these.”

“This isn’t a doughnut, it’s just a piece of bread with icing on top.”

These are some of the comments made at the SA Jewish Report’s doughnut tasting on 5 December in the run-up to Chanukah.

Seven doughnut lovers were invited to judge a variety of doughnuts bought from seven kosher bakeries around Johannesburg to help the Jewish community with their Chanukah sufganiot (doughnut) buying.

On the judging panel were 24-year-old teacher Natanya Porter; Pnina Biddle, a medical student at the University of the Witwatersrand and a foodie; Cindy Herring, a mom of two girls who has spent decades honing her culinary skills running the brocha and kitchen at West Street Shul; Jodi Rakusin, mom of twins and organiser extraordinaire; Simon Anstey, a former insurance professional and ex-radio host; Talia Talmud, an industrial psychologist who posts on Facebook under the auspices of #cakechronicles; and SA Jewish Report board member Dina Diamond.

The judges were tough in their ratings, and were told where each doughnut was from only at the end of the tasting. They scored each doughnut based on flavour, texture, appearance, and smell, and gave each category a score out of 10.

The winner was The Family Bakehouse, from which the doughnuts were by far the most expensive. With a choice of peppermint crisp and caramel doughnuts, the judges were excited to sink their teeth into such innovative offerings. The peppermint crisp doughnut was decorated with chocolate icing and pieces of peppermint crisp chocolate; and the caramel doughnut had a custard filling with caramel icing.

Anstey said he believed they “would be a huge favourite with children”. He could be right. The younger judges on the panel said they were by far the best.

However, Rakusin said, “These doughnuts aren’t my vibe. It’s too much.” Her comment shocked the rest of the panel as they had been such a high scorer.

In second place were doughnuts from Shoshana’s Bakery, which were the only custard doughnuts on the list. There was great excitement when they were brought into the room. The two fluffy doughnuts covered with sugar with a silky custard on the inside had the panel’s mouths watering at the thought of sinking their teeth into these – and the doughnuts didn’t disappoint.

“That’s a good-looking doughnut,” said Diamond. Anstey said they were the first doughnut he wanted to eat.

“It’s so fluffy,” said Porter. “The outside is super sweet, but the inside isn’t as sweet, so it meshed together brilliantly.”

When the doughnuts from Shula’s Bakery – which came dual second – were brought out, Diamond said, pointing at the plate, “That just looks like a doughnut.” The doughnuts were in the classic doughnut shape, with a hole in the middle, and decorated with white icing and colourful sprinkles.

“I’m a classic doughnut girl,” said Diamond. “It’s fresh, it has icing, it has sprinkles, and it ticks all the boxes.”

Said Herring, “You can never go wrong with one of these.”

The judges discussed whether a doughnut like this would be considered a sufgania. Typically that’s a round jam doughnut, but after some discussion, they declared that any doughnut could be a sufgania.

In fourth place were apricot jam doughnuts from Pick n Pay at Genesis Shopping Centre. They were the most affordable larger doughnuts in the selection, at R10 a doughnut.

With apricot jam in the crisp doughnut covered in sugar, those in the older generation in the room were beaming with excitement at this classic.

The younger ones on the panel immediately scoffed at these doughnuts because of the jam filling.

“These are my favourites,” said Rakusin with a huge grin.

However, for Biddle and Porter, they might have ranked higher, but they both dislike apricot jam.

Following on, the three miniature jam doughnuts from Tiberius came in fifth place. For the younger ones in the room, they went down better than the ones from Pick n Pay because there wasn’t much jam.

“They look cute. There is a good amount of jam for someone who doesn’t like jam,” said Biddle. “This is my kind of doughnut. I might go and buy these later so I can have them at home,” said Rakusin, while savouring her piece of doughnut.

Diamond said that before coming to the tasting, she knew how much she loved sweet things, but “doing this underestimated my love for doughnuts”.

In sixth place were the chocolate iced doughnuts with sprinkles from Sandringham Spar. For many on the panel, these doughnuts, though they look great, need some improvement in terms of texture. There was much anticipation when they were brought into the tasting room as they looked classic, according to many on the panel, but for most, the texture was dryer than they would like.

“You could throw this at someone and it might hurt,” said Anstey. “It’s a shame because it looks so nice – like a classic sprinkle doughnut.”

Finally, in seventh place were the miniature doughnuts from Dee Jays, nicknamed “diet doughnuts” by the panel because they were so much smaller than the others. And the judges said they weren’t moist enough and a bit hard for them to get the full doughnut experience.

“They look just like doughnuts that you get at a cricket game or on the beachfront,” said Diamond.

But, at the end of the tasting, each judge said they would be happy to have any of these doughnuts at their Chanukah celebrations because while some may have been marginally better than the others, they were all tasty and ticked the boxes.

• Please note: these results haven’t been independently audited. The tasting was done in good fun, and reflects the individual tastes of our judges.