The History of the Jam Doughnut, the Jam & Cream Doughnut, and the Jam & Cream & Custard Doughnut

I love the idea that at some point in history some guy was eating a doughnut and thought ‘I could make this better’. I can just imagine that he would have turned to his friend and said “You know what we should do, we should make a doughnut the size of a smallish bread roll!” at which point his friend would have said “Yeah, and we should punch a hole in the top and fill it with jam!” At this point, I’m sure each of the friends would have stopped to consider the deliciousness of this idea for a moment before one of them would have said “Yep, you’re right. But I think it would be even better if we covered the whole thing in sugar as well.” To which the other would have agreed.

Now I’m sure they would have taken to the kitchen to create this sensational new treat, which made them both very successful in the baking business. But later on another couple of friends would have been sitting about, eating jam doughnuts when one of them said to the other “You know what would make this better, it could be the shape of a long roll so its bigger.” To which the other friend would have replied “Yeah definitely, but we could cut it part way through length-wise instead of putting a hole in the top and put the jam in that way, so there’s more jam.” At which point the two friends would have paused a moment to consider the brilliance of this potential dessert until one of them would have said “Yeah, but we should also put sweetened cream in it, and it would basically be perfect.” At which point they would have taken to their kitchen to create this sensational sweet.

Some time later, I imagine, another duo of friends would be found leisurely consuming their cream jam doughnuts when one friend said to the other “You know what would make this even better, we could add custard in between the jam and the cream” To which the other friend would have replied “Yep, definitely, I have a feeling I’m going to die of heart failure anyway.”

And that is how we ended up with possibly the most lethal sweet treat in the world… possibly.