[Christmas on VanFoodies] Holiday Flavours at Cartems Donuterie

I’ve always been intrigued by Cartems’s donuts, since its pop-up days. I like the various types of donut, their different texture and the featuring of seasonal flavours.

For the Christmas season, they introduced a few new flavours and on this one day where I was craving some donuts, I picked up half a dozen Cartems donuts.

Food

Candy Cane – Suggested by the name, I was expecting mint flavour in this donut; instead, the sweetness from the jam-like red stripes was the most prominent. It’s subtle and there’s nothing extravagant, but I quite enjoyed the simplicity of this.

Mulled Wine Glaze on Vanilla Cake Dough – I really liked the cakey donut texture and glad that it wasn’t overly sweet. I could taste the spices in the mulled wine glaze, but it’s not evenly distributed so that was missed at certain bite.

Way After Eight – This was my favourite of the box. The chocolate cake donut was rich and decadent, and the cakey texture was great. The peppermint glaze was just right and didn’t taste like toothpaste.

Chocolate Orange Stuffie – This was the only stuffed donut in the bunch. The chocolate ganache was rich and smooth, so was the mandarin orange curd. The orange chocolate combination is a classic and this version, perhaps on a slightly sweeter side, was quite good.

In the box were also two regular flavours:

Smoked Maple Walnut – The smokiness really came through on this one. Combined with the sweet maple flavour this was an interesting take on a sweet-savoury donut. The crushed walnut would’ve been a nice addition of a crunchy texture, but there wasn’t the crunch that I was hoping for.

Honey Parmesan – This was Mr.‘s favourite. The donut was sweet but the parmesan crumble added just the right level of savouriness to the donut. You can easily identify the cheesy flavour, and it’s complex and intriguing.

Final Thoughts

Half a dozen donuts costs $18, which could be considered on the pricey side. But their flavour combinations are quite unique and very enjoyable. Its regular Earl Grey is still one of my favourites. If you are interested in its stuffies (stuffed donuts), including them in a half a dozen box would be a good deal as stuffies are $3.75 each.

Cartems Donuterie
534 West Pender Street, Vancouver
778-708-0996
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