NY restaurant creates $100 Cristal doughnut

A Filipino restaurant in New York has created a luxury gold-encrusted doughnut infused with Cristal Champagne and speckled with 24-carat gold flakes, with a dozen costing US$1,200 (£818).

The Golden Cristal Ube doughnut

The Manilla Social Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is known for its purple “ube” doughnuts, which are filled with ube jam made from mashing purple yams, a common ingredient in Filipino desserts.

Its latest creation, the Golden Cristal Ube Doughnut, is covered with icing made with Cristal Champagne and filled with an ube mousse and Champagne jelly, with its outside flecked with 24-karat gold.

However its first foray into boozy baked goods was a doughnut covered in icing made with Braven White IPA, a then newly opened nearby brewery, and dusted with gold.

“That was the beginning of the golden doughnut [idea]”, said the restaurant’s owner and chef Björn DelaCruz during an interview with First We Feast. “The reason that gold leaf and Cristal were added was because I love all different Champagnes”

The Champagne doughnut costs $100 (£68), with some New Yorkers choosing to order up a dozen, much to the surprise of its creator.

“I wanted to add something [to the menu] for the new year to celebrate how long we have been going. I didn’t know people would go and order a dozen [of these] at a time! But then again, it is New York, and there are people willing to put down a grand for a dozen doughnuts.”

Late last year a London coffee house and doughnut bar launched a limited edition doughnut laced with Jura whisky.