In honor of Valentine's day, Boston's iconic, award-winning donut shop, Union Square Donuts, has released five new, limited-edition flavors. Finding myself (once again) alone, I did what was only natural on this day of love and companionship - I tried all of Union Square Donuts Valentine's Day flavors. Here's how they stacked up against each other.
5. Vanilla Bean Heart-Shaped French CrullerComing in last place is the vanilla bean heart-shaped French cruller. Though appealing in its design, this donut's flavor and texture were lackluster and off-putting.
As expected, the cruller's texture was the most unique, bearing the light airiness of a choux pastry. However, given how unusually thin the pastry was, the donut felt a bit dry, overly crisp, and lacking that airy interior of a proper cruller.
The vanilla glaze tasted fine, but the overall donut pales in comparison to another vanilla-based donut on this list.
4. Black Forest Donut
I had high hopes for the Black Forest donut, so I was disappointed that it ended up in second-to-last place on my list.
As evident in its name, the black forest donut is meant to replicate the flavors of a black forest cake, which is a German chocolate cake that incorporates cherries in either the batter or the filling. However, that's exactly where this donut fell flat. The "sweet cherry glaze" had an extremely subtle cherry flavor, barely noticeable for the most part. I also felt that the chocolate aspect wasn't as prominent, with most of the chocolate flavor coming from the thinly shaved chocolate adorned on top of the donut instead of the chocolate drizzle. As far as I could recall, I only had two to three bites where I was able to pick up hints of chocolate and cherry. For a donut based off of a chocolate cherry cake, the Black Forest Donut fails to deliver both components.
3. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Donut
In third place is the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Donut.
Compared to the black forest donut, the chocolate covered strawberry donut's "strawberry glaze" had a slightly more pronounced strawberry flavor. However, it was more of an artificial strawberry flavor, very similar to what you'll find in a standard pink frosted sprinkled donut. The inclusion of an actual - and surprisingly fresh - strawberry in a chocolate shell was a cute touch, but it only accentuated the artificiality of the glaze, creating a juxtaposition that didn't really work well with my palette. At least this donut does a better job at replicating the flavor of what it's supposed to represent compared to the black forest donut.
2. Valentine's Funfetti Filled
Remember how I compared the vanilla bean cruller to another "vanilla-based donut"? Well, coming in second place, the Valentine's Funfetti filled donut gave me a far more pleasurable eating experience than the cruller
The brioche donut foundation was soft, fluffy, and far more airy than the cruller. The glaze tasted fairly close to the vanilla glaze of the cruller, but it was that rich, decadent buttercream filling that set this donut high on my list! With the cake crumbles and sprinkles, it felt like I was biting into a soft, delightfully chewy vanilla cake with the generous amount of buttercream oozing throughout!
1. Raspberry Chocolate Truffle
Now this was what the black forest donut should have been. In first place is the Raspberry Chocolate Truffle donut!
The "fresh raspberry glaze" was wonderfully tart and citrusy, perfectly capturing that distinct raspberry flavor! If anything, the glaze was more of a jam, providing that sweet fruitiness that didn't taste artificial. If that wasn't already enough, the tartness was perfectly complimented by the bittersweet flavor of the dark chocolate drizzle and that rich, decadent, fudgy, homemade chocolate truffle placed in the middle of the donut! Every component of this donut played its part in delivering the perfect Valentine's Day themed donut.