The best doughnuts in Melbourne

Sloppy Joe's Deli is a cheerful sandwich shop in the CBD for freshly housemade doughnuts, coffee and American-inspired sandwiches with a creative twist. Grab an original glazed, a strawberry sprinkles or a Biscoff doughnut to go, and consider your life changed. Slightly savoury, chewy and yeasty, these sweet U.S.-style doughnuts are the real deal. 

Before opening this small laneway store, Anthony Ivey (ex-Market Lane) and Sinye Ooi made an educational pilgrimage to the USA and Canada, and we are the happy beneficiaries of their research. Short Stop Coffee & Donuts, with its blond wood, white tiles and navy blue packaging forming an elegant setting, may be small but it’s steeped in know-how. It offers doughnuts in flavour combinations as inventive as quince and mulled wine, mandarin and dark chocolate and sticky date and gingerbread. The signature Earl Grey and Rose cake is utterly gorgeous: Earl Grey tea leaves are flecked throughout the batter and the rosewater icing is subtle and fragrant. Herbal and floral, this memorably cakey doughnut will linger in your memory. Their peanut butter and milk chocolate doughnut is another dead-set winner.

Raph Rashid, begetter of food trucks Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck, applied his magic mitts to doughnut making and scored a happy hit with All Day Doughnuts. Occupying the same space as fried chicken/Mexican diner Juanita Peaches, the interior is all brown-brick walls, timber panelling and laminex tables, instantly transporting you to 1970s suburbia. But there’s nothing dated about the doughnuts. These are churned out twice daily for optimum freshness, with everything (even the sprinkles) made from scratch. Such dedication pays dividends in the lemon and poppyseed, Iced Vo Vo and original buttermilk glaze doughnuts. We try the crowd favourite, the strawberry cheesecake doughnut – a big, bouncy, beautiful beast. The strawberry icing is surprisingly natural tasting, with white sprinkles delivering a sugary crunch and rich cream cheese filling. Also worthy of note: the Don Homer is a gorgeously garish, pink homage to Simpson’s do(h!)nut of choice.

Doughboys began life in 2013 in the modest environment of Walter McKenzie’s mother’s laundry. It was here that McKenzie and business partner Brook James created their doughnuts, selling them at markets and pop-ups to critical acclaim. Last year, Doughboys found a permanent home at the business end of Bourke Street, and office workers rejoiced. Its classy good looks – a curved timber counter, black-and-white tiled floor, pendant lights and glass cabinets – offered a sugar-lanche in Euro-chic surrounds. Flavour-wise, intriguing combinations of Asian ingredients result in strawberry and miso and coconut pandan to Piña Colada and pumpkin pie pop up gloriously among the rotating flavours of the day. The French toast doughnut is a pillowy ring with a slight yeasty twang topped with cinnamon-flavoured crumble that’s dusted with icing sugar. Moreish and bouncy, it slides down all too quickly with a Small Batch (roasters) coffee.

One nibble of their hot jam bliss bombs shows you why generations have been happy to queue for them. This beloved family business has been operating since the ’50s, and on many market mornings, there’s a line of doughnut devotees peering through the windows of the blue and white van. Staff are busy within, cutting dough, frisbeeing it into the fryer and dusting it with sugar – the recipe is unchanged after almost 70 years. What makes these doughnuts elite is the heat factor – minimal fryer-to-mouth time keeps them hot and crisp on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside. Then there’s the shock of molten red jam that threatens to stain your workplace attire. The American Donut Kitchen and its products are authentic classics. May they ennoble the Vic Market for decades to come. (Psst...good news! The van just opened another location at Prahran Market!)

Born in 2020 by the team behind Lune, Melbourne’s famous croissanterie, Moon Cruller might only make one type of pastry – but it certainly makes it well. Crullers are crispy rings of deep-fried choux pastry that are tossed in sugar or glazed with a flavour of choice. Moon Cruller has followed graciously in its elder sibling's footsteps, bringing a touch of New York and a whole lot of fun to Fitzroy.

If you’re over the west side, gird your tastebuds for a treat. Candied Bakery (winner of Time Out Melbourne’s 2017 People’s Choice award for Best Bakery) is an Aussie bakery with an American and European twist (expect glories such as Philly cheesesteak rolls and soft-serve ice cream). Never has American know-how plus European dough-how equalled such multiculturally magnificent doughnuts. Key sub-genres are confidently covered, from the classic jam to more playful diversions like the vanilla slice and the salted caramel crumble. Their raspberry pavlova is a voluptuous, cream-filled doughnut coated in a pink berry-coloured icing with smashed meringue shards on top. It’s a quirky creation whose tempering of sweet meringue with the tart raspberry shows both skill and imagination. Chase it all down with an apple pie shake (several meals in itself) then roll out of the shop for a quiet lie down. Sweet dreams are made of this.

Hottest hot cross buns, most bread-worthy bread, bestest beef ragù pies… there isn’t much that artisan baker Daniel Chirico isn’t superlative at. His bomboloni are the bomb: each elegant orb is deep-fried to golden perfection and coated in citrus-flecked, crunchy granulated sugar, adding a lovely zing. And, oh, the fillings. One bite and your mouth fills with the silkiest vanilla-bean seed speckled custard. And while you’re in the pretty Carlton shop and admiring the pressed metal ceilings, checkerboard marble floor and undulating wooden shelving, cast an insatiable eye over a countertop naughtily athrob with quiche, mushroom brioche and loaves of gorgeous bread. They're also open in South Yarra.

Can there be a delicacy more democratic than the doughnut? Daniel’s is the people’s doughnut dispensary. Affordable (any six for $18) and open 24 hours, it expertly covers the classics – jam and glazed – and the cutting-edge: Nutella M&M, Tiramisu and the whole-Snickers-inside ‘Snickers Podnut’. While unlikely ever to be available on a doctor’s prescription, all of Daniel’s creations are seriously feelgood; but, after extensive and rigorous testing (and retesting), we declare the old-school jam-and-cream doughnut to be champ. Airy and sugar-coated, it’s sliced vertically to create a deep trench for the fluffiest cloud of cream and a dollop of strawberry jam. Yes, it’s sweet, but never is it sickly. And a pro tip for doughnut care: Daniel’s staff keep the box lid ajar so the cream stays intact. Surrounds are clean and functional, the service is speedy and efficient – good to know when the line’s snaking out the door.

Ever tried a Greek doughnut? They're a bit like the circular ones you're familiar with, but are instead golden fried spherical treats. Now, following a year of food trucks and market stalls Lukumades have found permanent homes in West Melbourne and Carlton (Lygon Street). They're frying up golden balls of dough topped Nutella, crushed Oreos, salted caramel and pistachios. This writer's fave has to be the Kinder Bueno, though.

We know art imitates life but, did you know art can also imitate doughnuts? Sydney-based doughnut joint Dr Dough Donuts has expanded into Melbourne, and the team are creating masterpieces that are almost too pretty to eat, with pearlescent purple shimmering glazes, glittering gold leaf and cartoonish technicoloured sprinkles adorning the light and fluffy fried dough. The best part is Dr Dough Donuts do same-day delivery seven days a week across Melbourne, so there’s really no excuse not to give yourself the go-ahead and get your doughnut on. The Dr caters to any occasion with birthday boxes, congratulations boxes, get well soon boxes and totally customisable boxes. You can even add balloons, fluffy toys and boozy extras to your delivery including vodka cruisers, wine in a glass or even a 1.5L magnum of Moet and Chandon, if you really want to spoil someone (or just yourself).

You like crème brûlée? You like Nutella? You like doughnuts? If you answered yes to any of these, get thee to Rustica. Their pert little sugar-dusted number is filled to the gills with Nutella and glazed with a crème brûlée topping. Use a knife and fork or just use your paws: what counts is the moment this rich and viscous Nutella charmer sends you into a sugary hazelnut coma. For something a shade lighter, Rustica's pretty strawberries-and-cream doughnut, topped with freeze-dried strawberries, is just the job; and if you want light and flaky, look no further than the lime and coconut cronut. This lovely, long white bakery café, with gracious service and beautiful baked goods, is a pleasure in itself to visit.