My child is always down for doughnuts. He doesn’t ask if we’re getting doughnuts, he just asks, “When are we getting doughnuts?”
Over the last two weeks, I ordered a half dozen doughnuts from a half dozen places in Champaign-Urbana. Please don’t be mad that I did not drive to Danville for Royal Donut; they do make a good doughnut, but it’s currently closed with a projected opening in mid-August. Curtis Orchard opens for the season today, so you won’t find the popular apple doughnuts in this list either.
On my doughnut tour of C-U, I ordered an original (glazed) at each of the six places. If it was available, I also ordered a chocolate frosted, one with sprinkles, maple frosted, and something fruity.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Carmella’s Creme Donuts
Carmella’s Creme Donuts, the doughnut shop on Springfield Avenue in Champaign, serves amazing doughnuts. For this half dozen ($8.75, cash or check only), I picked two glazed yeast doughnuts, a maple iced glazed, a white iced glazed, one chocolate iced glazed yeast, and a chocolate-iced cake doughnut.
Every doughnut was glazed on all sides. On the original doughnut, the glaze was crackly, and the doughnut had an airy bite. The maple frosted doughnut had a strong syrup taste making it extremely sweet. The vanilla iced was a perfect doughnut: glazed, frosted, and so good. The chocolate frosted yeast had a fudgy dark chocolate icing, and I loved the deep cocoa flavor. Lastly, the chocolate cake doughnut had the same awesome rich chocolate icing, but I am not sure exactly what flavor cake it was; when ordering, I just pointed to a cake doughnut. Glazed completely like the other doughnuts and with chocolate icing, the cake doughnut was not really to my tastes. It had an odd flavor of blueberry and licorice that lingered, but I didn’t mind because the other doughnuts were seriously amazing. Give me yeast doughnuts from Carmella’s any morning.
Order these doughnuts in person inside the store or in the drive through.
Carmella’s Creme Donuts
1611 W Springfield Ave
Champaign
6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., daily
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Industrial Donut
Frosted and sprinkled to order, the doughnuts (all cake, no yeast) at Industrial Donut are build-your-own, totally customizable breakfast treats. Industrial Donut has more than eight frosting options and 16+ topping choices. I ordered a half dozen ($9.99): one M&M chocolate-frosted, a strawberry-frosted with sprinkles, a peanut butter-frosted with Oreo, a caramel-frosted with Cocoa Pebbles, a maple-frosted with bacon, and a glazed doughnut. Industrial’s doughnuts were warm and had an Instagram-worthy appearance.
The M&M doughnut had a great chocolate frosting with lots of candy on top. The pink sprinkled doughnut had a big berry taste from the strawberry frosting, and the extravagant amount of sprinkles looked so pretty. The peanut butter-Oreo had a really nutty icing with a dusting of cookie crumbs, no pieces. The peanut butter flavor overshadowed the cake’s flavor and the cookie topping, but if you love peanut butter, this is your frosting.
The doughnut with Cocoa Pebbles and caramel icing was incredible. The cereal topping was so crunchy and crispy, and there was a nice subtle caramel flavor in the icing. Sadly, the maple-bacon doughnut was not my favorite. The super fine, shaved bacon was an odd texture, and the maple flavor was too subtle for me. The doughnut tasted salty and sweet more than it tasted distrinctively bacon or maple. The final one was a glazed doughnut. The warm, fluffy cake had a yummy vanilla taste, and the edges of the doughnut had a pleasant cookie crunch. Unique to Industrial Donut, a simple plain, unfrosted doughnut is on the menu as well.
Order online here or at the doughnut shop in Savoy.
Industrial Donut
501 Commerce Dr
Savoy
M-Sa 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Pandamonium Doughnuts
Pandamonium’s half dozen was a good looking box of doughnuts but (far and away) the most expensive at $18.25. I ordered six doughnuts: one glazed, a strawberry-rhubarb, one Cocoa Pebbles, a Homer D’oh Nut, maple pecan praline, and a toffee crunch. Pandamonium’s glazed doughnut had a thin, delicious glaze that cracked when pinched or bit — and I loved that. Glazed on the top and sides, the doughnut had a light bite and was less sweet than other C-U glazed doughnuts. The strawberry-rhubarb was a jelly-filled doughnut on special, and it was absolutely delicious. The crumble on top reminded me of a muffin topping, and the sweet fruity filling had seeds, evidence of real strawberries. I wish there was more of the jelly filling, but the crumbly topping made up for it. Pandamonium’s Cocoa Pebbles yeast doughnut had crisp cocoa cereal on top of a milk chocolate glaze, and it was excellent.
The Homer D’oh Nut had strawberry icing with rainbow sprinkles, but unfortunately, I wasn’t really tasting much strawberry flavor. With icing made from Vermont maple syrup, the maple pecan praline doughnut served a real syrup taste, and the brown sugared chopped pecans added a nice crunch. Lastly, the toffee crunch had a super chocolate-y icing with toffee pieces and crumbs on top. This dark chocolate frosting was outstanding and definitely one of my favorite frostings in C-U.
Order online here or order in person at the store. You can also order artisan doughnuts at the Pandamonium’s truck on campus.
Pandamonium Doughnuts
1105 Windsor Rd
Champaign
W-F 7:30 a.m. until sold out
Sa+Su 8 a.m. until sold out
Doughnut Truck
Goodwin Ave + Oregon St
W-F 8 a.m. until sold out
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Rick’s Bakery
Did you know Rick’s Bakery sells doughnuts? Cinnamon sugar and sugar are the only two doughnut flavors on the bakery’s extensive menu which includes danishes and pastries as well. I ordered a half dozen doughnuts ($10): two cinnamon, three sugar, and a fruit snail. The cinnamon sugar doughnut had an awesome buttery taste with a sugary grit. Like the cinnamon, the original sugar had a thorough coating of granulated sugar. Rick’s yeast doughnuts were heavenly with a fluffy bounce to the cake and a sweet sugary outside.
The raspberry fruit snail had a beautiful swirl and a tart berry taste. The fruit snail was denser and drier than I prefer, but I’d try another of Rick’s pastries. There’s really nowhere else in Champaign-Urbana to buy doughnuts and also pick up made-from-scratch empanadas or tres leches cake. The Downtown Urbana bakery also sells drinks like coffee and juice; I had a nostalgic sip of Sunny D ($1.25) with my doughnuts.
Order in person at the bakery.
Rick’s Bakery
124 W Main St
Urbana
T-Sa 9 a.m. to 5 p.m
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Ye Olde Donut Shoppe
This doughnut shoppe on Neil Street has a large selection of doughnuts from yeast to cake to long johns to filled to doughnut ice cream sandwiches. I ordered a half dozen ($13.75): two glazed, one sprinkle, one maple-bacon long john, a cake doughnut topped with M&M’s, and a caramel apple pie doughnut. The glazed doughnut here is a favorite of mine — especially when sandwiching a Smith Burger Co. cheeseburger. The original doughnut had yeasty, airy dough covered in a tasty, crinkly glaze, and it was simply delish.
The unglazed sprinkles doughnut had a thick layer of vanilla icing topped with colorful sprinkles, and it tasted great. The maple-bacon long john was a special doughnut, meaning it cost 50 cents more. The crumbled bacon pieces were wonderfully smoky and salty on the sweet maple frosting. The M&M cake doughnut was topped with a ton of chocolate candy. The doughnut’s chocolate cake had a fluffy crumb with a rich cocoa frosting. The sixth doughnut was caramel apple pie, one of Ye Olde’s artisan options ($1.50 more than a regular doughnut), and it tasted just like pie. Thick apple slices in a syrupy glaze were stuffed between halves of a hole-less doughnut like a little fruit pie sandwich. The top had a hardened caramel dribble with a dusting of cinnamon spice, and the apples still had a little crisp crunch to them which went well with the pillowy buns.
Order in person or order online.
Ye Olde Donut Shoppe
1401 S Neil St
Champaign
6 a.m. to 1 p.m., daily
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
China Garden
These Chinese doughnuts remind me of my childhood, fighting with my sisters over who got the doughnut with the most sugar. China Garden‘s doughnuts were freshly fried and still hot when I arrived home. The fried dough order included ten doughnuts for $4.55 which makes them the cheapest doughnuts on this doughnut tour — but probably not what people expect when someone says, “Let’s get doughnuts!”
These doughnuts had neither a hole nor icing, but they were tossed in white sugar. The fluffy bread had a mini crunch from the sugar and a satisfyingly crisp exterior. Each one had the same flavor, but I enjoyed the hot doughnuts and their sugary, fried taste. Currently, the Urbana restaurant is takeout and delivery only. Chairs are available for people waiting on orders, but there were rows of chairs keeping diners and employees physically separate. Parking spots were plentiful; China Garden is located in the plaza with Urbana Schnucks and Xinh Xinh Cafe.
Order online or in person.
China Garden
114 N Vine St
Urbana
M-Sa 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Top image by Alyssa Buckley.
