We Tried It: Krispy Kreme’s New Milk Bar Collab

Krispy Kreme has upped their glazed donut game this month, offering a limited-edition collaboration with the iconic New York City Bakery Milk Bar. The donut maker, which is renowned for its simple original glazed donut, has cooked up three new donut flavours, each inspired by a classic Milk Bar-inspired dessert.

The lineup, which is available in stores until May 3, hits some of the bakery’s best-loved flavour beats, including the Milk Bar Birthday Cake donut, the Milk Bar Pie donut and the Milk Bar Compost Cookie donut.

We tried all three. Here’s what we think of the confectionary collab.

Milk Bar Birthday Cake Donut

Imagine all the sweet delight of Milk Bar’s iconic vanilla rainbow sprinkle layer birthday cake translated into one dense donut (its weight rivals a hockey puck), and you’ll get some sense of the intense yum here. Slathered with a thick layer of vanilla frosting and an extravagant dusting of rainbow sprinkles and crunchy cake crumbles, this birthday-inspired boy is decadent. It’s why donuts exist.

Rating: 9.5/10, would eat again

Milk Bar Pie Donut

A donut inspired by a pie? This is the kind of future-forward dessert thinking we need. This vanilla cake donut does delicious tribute to both the hybrid dessert approach and Milk Bar’s sticky-sweet pie. Its tasteful portion of sweet filling—no embarrassing over-the-top ooze here—is reminiscent of apple-crumble. And the caramel icing and crunchy oat-cookie top-layer just sweetens the deal.

Rating: 9/10, would eat again

Milk Bar Compost Cookie Donut

Milk Bar’s compost cookie is all about the balance of salty-sweet with a pleasing toothsome texture. This donut variation hits all those beats: it has salty crunchy potato chip-like bits, sweet caramel drizzle and dark chocolate chips. Depending on your affection for the bitter tang of dark chocolate, this donut will either make your palate sing or sour you on the experiment. The execution is on point, however, so the only quibble is whether you like a bitter blast to offset all that sweetness.

Rating: 8.5/10, not loving the dark chocolate aftertaste