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It's still strawberry peak season in the Philippines, which means more strawberry desserts!

Bakers are churning out various strawberry desserts like the seasonal classic, strawberry shortcake. And there's another berry dessert that is making the rounds on our social media feeds, the strawberry stuffed donuts or strawberry donut sandwiches.

This beautiful-looking pastry is basically a dessert sandwich. Whole strawberries are stuffed in a sliced glazed donut. The strawberries are either fresh, glazed, or paired with sweet whipped cream. Some bakeshops even pair custard or sweet and salty cream cheese with the red berries.

It's sweet, tart, creamy, and a lot messy to eat.

Source: IG @gourmetcravings.bakerstable

The Donut Man

This type of donut was popularized by a shop called The Donut Man in Glendora, California, USA.

According to its website, husband and wife Jim and Miyoko Nakano opened the donut shop in 1972, which was then called Foster's Donuts and was part of a donut shop chain. Then in the mid '80s, the shop became independent and The Donut Man was born.

The shop is famous for its fruit donuts, specifically its fresh strawberry donuts.

“Jim developed the strawberry donut from an over abundant strawberry crop one year. The San Gabriel Valley and more specifically, the greater Glendora area was surrounded by strawberry farms. While picking up a donut one morning, a local farmer mentioned that he had plenty of strawberries and that Jim should come up with a way to use them,” the website explains.

Source: The Donut Man

However, it took Jim a while to perfect the recipe. He had to find the right balance of sweetness considering that all components of the donut are sweet. He ultimately found the right balance and introduced the strawberry donut to the public.

It was an instant hit, people line up to get a taste of the famous donut, overstuffed with fresh glazed strawberries. It is so popular that people from different parts of the US and the world would travel all the way to Glendora to sample the donut.

The donut has been featured several times in the media. The donut shop is very proud that it has maintained the quality of its products. “Every donut is made by hand, on site, and every day.”

Where to get it in Manila

Source: IG @flourpotmanila

Unfortunately, The Donut Man doesn't have a branch in the country yet but there seems to be a strawberry donut craze happening in the local online food delivery community right now.

Several local bakeshops and home bakers are making their own version of the strawberry loaded pastry.

One of the bakeshops that offers strawberry donuts is Flour Pot Rum Cakes Manila by chef Rhea Sycip. Its version is a hand-rolled yeast-raised donut coated with vanilla glaze. The donut is sliced in half (not all the way through) and filled with inipit custard and whole fresh strawberries tossed in a homemade berry compote. This donut is priced at P1,080 for a box of six.

Another shop is Pufft Doughnuts, an online store that offers several varieties of artisanal donuts including the Strawberry Monst donut. According to the shop it's the most popular donut on their menu.

Source: IG @pufftdoughnuts

It's a donut stuffed with whole strawberries coated in its house made jelly. A box of four costs P880.

There's also Aging's Food Delight in Pasig. Although it's known for its special stuffed suman, the shop also sells cakes and donuts. Its strawberry donut is stuffed with a cream cheese filling and whole fresh strawberries. The donut is also dusted with powdered sugar.

The shop also offers the choco berry cheesecake donut, a chocolate frosted donut stuffed with strawberry and cheesecake filling. This is priced at P420 for a box of four.

Aside from donuts, they also sell fresh strawberries, a strawberry cake that is topped with fresh strawberries in strawberry jam and rose jelly. The shop also sells cheesecake in a tin can topped with fresh strawberries.

Source: IG @suman.espesyal

A small online bakeshop called Gourmet Cravings also sells strawberry donuts. They sell three types of strawberry donuts: whole strawberry donuts (P95 per piece), Strawberry Cream Cheese Bombers (P130/piece), and Strawberry Avalanche (P150/piece).

Most of these shops sell their donuts in limited batches so be sure to follow their announcements.

Try this donut before strawberry peak season is over.

For more crave-worthy stories like this, head to GMA's Lifestyle page.

Here are other desserts you can buy online: