Celebrate World Doughnut Day in Canberra with these wholly delicious ideas

Thankfully Geoff Whittall, of Hall's Kynefin cafe, agrees. His bombolinis - the Italian word for doughnut - are wholly hole-free. And filled with luxurious custards in several flavours, such as vanilla, pistachio, passionfruit, chocolate. He has jam-filled ones too, literally bursting with berries.

June 2 is World Doughnut Day. It's been celebrated since 1938, starting off as a fundraiser for The Salvation Army in Chicago during the Great Depression. Even now many doughnut drives raise money for charities, so you can eat all you like for a good cause.

Whittall has owned Kynefin for five years now, after moving to Australia nine years ago from the United Kingdom (He's Welsh originally and sells a range of sweet Welshcakes at the cafe, a play on a macaron using scone-like cake).

He trained under a Spanish chef who taught him all about the Italian bombolini and about seven years ago began making them to sell at markets around Canberra such as The Forage, Handmade Markets, and the Capital Region Farmers Market.

"They just blew up, they were so popular," he says.

"It was hard to keep up with demand at times but people just wanted to try them."

He says the secret is the long fermentation of the dough, which keeps it light.

"And there's lots of flavour without it being too sweet."

Several reviews have suggested Kynefin's bombolini might be the best doughnuts in Australia.

We might have to agree - head out to Hall on World Doughnut Day and try them for yourself.

And here's some more places to discover the best of Canberra's sweet offerings (And a recipe to try at home, courtesy of MasterChef favourite Reece Hignell).

@kynefin

This Jamison patisserie and cafe is well known for its amazing cakes but check out their cronuts, a cross between a doughnut and a croissant. Flavours vary every week.

Everyone's favourite vegan bakery does weekend doughnuts out of the Scullin cafe. Flavours might include apple pie, cherry crumble, chai custard and jam, and some sweet glazed ones.

Now there's three venues in town, with the opening of Woden this week, alongside Cooleman Court and Majura Park. Gluten-free doughnuts cooked in-store daily. Try the lemon curd one.

Just like tiny little Nutella-filled bowling balls, finish off a fun night at King Pin arcade in the Canberra Centre with these "injectable doughnuts". Sauces include Nutella, salted caramel, Bailey's custard and mixed berry.

While it's hard to go past the macarons at Gungahlin's favourite patisserie, there's a great range of doughnuts here too. You'll be spoilt for choice.

These guys are doing a few pop-ups over the weekend. On June 2, find these free-from (gluten, dairy, egg, wheat, nuts, yeast and sulphites) vegan doughnuts at the Torrens shops (June 2-3), the Brumbies v Rebels game (June 2) and Denman Village (June 3). They're raising much-needed funds and awareness for homelessness charity Orange Sky over the weekend too. The "Orange Sky" doughnut will be available dusted in a delicious blend of orange and cinnamon sugar.

Who can resist soft and fluffy donuts? These perfect yeast donuts are easy to make, and they'll have you jumping for joy. This recipe is best for sugared, cream- or jam-filled donuts. It will result in a truly great, hot, crisp doughnut. Once you've mastered this basic recipe for a fluffy, yeasted doughnut, you won't need to visit a doughnut shop ever again.

Ingredients

Method

1. To start the dough, mix the water, yeast and a pinch of your weighed-out sugar in a bowl, then leave the mixture for five minutes for the yeast to activate. The yeast will become light and foamy.

2. Place the remaining sugar, milk, salt and butter in a small saucepan, and heat it over a low heat until the butter is melted. Remove it from the heat, then pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Allow it to cool to room temperature before adding the eggs, the activated yeast and the sifted flour. Using a wooden spoon, bring all the ingredients together to form a dough.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until it has a smooth surface and springs back when lightly poked. Place the dough in a lightly greased mixing bowl, then cover it with a damp tea towel. Leave the dough to double in size, which will take about one hour.

4. Turn the dough out again onto a lightly floured work surface, then roll it until it is 2.5cm thick. Using a ring cutter with a diameter of about 6cm, cut your doughnuts out of the dough and place them on a lined baking tray. Brush the doughnuts with vegetable oil, then cover them with a damp tea towel and leave them until they become plump and fluffy. This should take about 40 minutes.

5. Place the caster sugar in a bowl. Heat the vegetable oil to 180C, then carefully cook the doughnuts in the oil for one minute on each side. As they come out of the oil, toss the hot doughnuts in the sugar.

6. Once they are cooled and easier to handle, fill a piping bag with jam or pastry cream. Insert the tip of the bag into each doughnut and pipe in your chosen filling.

Makes 12 doughnuts.

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