Donut King names winner of Hot Cinni Showdown

Cheryl from Cranebook wins $10,000 from the showdown.

Donut King has announced Cheryl from Cranebook as the winner of its Hot Cinni Showdown, which offers a $10,000 cash prize.

The showdown challenges donut fans to buy Donut King’s cinnamon donuts and turn it into a donut creation for a chance to win the cash reward.

Over 1,400 donut inventions were made, such as hot cinni french toast and an espresso marcinni to hot cinni donutmisu and hot cinni fried chicken, amongst others.

The judging panel then selected Cheryl from Cranebook as the winner after serving her Hot Cinnamon Donut Baked Alaska, which has apple cinnamon compote, meringue, and cinnamon donut crumb.

The ingredients of Cheryl’s creation include Donut King Cinnamon Donuts, vanilla ice cream, Cinnamon Donut crumb, apples, cinnamon, honey, and meringue.

Cheryl said, “I wanted to combine two of my favourite desserts, cinnamon donuts and Baked Alaska - I could never understand as a child how the ice cream didn’t melt under the flame!”

Cheryl said she is looking to use her prize money to help pay for her first trip back to her home in Canada since the pandemic started.

Donut King Marketing Manager Raquel Hine said the contest was a way for donut lovers to celebrate the hot cinni.

“We saw some absolutely amazing submissions! We have an incredibly creative community of donut lovers. It was especially amazing to see our competition help our winner visit her friends and family overseas after three challenging years of separation and closed borders,” she said.

The Hot Cinni Showdown was part of a 12-week campaign to celebrate Donut King’s hot cinnamon donut. The celebration started with a VIP media and influencer event in Sydney on National Donut Day in June, followed by a Brisbane activity where the Bachelorette’s Konrad Bien-Stephen distributed about 2,000 free bacon and egg donut burgers.

“It’s been a massive few months for our humble cinni donut! We’ve loved getting out and about to prove Donut King’s hot cinni is Australia’s best donut, and celebrate the nostalgic nature of the Donut King experience,” said Hine.

Donut King has been the home of classic hot cinnamon donut for over four decades. With over 200 stores around the country, one classic donut is served around every 6.6 seconds.