WHETHER you like them covered in chocolate, full of cream or a traditional sugar dusted ring, doughnuts are as popular as ever with bakery fans.

Everyone has their favourite, and whether they are freshly fried or covered in chocolate, the doughnut, in its various forms, has been a treat or dessert for centuries.

National Doughnut Week takes place from May 6 to 13 and bakeries, coffee shops, offices and schools will be raising money for The Children’s Trust.

The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with brain injury which supports thousands of children and their families every year.

The annual week of fundraising was launched in 1991 by baker, Christopher Freeman. Last year National Doughnut Week celebrated its 25th anniversary and raised £22,783 with the help of 394 bakers, shops and businesses getting involved.

It has been running for 26 years, after being launched in 1991 and bakeries have signed up to sell doughnuts and make a contribution to the charity for each one sold.

The sweet, doughy treat has a disputed history with many nations claiming responsibility for creating doughnuts.

There is evidence that the ancient Greeks and Romans would fry strips of pastry dough and glaze them with a coating of honey. Another theory is that doughnuts were brought to North America by Dutch settlers in the 19th century, and were sometimes referred to as one kind of oliekoek (a Dutch word literally meaning “oil cake”).

Captain Hanson Gregory claimed he invented the round doughnut with the hole in the middle aboard his ship on June 22, 1847. He claimed to have created ring doughnuts because round ones would be cooked on the outside but raw inside, while twisted long ones would absorb all the grease and caused digestive problems.

More recently, historian Dr Heather Falvey found documents owned by Baroness Elizabeth from around 1810 which have a recipe for ‘dow nuts’ which was copied from a local cook, known only as Mrs Fordham. Her ingredients included sugar, eggs, nutmeg, butter and yeast, which are made into a dough which is rolled out and cut into ‘nuts’.

Wherever Homer Simpson’s favourite dessert came from it has become a staple in bakeries around the world.

The Hot Bread Shop in Beechwood, Newport, is one bakery which counts doughnuts as a customer favourite.

Owner Deborah Francis opened the shop with her husband Alan 31 years ago. She says the doughnuts have always been popular. “We have regulars who would come in just for the doughnuts. We do cherry ones, fresh cream, apple ones, and your more traditional ones.”

The process of making doughnuts begins by putting the ingredients – flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water.

The measurements need to be quite precise, too much water and the mixture will be too wet.

Every afternoon the dough is made ready for the next day’s batch of doughnuts. The dough is made then rolled out into smaller batches that weigh three lb 12 ounces which each make 30 doughnuts.

The dough is then kneaded by hand and then moulded into doughnut shapes, and then placed into a special fridge which keeps them at the correct humidly.

The next day the raw doughnuts are moved into a prover for an hour an half and then are placed onto frying trays ready to be fried for the day ahead.

Bakery manager Paul Francis explained the secret to a good doughnut: “It should not be filled with oil, some of the more expensive doughnuts you get these days are full oil. We try and fry ours fairly quickly.

“We need to keep an eye on them because you can easily burn them.”

The bakery sells most of the 150 doughnuts it makes daily, and the most popular is the split doughnut filled with jam and cream.

“We change things every now and again,” Mr Francis added, “but as they say, why change something if it’s not broken. We stick to the traditional flavours.

“I made a doughnut cake for my daughter’s birthday because she doesn’t like cake.

“It was a tower of small doughnuts and she loved it.”

On the other side of town Krispy Kreme at Friars Walk had hundreds of people queuing up for a taste of their famous glazed donut when they opened in 2015.

Their bestselling doughnut in the range overall is the original glazed which is the brand’s signature doughnut.

It’s clear that Gwent loves a doughnut, whether it’s jam filled, glazed or dusted in sugar. These delicious treats are going to remain a staple in bakeries, in all their shapes and sizes.

For more information about National Doughnut Week visit the website nationaldoughnutweek.org