Artisan bakers serve up sweet treat with new vegan doughnut

Doughnut makers Pipp & Co have launched a vegan doughnut to ensure plant-based food lovers don’t miss out on their delicious treats.

The artisan bakery has added vegan mixed berry doughnuts to its range, in response to growing demand from customers looking for a plant-based alternative.

Mario Evangelista, who co-runs Pipp & Co with his wife Betina, said part of the reason for creating a vegan doughnut was to help with sustainability.

“Plant-based butter produces 82% less CO₂ and uses 97% less water than regular butter,” he said. “That really hit home. It’s such a simple swap, but it makes a big difference.”

Even the sugar dust on top of the doughnuts — a by-product of the berries Pipp & Co use — helps reduce waste and minimise environmental impact.

Betina Evangelista said the vegan doughnut took a couple of months to develop.

“Customers are loving the vegan doughnut as it has no flavour difference to our existing well-loved products,” she said. “We had to develop the product alongside our normal production, and went through several trials to arrive at a recipe we were confident in and proud of.

“We have replaced ingredients like fresh cream, eggs, and unsalted butter with vegan alternatives such as oat milk and vegan butter. We also used soya flour and oats in the formulation with some ingredients that remain consistent with our traditional recipe.”

Plans are now in the pipeline to add other vegan doughnuts to accompany the mixed berry option.

Pipp & Co doughnuts and other products are available through stockists from Reading to Oxford, and from Stroud to Bristol.

Pipp & Co, which produces more than 20,000 doughnuts a week from its Swindon factory, also opened its first café in Bristol last year, with plans for outlets in other locations in the future.