Megan Baker has decorated a lot of unusual doughnuts. The owner of Thirsty Whale Bakery in north Minneapolis is known for her inventive designs, which are often sought for bachelorette parties and holidays.
But icing the top of an old-fashioned with a gooey green cartoon of a coronavirus? That was new.
"Of all the things I thought I would ever turn into a doughnut," Baker said, the microscopic cause of a global pandemic wasn't one of them.
But the virus — which had infected a staff member, closed Baker's business several weeks over the past few months and put the bakery in a precarious financial position — was exactly the reason Baker created a whimsical six-pack of doughnuts inspired by COVID-19. She had a feeling the COVID Donut Box would sell like hot cakes.
"We are trying to get some funds back into the bank account," Baker said. "This year has definitely taken its toll."
In the box are six doughnuts, with designs such as two hands lathering with soap, a bottle of hand sanitizer with clear gel coming out of the pump, and a yellow smiley face whose mouth is covered by a mask. Three are filled, with raspberry, custard and blueberry cheesecake. There is a maple iced raised doughnut, a honey cake doughnut and a lemon poppy old-fashioned. Some iced doughnut holes are in there, too.
The box goes for $30 — pricey by Thirsty Whale's standards, but after six weekends of closures, the COVID doughnuts are intended to be a fundraiser for the bakery.
"If everything would have been normal this year, we would have been completely out of debt," Baker said. "This year is not at all what we'd hoped for."
