Made in Hackney: Dalston doughnut company helps out with marriage proposals

Each week, the Gazette takes to the streets to unearth something being manufactured right here in Hackney. This week we visit Vicky’s Donuts HQ in Dalston, where she’s getting creative in the kitchen.

Growing up in Toronto where “doughnuts are like water”, Vicky Graham’s family would always have a box of them on the counter every morning.

When she was made redundant three years ago by a food magazine she spotted a gap in the market dominated by Krispy Kreme, and decided to launch her own brand - Vicky’s Donuts - made with natural ingredients and free range eggs.

She told the Gazette: “I started off in my tiny flat in Dalston with my two mates who used to put up with me waking up at 4 in the morning and covering all their stuff in flour.”

She now employs two staff at the Lighthouse Studios in Shacklewell Lane, and caters for corporate events and parties and takes bespoke orders online.

She said: “We have done a few marriage proposals, spelling out “Marry me?” in doughnuts, and we have had some rude requests. We have done pizza doughnuts, where it looks like a big pizza and you eat a slice of it.

“We made black cats and Frankensteins for Halloween.”