Tarran Hatton, a former baker at the iconic Milk Bar, has signed on as executive pastry chef at BlissBomb, a Brooklyn start-up specializing in baked mini donuts. The company wants to turn donuts into flavor bombs, and Hatton will accomplish that by creating intense, distinct flavors that evoke special memories and inspire blissful experiences.

Hatton, who won the Donut Competition on Food Network’s 2019 Chopped Sweets Tournament, brings her fine art training to the creative culinary process. “I tend to see flavors in the same way I see color, so to me, creating a new flavor profile feels the same as painting. Donuts are like a canvas, where I can blend in acidity or punctuate with texture until the composition is distinct in how it looks and how it tastes.”

This week, BlissBomb launched its nationwide ecommerce offering, shipping mini donuts in luxe gift boxes ($48) and DIY donut decorating kits ($40) anywhere in the U.S. Wholesale, delivery and catering are also available in New York City.

To give its donuts distinguishable taste, BlissBomb chops, squeezes, zests, toasts and crushes real fruits, nuts, spices, flowers and other ingredients to infuse its baked mini donuts, glazes and toppings with full-bodied flavor.

“We’re approaching donuts as a flavor composition in the same way that a plated dessert is created. We’re rethinking donut ingredients, reconstructing donut layers … we’re literally reimagining the donut from the ground up,” says Hatton.

BlissBomb launched with these ten flavors (and will add new seasonal, themed and limited time concepts throughout the year):

• Lemon Bliss:  Mouth-puckering lemon juice and lemon zest in a vanilla bean donut, with more juice and zest in the glaze, topped with Italian candied lemon peel.
• Hot Toddy:  A warming blend of Wild Turkey bourbon, orange juice, orange zest and mulling spices, topped with candied orange peel.
• Pistachio Rose:  Roasted pistachio pieces in the donut with a delicately flavored rose water glaze, topped with crushed rose petals and more pistachios.
• Red Velvet:  Classic red velvet with a creamy glaze and bursts of chocolate on top.
• Pink Champagne:  Pink champagne infused into the base and glaze for a delicately sweet and festive treat.
• Apple Cinnamon:  Chewy chunks of candied cinnamon apples in the donut, with apple cider and our secret spice to add a little heat to the glaze, then topped with more candied cinnamon apples.
• Brooklyn Blackout:  Chocolate milk-soaked donut with a rich chocolate glaze and toasted crumb topping.
• Café Mocha:  Coffee and donut classic spiked with Allen’s Coffee Brandy and crunchy chocolate covered espresso beans on top.
• Chocolate Salted Caramel:  Caramel chocolate donut covered with a rich chocolate glaze, drizzled with house-made chewy caramel and crunchy sea salt.
• F-Bomb:  A base bursting with birthday cake flavor, topped with a vanilla glaze and crispy confetti. 

BlissBomb’s Donut Decorating Kits, which can be shipped nationwide, include twelve baked mini donuts (six chocolate, six vanilla), three soaks to add flavor and moisture (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla), three piping bags with glaze (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla), four toppings (ranging from colorful sprinkles to candied fruit) and a pastry box that can be decorated and used as a gift box.

The company’s gift boxes can be customized with any flavors on the menu. Customers can further personalize the gift with one of nine greeting cards exclusively designed and illustrated for BlissBomb. At 4x6 inches, the cards offer plenty of room on the back for a meaningful message.

“We want to break open the ‘Stepford Wives’ world of online treats,” says BlissBomb founder Dan Stevens. “With so many brands putting softness, sweetness and color before taste, we bring mind-blowing flavor and freedom of choice to the category. We’re going big on flavor and personalization because we want our donuts to help people create mini moments of joy with their friends, colleagues and loved ones by choosing the flavors they love.”