Review: We Tried Krispy Kreme's 3 New Chocomania Doughnuts Made With Hershey's Chocolate

When it comes to sweet delights in the United States, Krispy Kreme dominates in doughnuts while Hershey's is the chocolate champ. These two titans of sugary treats first teamed up in 2018 for a doughnut featuring pieces of Hershey's Gold, and the pair later reunited for a special-edition collection called Chocomania. Now Krispy Kreme and Hershey's are teaming up again for a new round of Chocomania offers, available starting on March 19 for a limited time.

This year's Chocomania crop features three newbies enhanced by Hershey's — the Chocolate Salted Caramel Cheesecake Doughnut, the Chocolate Buttercreme Doughnut, and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Doughnut. Along for the ride is the returning Hershey's Classic Chocolate Doughnut, gussied up with a new look. According to a Krispy Kreme press release, Dave Skena — the company's chief growth officer — said that "Chocomania satisfies your cravings for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Hershey's chocolate with every bite." 

So, is the 2025 edition of Krispy Kreme's Chocomania Collection an American dream team of deliciousness, or perhaps an oversweet pairing we'd rather forget about? The Takeout ran out on day one of this offer to try these chocolatey mash-ups and learn the whole truth. 

Chocomania is hitting participating locations of Krispy Kreme starting on Wednesday, March 19, and will remain in stores until Sunday, April 6. This collection of doughnuts can be purchased in-store, or via delivery services where available. Advanced ordering can be arranged through Krispy Kreme's app and website. The doughnuts will be available anytime that participating Krispy Kreme locations are open, while supplies last.

The four doughnuts in this collection can be bought individually or as a specialty dozen, with the latter option featuring three of each type of the Chocomania doughnuts. Prices may vary per retailer, but at my location of Krispy Kreme in Manhattan, the three new doughnuts were sold à la carte for $2.89 apiece, while the more basic Hershey's Classic Chocolate Doughnut sold for $2.49. The Chocomania specialty dozen was priced at $23.19. Additionally, special six-packs of Chocomania doughnuts will be made fresh by Krispy Kreme and delivered to select retailers for purchase. 

The Hershey's Chocolate Buttercreme Doughnut sounds pretty straightforward, and by outward appearances, it certainly looked that way. It appears to be a simple chocolate-coated doughnut, topped with a swirling ring of brown crème. While its promotional photo showed a crème that seemed darker than what I encountered in person, I was fine with its presentation. It's further topped with shaved curls of chocolate, which gave off a bittersweet aroma. This doughnut looks rather quaint, and was light to hold.

Beware taking a full bite, I introduced myself to each element of the doughnut one by one. The crème was, well, creamy, with a light chocolate taste. The curls did indeed have a bittersweet taste, perhaps more than a standard piece of Hershey's chocolate would. The chocolate icing was actually the best attribute, with a sweetly rich quality to it. As a whole, it's a rather simple donut that delivers three chocolate flavorings in one. It's a solid starting point to the collection.

The ingredients of this doughnut — based on enriched wheat flour — include dried milk powder, cocoa, milk chocolate, natural vanilla flavor, salt, chocolate liquor, and cocoa butter. Each of these doughnuts packs 270 calories (with 130 calories of that from fat), along with 14 grams of total fat, 140 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 20 grams of sugars, and 3 grams of protein. It contains allergens of eggs, milk, soy, and wheat. 

Next up was Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookie Doughnut. This one was loaded with elements, and not only looked rather busy, but looked like it meant business. The doughnut's top is coated in a sandy-white icing with a flavor of salted cookie dough, and it houses chocolate chip cookie crumbles, Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips, and thin lines of Hershey's milk chocolate icing. While similar in size to the Chocolate Buttercreme Doughnut, this one felt a bit more weighted. 

The cookie pieces are soft and sandy, as if they were cut-up bits of Chips Ahoy! The chocolate chips were minuscule, and almost didn't register in taste. The drizzled stripes were simple chocolate goodness, but the real draw here was that healthy amount of salted-cookie-dough icing. It truly delivered cookie dough flavoring, but with a smoother texture than the real thing. This doughnut made for messy eating, with the texture of the cookies dominating the experience. The cookie dough got a little muted in the process, and it wasn't all that chocolatey, but overall it's a nice multi-layered delight. 

The ingredients for this doughnut include molasses and natural vanilla flavoring. One of these doughnuts nets 330 calories, with 16 grams of fat, 190 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of sugars, and 3 grams of protein. Its allergen contents are eggs, milk, soy, and wheat. 

The Hershey's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cheesecake Doughnut had a clean and almost elegant look to it, not unlike some fondly recalled discontinued Hostess snacks. This oval pastry is topped with a sheen of Hershey's milk chocolate icing, with half of it decorated by a loopy piping of salted caramel, while the other half was coated with chocolate cookie crumbs. Cut this one in half to discover a generous dab of Hershey's caramel cheesecake crème hiding inside. 

I tried the caramel cheesecake crème filling on its own, and became instantly smitten with its decadence. Its taste was more caramel than cheesecake, but that's nothing to complain about. Like with the Chocolate Buttercreme Doughnut, the chocolate icing on top is fantastic. The salted caramel swirl has an appealing look, but it was too thin to really stand out in flavor. The cookie pieces seemed less like they came from an actual cookie, and more like if a pile of cocoa powder had somehow hardened. A full bite of this doughnut became a tug-of-war between the caramel filling and the chocolate icing, and I happy surrendered to both teams as they awesomely met in the middle.

The ingredients for this doughnut are similar to the other two new Chocomania offers. One of these doughnuts contains 370 calories, 19 grams of fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 210 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 22 grams of sugars, and 5 grams of protein. Its allergen contents are eggs, milk, soy, and wheat. 

Last, and perhaps least (at least when compared visually to the other Chocomania doughnuts), was the more straightforward Hershey's Classic Chocolate Doughnut. This one wasn't all that dissimilar to the Hershey's Chocolate Iced offer from the 2024 Chocomania Collection — but this year, the piped-on second application of chocolate icing is designed in a nifty swirl, rather than a handful of stripes.

Sometimes less is more, and Hershey's Classic Chocolate Doughnut was an effortless and uncomplicated treat. With fewer non-chocolate elements, it was actually the most chocolatey of the four in the Chocomania Collection. It will also save you a few dimes if you buy this one instead of the other three.

One of these doughnuts provides 240 calories, 11 grams of fat, 120 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 21 grams of sugars, and 3 grams of protein. Its allergens consist of eggs, milk, soy, and wheat.

Krispy Kreme has already had quite a year filled with doughnuts that are delectably delicious and fabulously festive. The chain just bid adieu to a set of St. Patrick's Day doughnuts, and a month ago, Krispy Kreme's Hearts in Bloom Collection honored Valentine's Day. Nonetheless, this Chocomania collaboration with Hershey's is easily one of the year's best offers from the doughnut giant, even slightly edging out the fun collaboration between Krispy Kreme and Pop-Tarts that appeared in January. 

While dunking doughnuts in milk sounds lovely, I feel like it's a passé combo that many don't bother to partake in anymore, myself included. After tasting these doughnuts and falling prey to the mania of their chocolatey goodness, I was actually compelled to give them a go with milk. My personal favorite in this collection was actually the straight-shooting Hershey's Classic Chocolate Doughnut, and its greatness was further personified when dipped in milk. The exemplary ingredient out of the four doughnuts had to be the caramel cheesecake filling in the Hershey's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cheesecake Doughnut. When that hit the milk, it somehow raised its level of awesomeness to delicious new heights. The third-place finisher was the Hershey's Chocolate Buttercreme Doughnut, which fared well in milk, and a dairy drenching went a long way toward enhancing the overly busy Chocolate Chip Cookie Doughnut.

On the very first day that this collection was released, I purchased the Chocomania Collection from a Krispy Kreme in Manhattan. The doughnuts were initially sampled in alphabetical order, at room temperature in my home. The doughnuts were first cut into pieces for individual tastings, and then further tested for comparison between them all. After the tasting concluded, each type was dipped in cold milk for one final further leap of sweet decadence.

The doughnuts were tasted only by myself, with my opinions being the sole factor in determining the results of this review. The ultimate criteria for this chew-and-review were flavor, texture, decorative design, aroma, chocolatey quality, whether the doughnuts captured the essence of Hershey's, uniqueness, overall lovability, and the likelihood of ordering any of these doughnuts again. The short answer is ... these babies are choco-LIT! May this collaboration last a thousand years!