Krispy Kreme just turned up the heat on doughnut season. The brand rolled out its new Summer Seasonal Collection on June 16, and the Krispy Kreme summer lineup leans bright, fruity, and made for the kind of feel good moments the season is known for. Four doughnuts headline the drop, two of them brand new and two returning by popular demand, and the whole thing is built around flavors that fit right into a cookout, a pool day, or a watch party.
The star of the Krispy Kreme summer collection is the Original Glazed Strawberry Cake Doughnut. This one takes the brand’s classic old fashioned cake doughnut, infuses it with strawberry flavor, and finishes it with that signature Original Glazed coating. So instead of the soft, pillowy yeast doughnut Krispy Kreme is famous for, you get the denser, slightly crumbly bite of a cake doughnut with the strawberry running all the way through. It is a different experience from the glazed strawberry doughnuts the brand has done before, and the bright pink, glaze dripping look has it all over social feeds already.
Right next to it on the new side is the Lemon Bar Doughnut. This one is an Original Glazed doughnut dipped in white icing and cookie pieces, then finished with a lemon swirl and a dusting of sweet powdered coating, basically the dessert bar in doughnut form. The crunchy cookie edges and the tart lemon swirl give it texture and a little pucker, which makes it the brightest, most summery pick in the Krispy Kreme summer rotation for anyone who leans toward citrus over berry.
The two returning favorites round the collection out, and they bring the indulgence. The Key Lime Pie Doughnut is back, an unglazed shell doughnut filled with key lime pie kreme, dipped in lime green icing, and topped with a frosting dollop and a graham flavored crunch. It is essentially a slice of key lime pie you can hold in one hand, tangy and creamy at the same time. Then there is the Cannoli Inspired Doughnut, an unglazed ring dipped in chocolate icing and cookie crunch and topped with cannoli flavored buttercreme and a powdered finish. That one is for the people who want their doughnut to feel like a real dessert, with the Italian pastry vibe doing a lot of the work.
The Krispy Kreme summer drop does not stop at doughnuts either. The brand added two new frozen drinks to cool things down, a Watermelon Infused Lemonade Chiller and a Mango Infused Lemonade Chiller, both built on a frozen lemonade base. They join the existing Frozen Lemonade and Strawberry Chillers, so you can pair a fruity drink with a fruity doughnut and never leave the counter. It is a smart move for a season where half the appeal of a doughnut run is grabbing something cold to go with it.
Timing is the part to pay attention to. The Krispy Kreme summer collection is available now in shops and at the drive thru, plus for pickup or delivery through the Krispy Kreme app and website, and it is a limited time run. That also means the spring lineup is officially on its way out. The Hershey’s Double Chocolate, Strawberries and Kreme, Banana Pudding, and Original Glazed Blueberry Cake doughnuts are being cleared off the menu to make room for the summer flavors, so if you had a favorite in that group, this is your last call.
There is a reason strawberry sits at the front of this collection. The flavor has quietly become one of Krispy Kreme’s most dependable hits, and the brand has leaned into it hard all year. Back in the spring, the fan favorite Strawberry Original Glazed returned for a short four day window, something Krispy Kreme has now done five years straight because it simply sells. Putting a strawberry cake doughnut at the head of the summer lineup reads like the brand doubling down on what its customers keep showing up for, and giving the flavor a real seasonal spotlight instead of a quick weekend cameo.
The brand is framing the whole thing around easy summer moments. Krispy Kreme’s chief brand and product officer, Alison Holder, described the collection as fun flavors built to fit right into the season, the kind of thing you grab for a backyard barbecue or a viewing party. With the World Cup running across the country this summer, the timing lines up, and a box of these doughnuts is exactly the kind of shareable, photogenic centerpiece that ends up tagged all over social media before anyone takes a bite.
Bottom line, the Krispy Kreme summer lineup gives you range. You get the nostalgic strawberry cake doughnut, the bright lemon bar, the tangy key lime pie, and the rich cannoli, which covers fruity, citrusy, creamy, and dessert forward in one box. Just remember it is all here for a limited time, so if those photos have you ready to make a run, do not sit on it too long. Once summer wraps, this collection heads back into the vault until Krispy Kreme decides to bring the flavors back around.
