When it comes to cream-filled donuts, people have a lot of different varieties to choose from. There are chocolate cream, Boston cream, custard, strawberry cream, Holland cream, coconut cream, lemon cream, and Bavarian cream donuts. And that’s only a small selection of those that are available. So, you have some work to do if you want to choose a cream donut to enjoy on National Cream-Filled Donut Day—a holiday that falls on September 14th every year.

The History of Cream-Filled Donuts

Since plain donuts came before cream-filled ones, we first have to explore the history of the donut before we dig into the history of cream donuts. Donuts can be traced back to New Amsterdam in the 17th century but weren’t in the ring shape that we’re familiar with nowadays. Instead, they were shaped like balls and were fried in hog fat—which resulted in their name Olykoeks—a Dutch word that means “oily cakes.”

Food historians believe that the name “doughnuts” comes from the 19th century. This is when Elizabeth Gregory—mother to ship captain Hansen Gregory—made deep-fried dough that contained nutmeg and cinnamon and was stored as pastries for long-term ship voyages.

She added walnuts and/or hazelnuts in the middle of them, which made sailors refer to them as “dough nuts.” It was believed these doughnuts prevented scurvy—which may have been true considering they probably had some Vitamin C in them from the lemon rinds and the nuts that were in them. No one knows when cream was added to donuts, but it’s believed that it occurred sometime during the end of the 19th century.

Observing National Cream-Filled Donut Day

It should be a pretty simple proposition for people to go out there and celebrate this holiday. All that has to be done is for them to choose a cream donut that they like and would like to share with coworkers, friends, and/or family members. While you’re enjoying these decadent donuts, be sure to use the hashtag #NationalCreamFilledDonutDay to post photos of your donuts on social media.