When Zacki was at Peace Jr. College in Raleigh, there was always a consistent smell that wafted over the campus. The addictive aroma was from a next door Krispy Kreme donut store and it called her name. In those slim days, she never gained weight, but saw her dentist more often.

Krispy Kreme is a North Carolina based company founded in the 1930’s. Founder Rudolph Rudolf purchased a secret recipe for yeast-raised doughnuts from a New Orleans-French chef and opened a doughnut shop in Paducah, Kentucky. Rudolph soon moved to Winston-Salem, NC, (some say Camel cigarettes attracted him to the city) where he opened the first Krispy Kreme on July 13, 1937.

ZCC had a request to make a donut hole croquembouche for a bride's breakfast in May. This was the first croquembouche Zacki had made since working on Martha Stewart's Christmas book croquembouche using filled puff pastry. Zacki started this project by purchasing a Christmas tree styrofoam shape from a craft store, then purchasing 75 fresh "holes" (minus 2 for sampling!). Geranium leaves decorated the base using wooden toothpicks.

Donut holes were then added and it was wrapped with layers of cling wrap for transportation.

Once on the lovely table created by the hostess, the gaps were filled in with fresh mint and white roses.

Cake-holes could be used for a dessert version of this beautiful addition to a buffet table.