Sugar Mama’s Owner Opens a New Doughnut Shop in Cherrywood

Austin bakery Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop is opening a new doughnut shop this weekend. Owner Olivia O’Neal is turning the shuttered Cherrywood location of her bakery on 2406 Manor Road into Lola’s Donuts. The doughnut shop will open on Saturday, October 3 for takeout services only via online preorders (which are available now) or in-person pickup orders at the walk-up window.

Lola’s menu focuses on brioche doughnuts, which O’Neal prefers because of its “richer flavor,” and that the fact that the baked good ends up being “less sweet and denser than a standard yeast doughnut.” She also enjoys how the doughnut is the “perfect vehicle to adorn with decadent toppings,” similar to her cupcakes. The initial lineup includes flavors such as pumpkin spice brioche, maple-praline-bacon brioche, an animal cookie brioche, and candy-apple-filled brioche.

Lola’s non-brioche doughnuts includes an apple cider cake doughnut and a cruller dipped in brown-butter glaze. There are plans to expand with additional cake and old-fashioned doughnut flavors eventually, plus look out for a horchata doughnut.

As for drinks, the first weekend will feature a horchata; other aguas frescas will be added later. Also on sale will be coffee, cans of Cuvee cold brew, milks, and sparkling and still water. When it gets colder, there are plans to serve champurrado, a Mexican hot chocolate drink.

Lola’s Donuts [Official]

O’Neal, who is adopted, found out that her biological family is Mexican when she finally met them, She wanted to acknowledge her newly discovered background through the shop, and she named the business after her grandmother, Dolores. “I feel it is important to display and honor my heritage proudly and publicly,” she says, “while honoring my ancestors.”

Opening a doughnut shop has been a goal of O’Neal’s for some time now. She had been testing out potential recipes, doughs, and batters, and had intended on opening Lola’s in the spring of 2021, but the pandemic hastened her plans. She realized that Sugar Mama’s Manor Road location “was no longer viable,” as she explains. So she decided to swap concepts, since the lease is still active for several years. She closed the bakery in July, and turned the space into Lola’s. (Sugar Mama’s original location on South First remains open.)

Lola’s hours will be from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays. Preorders will be available online on Tuesdays at noon. In-person walk-up orders can be made, but there is a limit of six doughnuts per guests for now. For the first two weekends, preoders will only offer already-mixed six pack of doughnuts. Afterwards, people will be able to mix and match their own doughnuts. There will be a table set out for preorders and people placing walk-up orders can do so in person.

As for O’Neal’s other business, Sugar Mama’s on South First is “holding steady,” she says. Being able to focus on the single location “has taken some of the stress off,” she explains. “We have up-days and down-days, but right now, we are continuing to survive. We truly appreciate the community’s support and ask that they continue to show up for us so we can make it through the pandemic.”

• Lola’s Donuts [Official]
• Lola’s Donuts [Instagram]
• Cupcake Slinger Sugar Mama’s Closes Cherrywood Bakery [EATX]
• All Coverage of Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop [EATX]