BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn — Known as the “Doughnut Lady,” Fany Gerson is the owner of Fan-Fan Doughnuts at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn.
As a small business in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Gerson says one of her bakery’s goals is to create community among its customers through its donuts.
“To me, what I think makes them, let’s just say, different or special or unique, whatever adjective you want to put, it’s sort of like the collection of a lot of little things, you know, the intention that goes into everything. Every time you come, you’re going to get a fresh doughnut,” Gerson said.
Gerson says she’s always coming up with different flavors and new ideas for donuts, and also emphasizes the “heart that goes into it.”
“I know it sounds like super cheesy, but I really believe it,” she said.
One of Fan-Fan’s popular menu items is the La Donna, which is a black currant and raspberry donut. There’s also a pretty purple and white doughnut, flavored with coconut, butterfly pea and lemon.
Meanwhile, the Mango Lassi donut which, as the name implies, is packed with mango flavor and has fresh ground cardamom and a yogurt glaze on top.
Another signature donut on Fan-Fan’s menu is the Iranian Love, inspired by Gerson’s friend Yasmin.
“She’s written several amazing cookbooks, and in one of her cookbooks, she has an Iranian Love cake,” Gerson said. “This is a lemon, cream cheese frosting and it has pistachios and rose petals,”
When she was in high school, Gerson says while she didn’t know exactly what she was going to study, she wanted to do something creative.
“In high school, there was one class, so you could take either French or the year divided into cooking, ceramics and photography. And to me, I’m like, there’s no choice,” she said. “I discovered not just like loving how to create things and making, but it was sort of like, how could I put all these things together? But the joy it brought to people, so I think that was like the little seed that never went away, and I think sweets in particular do that.”
This year, Fan-Fan was nominated a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery. It’s a nomination that’s left Gerson pleasantly surprised.
“A lot of people say it’s like the ‘Oscars’ of the culinary industry,” Gerson said. “It’s just honestly, like I know it sounds cliché, but to be honored, I mean it’s an honor to just be nominated, but it was also like surprising because we do this one thing, we do doughnuts. And bakeries often have many different things that you do, but because we do this one thing, it’s like we have to make sure it’s done right.”
