The term duffin first began to appear in 2011, when American baker Bea Vo, proprietor of London tearooms Bea’s of Bloomsbury, crossed a doughnut with a muffin to produce a cakey kind of doughnut filled with jam. This wasn’t a new idea – celebrity chef Nigella Lawson had published a recipe for jam doughnut muffins some years before, but Vo’s version proved very popular with her tearoom customers, who christened it the duffin. Vo also featured the recipe for duffins in her 2011 cookbook.