The Pie Man's Donut Challenge: Tackling a Napier bakery's two-minute scoff-fest

Hawke's Bay Today reporter Blair Voorend accepts the two minute giant doughnut challenge at The Pie Man in Maraenui Napier

I tried The Pie Man's Donut Challenge and I didn't just fail, I failed miserably.

The idea of trying to even win a free giant cream filled doughnut by eating it in two minutes had my stomach turning even before the first bite on my way to the Maraenui bakery.

Then when I got there I realised the doughnut is literally the size of a loaf of bread.

Already packed with a figurative and almost literal tonne of dough, The Pie Man himself, Roger Cathro, kindly pumps a nice thick line of cream right down the spine of the doughnut.

Thinking I would be smart I swiftly pushed the cream off the doughnut and decided to tackle the bread first.

Not thinking about the freshness of the dough taking my first few bites of it was like chewing a big ball of doughy gum.

Even with the help of water and what was some questionable support from onlookers, I barely made it a third of the way before my two minutes were up.

I tried The Pie Man's Donut Challenge and lost. Photo / Paul Taylor

Although it looks like a straight up scoff as much as you can kind of challenge, according to Cathro there is a very precise technique to success.

"The key is to take quick small bites and try and swallow without chewing too much, that's what catches people out, is the softness and how chewy our doughnutsare."

Cathro, who has 20 years baking experience, says the colossal masterpiece, which he sells for $10 a pop, started by accident.

"I had a bit of dough leftover one day and decided to make a giant doughnut and it turned out pretty good so put it out to sell and it sold, so I did another and that sold, so I kept on making them and they kept on selling."

The Donut Challenge itself wasn't exactly born as a dazzling marketing ploy either.

"One day we had one left over so I put on Facebook who wants to try and eat this in less than two minutes, somebody tried it, I put the video online and it just went crazy.

"Thus the Donut Challenge was born."

Cathro has put moderation on the challenge only limiting it to two weeks of the year.

"We limit the competition to only two weeks of the year because we don't want to have somebody come in every day trying to do the challenge."

Local nutritionist Heather Barrow from Food for Life said doughnuts weren't the healthiest option in the world but keeping a limit on the challenge meant it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"As long as no one is eating one every day it's not a major issue."

The challenge ends this Saturday. A $100 dollar store credit up for grabs for the person who can finish it the fastest.