Hard-up London pastry fans are in for a treat in the next few days, as two businesses are handing out free samples in a burst of early-summer generosity.

First, the Dominique Ansel Bakery in Victoria will celebrate the fourth anniversary of the invention of the “cronut” – a cross between the croissant and the doughnut – with a give-away on Saturday May 13. No wonder he’s feeling generous: the New York-based French pâtissier has made a fortune from the cronut, which has won him a global bakery empire and, most recently, the title of world’s best pastry chef.

Cronut samples will include the original New York flavour, rose vanilla; the first London flavour, butterscotch cocoa nib; and the first from Tokyo, Hokkaido milk ganache and yuzu lemon curd.

Two days later, on Monday March 15, Polpo in Soho’s Beak Street will be giving away fritole – traditional Venetian doughnuts filled with ricotta and sultanas which, dating back to the 14th century, have been nibbled for perhaps 700 years longer than cronuts.

Polpo’s give-away is to celebrate the establishment’s entry into the breakfast market. The first 100 people to order coffee that morning will be rewarded with a fritole.