Donuts: Cake or Yeast-type?

[GraceW]

Hi,
Unfortunately, I don't even like donuts (or doughnuts) but I am supposed to bring some to a potluck brunch...

I am taking an informal poll to find out if your prefer the 'cake' type donuts OR if you prefer those yeast-type donuts...? Hopefully this will give me a sense of whether or not I should bring an equal number of both or more of one kind.

[Emme]

Glazed Old-Fashioneds (aka Sour Cream Doughnuts) are the only ones I like.
The runner-up, a Buttermilk Bar, which has similar flavor, but the interior to exterior ratio is wrong.
I guess that means I'm in the cake camp, though I feel like the Old-Fasioned falls squarely in between...

[sandylc]

My advice is to find the very best donut place and purchase a variety of whatever types they are best known for. The worst donut is a bad donut; avoid this and you're good.

[gator28]

Yeast donuts! French crullers are my favorite, with chocolate icing.

[biondanonima]

I prefer yeast donuts - cake donuts are way too dry for my taste. They're also a huge commitment - it's like eating a large, sweet bagel, whereas a yeast donut is just two or three (big) bites that melt on your tongue. My favorite of all donut type foods, though, is an apple fritter (made with a yeast dough). All those greasy little crunchy edge bits. YES.

[Karl S]

Yeast. They also stale much less quickly than cake doughnuts.

[petek]

So cake=baked and yeast=fried??

[jbsiegel]

Nah...all fried, although they **can** be baked if you have a donut pan...

[Karl S]

No. All are fried. Cake doughnuts are a fried quickbread leavened with baking powder/soda; quickbreads that are dry stale very quickly (quickbreads made with very moist vegetables and fruits, like zucchini bread or blueberry, have moisture to compensate).

[Will Owen]

A fresh hot yeast donut is a lovely thing; old and cold, not so much. Cakey cake donuts are also good mostly when fresh. Crullers combine the best of both - not fat and floppy like Krispy Kreams, not tight and dry like Dunkin's, but with a good crunchy bite like nothing else. I've had them out of the bag where they've sat unrefrigerated for several days, and they still blew my skirt up.

[mamachef]

Yum. What I love is their rich egginess, and the crimps, and the way they pull apart. The textural difference between the soft delicious inside and the crunchy, sugary outside is a wonder, and a thing of beauty and a joy forevah.

[sunshine842]

one of my cousins called them "monster truck tires" when he was little. It stuck, and we still call them that -- and he now has his own little ones calling them that, too.

[bulavinaka]

ROFL! Norma Jean is turning in her grave - laughing too...

[Sharuf]

Also called "French" donuts -- they are my favorites. In the three donut shops in my area, only one has them. Last time I bought them they cost considerably more than the cake or raised glazed ones.

[sunshine842]

and as is usually the case with such names -- try to find a cruller in a French patisserie.

You can find doughnuts -- yep - deepfried, sugar coated (sometimes granulated, sometimes powdered), and filled (chocolate, jam, or nutella= YUM). They're called beignets, which (to make it worse) don't resemble the ones you get in New Orleans very much at all (they're both fried sugary dough, but that's where it ends)

But I've never seen anything resembling a cruller on this side of the Atlantic.

[mamachef]

I'm addicted to the crullers from a local joint, and without yeast, they couldn't make them and I couldn't have them, which would be a crime. : )
Yeast, always and forever.

[iL Divo]

when in doubt, go for both to the brunch.

that way you'll make everyone there happy.

husband has had a love affair with Helman's chocolate doughnuts since he was a kid.

so he wants the closest thing to them, that's impossible though nowadays.

I love a straight up yeast bread so when you add a sweetener to it then drop into oil, you've got doughnuts.

[Clams047]

Like everything, there are donuts and there are donuts. Years ago, I preferred Dunkin Donuts (way back when they were made daily / fresh & with a selection). I find a quality cake donut to be far superior to any yeast donut, but unless one lives in an area where they are made fresh, I can see where one may not like donuts. A good one can be a real treat.

If fresh donuts are not available, to please a typical crowd, I suggest to go half and half with Dunkin / Krispy Kreme - whichever is available. Unfortunately neither will provide a quality product nor an ideal selection, but in a pinch, either will be far superior to packaged or grocer donuts.

[John E.]

Cake doughnuts are better for dunking in coffee. Yeast doughnuts are better all around eating and are not as 'heavy' as cake doughnuts. If it were me and I had to bring doughnuts to a gathering (you did not say how many you needed to bring) I would just get a couple dozen (or 4 dozen?) glazed yeast doughnuts, think Krispy Kreme (although all glazed doughnuts are pretty much the same thing in my book).

[bulavinaka]

Your choice may also depend on if the place(s) your getting the donuts are known for a particular type (my local favorite donut shop kills with a buttermilk bar, three different ways) as well as what time the donuts are made. Risen donuts have a short shelf life. Cake are longer lived. Buttermilk seems to have the longest. Fresh anything donut is always the best.

by the by, I prefer cake - buttermilk is my favorite. Cruellers are great when their done right.

[mizzdee]

Yeast only for me.
Cake are just not doughnuts..but circles of cake..lol
I am a Krispy Kreme girl..original glazed

[sunshine842]

and still warm before the glaze sets up, please.

[biondanonima]

Oh God yes. The "Hot Donuts Now" sign is maybe the most alluring advertisement on the planet.

[jbsiegel]

Personally, I don't really like donuts either. But...if I had to eat one, I'd definitely prefer the cake type. I'd just bring some kind of mix...some cake, some yeast, some filled, some not. (Although, if you're making them, this would not be a particulary easy option!!)

[wyogal]

It depends. I like home made cake doughnuts, but like yeast doughnuts from the store. I would say to get both, a variety. Will you be making them?

[petek]

I've never met a doughnut I didn't like. :)