Every Type of Donut Explained: The Complete Guide (2026)
Yeast, cake, cruller, beignet, mochi, cronut — the world of donuts is vast. Here is every type explained, with origins and what makes each one special.
The donut is one of the most beloved and diverse pastries on the planet. What started as a simple ball of fried dough brought to America by Dutch settlers has evolved into dozens of distinct varieties, each with its own history, technique, and devoted following. Whether you are a purist who believes the glazed yeast donut is the pinnacle of pastry perfection or an adventurer who seeks out mochi donuts and cronuts, understanding the full spectrum of donut types will deepen your appreciation for this incredible food.
This guide covers every major type of donut you will encounter in American donut shops, from the timeless classics to the modern innovations reshaping the industry. Consider it your field guide to the donut case.
Yeast Donuts
The yeast donut is the archetype — the donut most people picture when they hear the word. Made from a yeasted dough that is mixed, kneaded, and allowed to rise before being shaped and fried, yeast donuts are characterized by their light, airy, pillowy texture. The dough is similar to enriched bread dough, containing flour, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, and of course yeast, which produces the carbon dioxide gas that gives these donuts their signature fluffiness.
The lineage of the yeast donut traces back to the Dutch olykoeks — "oily cakes" — that colonists brought to New Amsterdam in the 1600s. Those early versions were balls of sweet dough fried in pork fat, but the core concept of yeasted fried dough has remained unchanged for centuries. Today, the glazed yeast donut reigns as the single most popular donut in America. Krispy Kreme built an empire on theirs, and when you see that "Hot Now" sign illuminated, you are about to experience a yeast donut at its absolute peak — warm, yielding, and coated in a crackling sugar glaze that dissolves on your tongue. Yeast donuts are best eaten fresh and warm, ideally within an hour or two of frying. They stale faster than cake donuts, but at their best, nothing else compares.
Cake Donuts
Cake donuts take a fundamentally different approach. Instead of yeast, they use baking powder as their leavening agent, which means there is no rise time required. The batter is denser and sturdier than yeast dough, producing a donut with a tighter crumb, a more substantial chew, and a slightly crispy exterior. The texture is closer to a dense muffin or pound cake than to bread.
Cake donuts often include sour cream or buttermilk in the batter, which adds a subtle tang and extra moisture. Because of their sturdier structure, cake donuts are the ideal vehicle for heavy toppings and thick frostings — they can hold up to a generous layer of chocolate frosting, a coating of crushed nuts, or a heavy dusting of powdered sugar without collapsing. They also have a longer shelf life than yeast donuts, maintaining their texture well into the afternoon. Blueberry cake donuts, chocolate cake donuts, and powdered sugar cake donuts are all beloved staples of this category.
Old-Fashioned Donuts
The old-fashioned donut is technically a subset of the cake donut, but it deserves its own category because of its distinctive characteristics. What sets the old-fashioned apart is its craggy, crackly exterior — the surface splits and fractures during frying, creating an irregular, almost geological landscape of crispy ridges and valleys. This happens because the dough is drier and stiffer than regular cake donut batter, and the high frying temperature causes the surface to crack before the interior sets.
Old-fashioned donuts typically include sour cream or buttermilk, which gives them a subtle tanginess that balances the sweetness of the glaze. The texture contrast is what makes them special — crunchy, caramelized edges giving way to a tender, slightly dense interior. They are one of the oldest donut styles in America, predating many of the fancier varieties by decades, and they remain a benchmark of donut shop quality. If a shop makes a great old-fashioned, they probably make great everything.
Crullers
The French cruller is an entirely different animal from most donuts. Made from choux pastry — the same eggy, buttery dough used for eclairs and profiteroles — crullers are piped through a star-shaped tip into a ring shape, then fried. The result is a donut that is astonishingly light and airy, with a delicate, almost hollow interior and distinctive ridged exterior from the star tip.
Crullers have a rich, eggy flavor and a texture that practically dissolves in your mouth. They are more fragile than other donuts, which is one reason they are less common — they require more skill to make and don't hold up as well to transport and handling. A well-made cruller with a light honey or vanilla glaze is one of the most elegant donuts you can eat. They are the donut for people who appreciate subtlety over spectacle, and a great test of a donut baker's skill.
Beignets
The beignet is New Orleans royalty. These square pillows of yeasted fried dough, served hot and buried under an avalanche of powdered sugar, are inseparable from the culture of the French Quarter. They have no hole — just soft, pillowy interiors encased in a lightly crisp shell, all obscured beneath a mountain of confectioners' sugar that coats your hands, your clothes, and probably the person sitting next to you.
Beignets came to Louisiana with French settlers in the 18th century, and Cafe du Monde, founded in 1862 in the French Market, made them internationally famous. The recipe is deceptively simple — flour, sugar, yeast, eggs, butter, milk, and evaporated milk — but the execution matters. Great beignets are fried to order and served immediately, still steaming. The contrast between the hot, soft dough and the cool powdered sugar is the entire experience. While Cafe du Monde is the standard-bearer, excellent beignets can be found throughout New Orleans and increasingly in donut shops across the country.
Malasadas
Malasadas are Portuguese donuts that found their spiritual home in Hawaii. Brought to the islands by immigrants from the Azores and Madeira who came to work the sugar plantations in the 19th century, malasadas have become deeply woven into Hawaiian food culture. They are round, have no hole, and are rolled in granulated sugar while still warm.
The texture of a great malasada is slightly chewy and elastic, with a thin crispy shell giving way to a soft, eggy interior. The dough is enriched with eggs and butter, giving it a richness that distinguishes it from simpler fried doughs. Leonard's Bakery in Honolulu, founded in 1952, is widely considered the gold standard for malasadas and has been serving them continuously for over 70 years. Modern versions are often filled with flavored custards — haupia (coconut), guava, and passion fruit are popular Hawaiian flavors — but purists insist the plain sugar-rolled version needs no embellishment.
Bomboloni
Bomboloni are Italian filled donuts — round, holeless, and traditionally stuffed with pastry cream, Nutella, or fruit jam. They are a staple of Italian pastry shops and bars, where they are often eaten as a breakfast treat alongside espresso. The dough is similar to brioche — rich, buttery, and eggy — and the exterior is typically coated in granulated sugar.
In recent years, bomboloni have gained significant traction in the American craft donut scene. Artisan shops have embraced them as a canvas for creative fillings, from pistachio cream to lemon curd to seasonal fruit compotes. The appeal is obvious — the generous filling-to-dough ratio delivers an intense flavor payload with every bite. A well-made bombolone (the singular form) should be light and airy, not heavy or greasy, with the filling distributed evenly through the interior rather than concentrated in the center.
Mochi Donuts
Mochi donuts represent one of the most exciting developments in the modern donut world. Japanese-inspired and made with glutinous rice flour (mochiko) in addition to or in place of regular wheat flour, these donuts have a distinctively chewy, springy texture that is completely unlike anything else in the donut case. The chew is similar to mochi — the Japanese rice cake — and it is genuinely addictive.
Most mochi donuts are shaped into a figure-eight or connected ring of small balls, giving them a distinctive appearance that is immediately recognizable. The texture holds up beautifully to glazes, and mochi donut shops tend to offer creative flavor options — ube, matcha, black sesame, taro, and other Asian-inspired flavors are common alongside classics like chocolate and strawberry. Chains like Mochinut and local shops specializing in the style have popped up across the country, and mochi donuts have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the donut market.
Cronuts
The cronut is a croissant-donut hybrid that became perhaps the biggest single food trend of the 2010s. Invented by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel at his New York City bakery in May 2013, the cronut uses laminated dough — the same butter-layered technique used for croissants — which is shaped into a ring, fried, filled with cream, and glazed. The result is a pastry with flaky, shattering layers on the outside and a soft, creamy interior.
When the cronut debuted, it caused a genuine frenzy. Lines stretched around the block, scalpers sold them for $100, and knockoffs appeared in bakeries worldwide within weeks. Ansel trademarked the name "Cronut," so other bakeries sell their versions under names like "croissant donut," "croughnut," or "doissant." The intensity of the initial hype has faded, but the cronut permanently expanded the definition of what a donut could be and inspired a wave of hybrid pastries that continues today.
Apple Fritters
The apple fritter is often the largest and most impressive item in the donut case — an irregularly shaped, gloriously craggy mass of fried dough studded with chunks of apple and laced with cinnamon. Fritters are made by folding diced apples and spices into a thick batter, then dropping free-form portions into the fryer, where they spread and fuse into their characteristic irregular shapes.
The best apple fritters have a shatteringly crunchy exterior that gives way to a soft, apple-studded interior, with a glaze that seeps into all the cracks and crevices. They are substantial — a single fritter can easily weigh half a pound — and deeply satisfying. Apple fritters are a year-round staple, but they reach their peak in autumn when fresh apple season is in full swing. Many donut aficionados consider the apple fritter the ultimate test of a donut shop's quality.
Bear Claws
The bear claw occupies the fuzzy border between donut and pastry. Shaped to resemble a bear's paw, with slices cut along one edge to create "toes," bear claws are made from a sweet, enriched dough that is filled with almond paste, then shaped, fried or baked, and glazed. The almond filling gives them a distinctive marzipan-like sweetness that sets them apart from other donut shop offerings.
Some shops make their bear claws from yeast donut dough, others from a more pastry-like laminated dough, and some from puff pastry. The filling also varies — while almond is traditional, you will find versions filled with apple, cherry, or cream cheese. Regardless of the variation, a good bear claw is a satisfying combination of crispy exterior, soft dough, and sweet filling. They are a donut case classic that rewards the adventurous orderer.
Long Johns
Long Johns are the rectangular rebels of the donut world — bar-shaped donuts that can be made from either yeast or cake dough. They are typically topped with chocolate or maple frosting, and premium versions are filled with bavarian cream, custard, or whipped cream. In some regions, particularly the Midwest, they are called "eclairs," though they bear little resemblance to the French pastry of the same name.
The elongated shape of a Long John means more surface area for frosting, which makes them a favorite among topping enthusiasts. A chocolate-frosted Long John filled with bavarian cream is one of the most indulgent items in any donut case. The yeast versions are lighter and airier, while cake Long Johns are denser and sturdier. Either way, they are a classic that deserves more recognition.
Donut Holes
Donut holes — the bite-sized spheres supposedly made from the centers punched out of ring donuts — are the perfect shareable donut format. In practice, most donut holes are made from their own dedicated batch of dough rather than actual punched-out centers, but the charming origin story persists. Dunkin' calls theirs Munchkins, Tim Hortons calls theirs Timbits, and independent shops simply call them donut holes.
Most donut holes are cake-style, coated in cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, or glaze. Their small size makes them ideal for sampling multiple flavors, feeding a crowd, or satisfying a donut craving without committing to a full-sized donut. They are also the gateway donut for kids, and many lifelong donut lovers trace their passion back to a bag of warm donut holes.
Churro Donuts
Churro donuts are a fusion creation that combines the Spanish churro tradition with the American donut format. They feature the distinctive ridged exterior that comes from piping dough through a star-shaped tip, are coated in cinnamon sugar, and are sometimes filled with dulce de leche, chocolate, or vanilla custard. The ridges create extra surface area for the cinnamon sugar to cling to, making every bite intensely flavored.
The churro donut trend has been growing steadily, fueled by the broader embrace of Latin American flavors in American food culture. Some shops shape them into traditional donut rings, others into straight sticks, and still others into creative shapes. The combination of the crispy, ridged exterior with a soft interior and warm cinnamon sugar coating makes churro donuts one of the most craveable items in the modern donut landscape.
Kolaches
Kolaches are technically not donuts, but they have become so intertwined with Texas donut shop culture that no comprehensive guide would be complete without them. Czech immigrants brought kolaches to Texas in the 19th century, and the pastry evolved into something uniquely Texan. Traditional Czech kolaches are rounds of soft, pillowy yeast dough with a sweet filling — typically fruit, poppy seed, or cream cheese — pressed into the center.
In Texas, kolaches have expanded to include savory fillings, particularly sausage and cheese, and these savory versions (technically called klobasnek) are a breakfast staple across the state. You will find them in almost every donut shop in Texas, sitting right alongside the glazed donuts and apple fritters. The combination of a donut shop and kolache bakery is distinctly Texan, and for many Texans, a morning kolache is just as essential as a morning donut.
The world of donuts continues to expand and evolve. New varieties emerge every year as bakers draw inspiration from global traditions, modern techniques, and creative flavor combinations. From the simplicity of a warm glazed yeast donut to the innovation of a mochi donut or cronut, there has never been a better time to be a donut lover. Explore donut shops serving all these varieties and more at [NearbyDonuts.com](/).