My favorite cake donut in Minnesota comes from an unlikely source

Not a bakery, restaurant, grocery store, or gas station, so... where is it?

Last week, I released my picks for Minnesota’s top two raised, glazed donuts. I ate over 100 donuts during that process, and of course, I decided to also eat a cake donut at every stop.

My favorite cake donut in the state doesn’t come from a bakery, restaurant, or grocery store. It isn’t from a gas station, food truck, or apple orchard as people guessed.

It comes from a very unlikely source outside of the Twin Cities and it’s under $1 a donut.

Quotes from friends who heard what this donut was before this piece went live included: “How the f*ck did you find that?” And: “No one does it like you.” Or, my personal favorite: “Are you secretly a spy? How do you find these places?” The answer is really intensive research where I put the word “donut” and the name of all 855 Minnesota cities/townships into Google. Hard work? Yeah. But look at those donuts.

These donuts are not a daily thing and you might have a problem finding the right door to get in, but once you do, you’ll be delighted.

This donut isn’t really all that accessible (for city folks, you might be able to get it about once a year, depending on your travel plans), so I also highlight four other darn good cake donuts in the state in this piece, including a kinnnnnda secret special-edition collab in Uptown that only diehard Uptowners seem to know about.

Why is this piece behind a paywall? Eating ~100 cake donuts costs me about $300, if we don’t include gas. By becoming a paid subscriber, you help cover the cost of this piece AND you support indie food criticism.