Donut Savant: Fancy Holes
A couple of months ago, my BFF brought me over a surprise. Fancy donut holes. What is more surprising is that it’s a new donut shop that opened up only three and a half blocks from my work. Donut Savant is in Uptown in Oakland. We shared a few holes. These bite sized treats tasted more like cake than a donut.
The other day, I remembered to stop by Donut Savant to pick up some donut holes before hitting the road for a four hour drive.
When I arrived at the shop, there were a few people ahead of me in line and not a huge amount of donuts displayed in their windows. Many of the trays were empty. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a good selection. As I was waiting, there were a couple of refills to the empty trays. I decided to try all the donut holes available and there were six. I also picked up an apple fritter. The seven miniature items cost me $5. My friend who recently moved back to the Bay Area would love to share these with me.
As I recalled from the first time I had them, they definitely tasted more cake. Actually more like an old fashioned donut than the traditional airy donut.
This is the order of best to least favorite:
1. Chocolate dust, plain cake with dark chocolate
2. Vanilla glaze, plain cake with vanilla glaze
3. Maple pecan, plain cake with buttercream frosting and toasted pecans
4. Chocolate frosted, plain cake with chocolate frosting
5. Salted maple, plain cake with maple glaze and a sprinkle of salt
6. Cinnamon sugar, plain cake with a cinnamon and sugar dust
7. Apple fritter, raised dough with granny smith apples and cinnamon
Overall, the holes were all very good and in the future I would order according to what flavor I was in the mood for. However, I would never order the apple fritter again. It’s just not my taste.
The concept of Donut Savant is great and so is the execution. Although I tend to like the traditional airy donuts more than I do old fashioned, it works for me as a bit sized treat.