What is the best donut in Lexington?

The search for the best donut in Lexington!

Times have been tense in these parts of the state, country and world. While there is still some great divides among us, donuts should be able to bring us together. Donuts may not seem like a device that can generate peace among the restless, but hanger and being hangry is a real thing.

Lexington has many local locations to pick up a fried and doughy peace plan in hand held form. How do you decide who has the best donut in Lexington, Ky? Well, Square Waffle decided to assemble a team of 6 donut experts and taste them all back to back. It was a tough job and not one to be taken lightly.

The team set out on a sunny November morning to purchase from 6 local, non-national chain shops. After the purchase, we returned to the Square Waffle test kitchen to taste and inspect the donuts.

The contenders for the best donut.

The decision on who should make the cut for the best donut was not easy. The Square Waffle review board decided to only include local donut shops. The national chains like Krispy Kreme and Dunkin were not considered for this tasting, maybe some other time. The decision was also made to keep it simple. We got a Chocolate Iced and Plain Glazed from the 6 shops we visited.

The 6 finalists for the best donut in Lexington testing are the following:

• Franks Donuts, has several location in the central Kentucky area. The newest location is in Lexington at 549 E Third St, Lexington, KY. Other locations are around but they don’t seem to have a website. 

• Spalding’s Bakery has been around since 1929. They have more than donuts and are located at 760 Winchester Road. 

• Donut Days bakery is located at 185 Southland Dr. Not sure about the history, their website does not work very well.

• DoughDaddy’s – They have more than donuts and are located at 3325 Lexington Road, Versailles, KY.

• Magee’s Bakery has been baking since 1956 and is located at 726 E Main St, Lexington, KY.

• North Lime Coffee & Donuts has been around since roughly 2012 and has 2 locations in Lexington, one on North Lime and the other at3101 Clays Mill Road.

Preparing the tasting!

After the mad dash to gather all the glorious donuts, the Square Waffle team brought the donuts back to the SW test lab. It was a mouth-watering sight to see a dozen, 6 plain and 6 chocolate, fresh donuts spread out before the team.

The donuts were then dissected into 6 equal parts and passed around to the team. The only critera used was to taste the donuts and give honest feedback. We did have a few surprises while tasting the donuts, which we will share as the review goes along.

The team also used their preference of milk, water, or coffee as a pallet cleanser between rounds. We also decided full consumption was not necessary to score the donut. In other words if it did not bring you joy, get rid of it!

Tasting the best donut in Lexington….

Magee’s: For all on the testing team it was a the first time trying a Magee’s donut. If you have not tried one you can see they are a good sized donut. We thought both of the donuts were very undercooked. Could it have been a bad day? Yes it could. We had not tried these before so not sure the history of the donuts.

The Chocolate was very rich and fudge like with great flavor. The plain glaze had a very vanilla taste. They both seemed fluffy but we could not get past the undercooked nature of the dough.

Donut Days: For the Donut Day’s tasting we found both to be very ‘bready’. One member of the team described it as iced bread. The dough was airy and didn’t have the denseness of bread, more just the texture.

One big hit against this chocolate donut was the fact it had no plain glaze under the chocolate icing. This is just something that can not happen. We thought the plain glaze was better than the chocolate, but overall it was very plain.

Frank’s Donuts: Frank’s was another new tasting for every team member. The first impression was the donuts had too much bread for the icing on the donuts.

Frank’s is another donut that did not plain glaze before putting chocolate on the top. Again this just can not happen. Both donuts needed more icing and we thought the plain glaze had a very funnel cake oily taste, not that there is anything wrong with that.

DoughDaddy’s: These donuts were some of the teams favorite. The crunchy outside and well cooked inside made a great combination. The shape and taste make you think of homemade donuts.

The chocolate was extra sweet and creamy and very heavy on the sugar side. The chocolate was not very dark, it was more of a milk chocolate flavor. But they do have the plain glaze under the chocolate. The plain glaze have a great glaze to dough ratio.

Spalding’s Bakery: These are great donuts. The team thought they were dense and well cooked. Crispy almost burnt looking on the outside, and soft in the middle.

The Chocolate had a great flavor, very sweet but darker than the DoughDaddys. The plain glaze was extra glazey, with glaze flakes dropping everywhere. The excellent glaze is also present under the chocolate!!!

North Lime: North Lime Donuts were very well known by the testing team. The square donuts are large enough to replace at least one meal any day you eat them.

The plain glaze was perfect! Lots of yeast flavor coming out in the bites. Glaze was ample and flakey causing a very welcomed mess. The chocolate had a fudge like taste and the chocolate sat on top of a glaze bottom. The chocolate donut was however one of the biggest disappointments of the whole taste testing. It was way over done, almost burnt. Something was off on this batch of chocolate iced today. I have heard they started cooking the donuts longer recently, maybe we just got a bad batch because this is not the norm at North Lime. (Full disclosure, we at Square Waffle fully expected North Lime to top our ratings as they are favorites of the whole team. This was most likely just a problem of a busy Saturday. Definitely give them a try.) It did drop them down on the rankings!

The Results

Best Donut in Lexington!

Plain Glazed	Chocolate Iced
1. Spalding’s	1a. Spalding’s
2. North Lime	1b. DoughDaddy’s
3. DoughDaddy’s	3. North Lime
4. Frank’s	4. Frank’s
5. Donut Days	5. Donut Days
6. Magee’s	6. Magee’s

Check out other reviews from Square Waffle.

We have reviewed other donuts. Take a look at those right here.

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