New Contest Reveals America's Favorite Donut

Recently, a six-week long search took place to locate the greatest donut houses in America. America's Greatest Donuts competition, sponsored by The Underground Donut Tour, called for online nominations to identify unique and committed bakers throughout the United States.

Now stationed in nine cities throughout the East and West Coasts, The Underground Donut Tour delights donut and pastry enthusiasts by introducing them to unexpected flavors at specialty bakeries. For three years in a row, the tour company has been recognized by TripAdvisor's "Best of the Best" top tourist attractions.

As announced in a press release on May 24, nearly 8,000 votes were cast in the contest to crown winners from over 300 nominated donut shops. While we know there are incredible donut bakeries throughout America, after reviewing the donuts named, we are more than ready to sign up for a tour — especially to visit the winner of Overall Fan Favorite. Get ready to get drooling.

Priding itself on homemade, preservative-free baking, Rise 'N Roll took home several contest titles. Coated in caramel and dusted with sugar, the Indiana bakery's Cinnamon Caramel Donut won Overfall Fan Favorite, Greatest Cake Donut, and Greatest Cinnamon Sugar Donut. Flavored spin-off Cinnamon Caramel Bavarian Cream Filled also won Greatest Unique Fillings Donut, and the bakery collected the Greatest Unique Toppings award for their Crunch Bismark donut, a delicacy covered in caramel and toffee. With their landslide win, Rise 'N Roll bagged the $500 cash prize.

Another winner, NYC's The Doughnut Project, makes custom donuts for events and offers specialty donuts only available for three days each week. The shop took home Greatest Chocolate Glazed Donut for their Black Gold donut, a dark chocolate delight glazed and topped with a dark chocolate cookie crumble. The bakery also won Greatest Unique Flavor for The Bronx, a donut covered in an unexpected sugary glaze infused with olive oil and black pepper, and Greatest Old Fashioned Donut for their Old Fashioned Cake doughnut. 

Seventeen other shops were recognized, including New Orleans-based Café Du Monde (for their beignets), Michigan's Sweetwater's Donut Mill's Boston Cream, Massachusetts' Wilson Farm's cider donuts, Texas' The Sweet Boutique Bakery's Cinnamon Roll mochi donut, Florida's Pink Love Donuts and More's vegan S'Mores donuts, Tennessee's Five Daughters Bakery's 100 Layer vanilla cream croissant donut, and North Carolina's Duck Donuts' Bacon In The Sun maple glazed variety. With so many creative and noteworthy donut shops, we're ready to get sampling — and try our luck making a few recipes at home.