CakeSpy Undercover: Chuck's Donuts in Renton, WA
Friday, August 7, 2009 
I often say that bad things happen when you leave the city, but when a CakeSpy reader emailed extolling the virtues of Chuck's Donuts in Renton:
While you won't find espresso, cupcakes, or frozen yogurt on the menu, you will find the best maple bars in five counties and a lot of extremely tasty cake donuts with simple fillings. I could eat their chocolate-covered custard-filled donuts until they came out my ears! I grew up on these sugar bombs and many people in my massive family consider them prime bribe material.
...well, let's just say I knew it was time to hit the road.
Chuck's Donuts is a deeply and delightfully unpretentious place. It's perched at the corner of a strip mall off of the highway; the signage and decor are fairly nondescript. But that's OK, because we're here to talk about the donuts.
We tested three to get a full variety: a bear claw, and old fashioned, and a frosted cake donut. The bear claw had a thin sheen of glaze that shattered oh so delicately when bitten into, giving way to a yeasty, sweet dough filled with a buttery cinnamon-sugar mix--the filling was a nice complement to the lightness of the donut.
The cake donut was lightly crispy on the outside, dense, soft and cakey on the inside; the frosting was almost too sweet, but we powered through it--and it should be noted that the coconut added a nice texture too.
But the real start of the show was an old fashioned cake donut which vaguely resembled a potato in size and texure (though as to the technical name, not quite sure), which was filled with jam and lightly glazed; overall, very pleasingly dense and just greasy enough to be satisfying without being gross.
Overall, a great find and definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in Renton; and though we do have a number of great donut shops in the city, I'd even deem it a worthy destination for Seattle donut lovers.
Chuck's Donuts, 5335 N. 4th Street, Renton; click here for more info.
cakespy undercover
Reader Comments (7)
This post practically made me cry. My grandfather, Bob Wentworth, use to own Chuck's before he retired. If I remember correctly (I am not the historian of the family), he purchased it from the original Chuck.
so so good!
AUGH! We used to live about 10 minutes from there...you missed the maple bars! Excuse my profligate use of exclamation points, but really...you NEED to try their maple bars. Otherwise, great review :)
Oh, man, this donut looks good. Love the close-up! Looks like great texture.
Oooooooooo, I love donuts so. Maybe it's time to make some (join me?)
Wow - great photos! I'm now thinking about making the trip ...
Well, did you try the maple bars? Oh, god, I love those.
I believe the potato-like old fashioned is a buttermilk bar. I judge a doughnut shop by their buttermilk bars, and will travel across Portland to get a good one. Now I want doughnuts!