Every year, somewhere in a tent in the British countryside, a group of amateur bakers attempts to make doughnuts that will stop a room. The showstopper round. The one where people cry a little, over-prove their dough, or pull something genuinely extraordinary out of nowhere. It’s a lot of pressure for a fried piece of dough.
For Donut Day, we decided to do our own version — four doughnuts, four very different personalities, all worth making. There’s a Croatian fritule that’s been on Christmas tables along the Adriatic coast for centuries. A hot cross bun in doughnut form, spiced and orange-scented and completely over-the-top in the best way. A savoury cheesy hush puppy from the American South that will change how you think about the word “doughnut.” And a mini vegan doughnut that needs Wilson’s Foods Coconut Oil and absolutely no apology.
Pick one. Pick all four. Either way, make sure you get baking!
A Note on Frying Oil
Three of the four recipes below are deep-fried, and the oil you fry in matters. You want something with a high smoke point, a neutral flavour, and enough volume to let the doughnuts float freely in the pan. Wilson’s Foods Grapeseed Oil is the one we’d reach for — clean, light, and handles the heat comfortably without any aftertaste. Alternatively, our Canola & Olive Oil Blend works beautifully and is widely available at leading retailers across South Africa.
Oil temperature is the most important variable in frying. Too cool and the doughnuts absorb the oil and come out heavy. Too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks through. 160°C–170°C is the sweet spot for most of these recipes. A kitchen thermometer is genuinely worth having. In the absence of one — a small cube of bread should turn golden in about 30 seconds at the right temperature.
1. Croatian Fritule — The Boozy Little Showstopper
Along the Dalmatian coast and on the Croatian islands, fritule are what gets made at Christmas. They’re small — barely bigger than a large marble — and they fry up in minutes. Lemon zest, vanilla, a splash of brandy or rakija, raisins soaked until they’re plump and slightly boozy. The batter comes together quickly and the result is crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, with little pockets of raisin that burst with warmth. Dusted with icing sugar while still hot.
The showstopper element here is the brandy. It does something practical as well as flavourful — alcohol in a frying batter reduces the amount of oil absorbed during cooking, which means fritule are lighter than you’d expect from something that just came out of hot oil.
Fry in Wilson’s Foods Grapeseed Oil or our Canola & Olive Oil Blend — neutral, clean, and won’t compete with the lemon and vanilla in the batter.
Croatian Fritule
Ingredients
Method
- Soak the raisins in warm water for at least 15 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.
- Add the beaten egg, yoghurt, brandy, lemon zest, orange zest and vanilla extract to the well. Mix with a wooden spoon until a thick, sticky batter forms — do not overmix. Fold in the drained raisins. Leave the batter to rest for 30 minutes.
- Pour Wilson's Foods Grapeseed Oil or Canola & Olive Oil Blend into a deep saucepan to a depth of about 8cm. Heat to 165°C. Test with a small piece of batter — it should rise to the surface and turn golden within about 60 seconds.
- Working in batches of 6–8, drop rounded teaspoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Fry for 2–3 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack.
- Dust generously with icing sugar while still warm and serve immediately.
Notes
2. Spiced Doughnuts — A Hot Cross Bun in Doughnut Form
This is the one that requires patience. A yeasted dough with mixed spice, orange zest and butter — the kind of dough that needs two full proves before it sees the oil. First for an hour and a half until doubled. Then shaped, rested for another hour. It’s a commitment. The result is a doughnut that’s pillowy, fragrant, and deeply satisfying in the way that only a properly proved yeasted dough can be.
The spice mix — mixed spice and orange zest — is what puts these firmly in hot cross bun territory. You can decorate them with melted chocolate, freeze-dried berries, a simple icing sugar glaze, or just roll them in caster sugar while they’re still warm. The caster sugar version is the one that gets eaten fastest.
These are the showstoppers. If you’re only making one from this list and you want people to be impressed — this is the one. Just don’t skip the second prove.
Spiced Doughnuts
Ingredients
Method
- Warm the milk without letting it boil. Pour into a bowl, add the yeast and warm water and whisk together. Leave for 15 minutes until frothy.
- Sift the flour, mixed spice and salt into a large bowl. Add the sugar and mix. Make a well in the centre.
- Pour the frothy yeast mixture into the well along with the softened butter, beaten eggs and orange zest. Mix until a soft, sticky dough forms.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead vigorously for 20 minutes until smooth and elastic — or use a stand mixer with a dough hook for 10 minutes. Form into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for 1–1.5 hours until doubled in size.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knock it back. Divide into 4 pieces, roll each into a sausage and cut each into 6 equal pieces — 24 pieces total. Roll each into a smooth ball. Place on a lined baking tray with space between each and leave to prove for 1 hour until doubled again.
- Use a chopstick or finger to press a hole through the centre of each doughnut.
- Pour Wilson's Foods Grapeseed Oil or Canola & Olive Oil Blend into a deep saucepan to a depth of 8cm and heat to 160°C. Fry the doughnuts in batches of 3–4 for 2–3 minutes per side until deep golden brown. Drain on a wire rack.
- While still warm, roll in caster sugar or dip in glaze or melted chocolate. Scatter with freeze-dried berries if using. Serve immediately.
Notes
3. Cheesy Beer-Battered Hush Puppies — The Savoury Wildcard
Not all doughnuts are sweet. If you needed proof, here it is. Hush puppies are small, savoury, deep-fried cornmeal fritters from the American South — crispy on the outside, fluffy and cheesy inside, with spring onions running through the batter and a cold beer keeping everything together. They’re named, supposedly, from the time of the Great Depression, when hungry dogs would hang around while people cooked and someone figured out that throwing these little fried buns would keep them quiet. Whether that’s true or not, it’s a good story.
Cornmeal, self-raising flour, beer, sweetcorn, spring onions, Cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, smoked paprika. That’s it. The batter takes five minutes to mix. They fry in under two minutes. They disappear faster than anything else on this list.
Serve them alongside braai chicken, fish, or piled into a bowl as the snack that steals the whole afternoon. A cold beer alongside is not optional.
Cheesy Beer-Battered Hush Puppies
Ingredients
Method
- Put the cornmeal and flour into a large bowl. Pour in the cold beer and leave to sit for 3–4 minutes.
- Add the sweetcorn, spring onions, grated Cheddar, smoked paprika and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork until fully combined. The batter should be thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
- Pour Wilson's Foods Grapeseed Oil or Canola & Olive Oil Blend into a deep saucepan to a depth of 8cm and heat to 170°C.
- Working in batches of 6–8, drop heaped tablespoons of batter into the hot oil. Fry for 2–3 minutes, turning once or twice, until deep golden brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack.
- Dust with extra smoked paprika and serve immediately while hot and crispy.
Notes
4. Mini Vegan Doughnuts — Baked, Not Fried, and Genuinely Good
The bake-off wildcard. Everyone expects fried — these are baked. Everyone expects butter — there’s none. Wilson’s Foods Coconut Oil does the work instead, giving the doughnuts a subtle richness and a soft crumb that holds together beautifully even without eggs or dairy. Plant-based milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, coconut oil — mixed into the dry ingredients and baked in a mini doughnut pan for about twelve minutes.
The coconut oil is the ingredient that makes these work. It adds the fat the recipe needs for texture and flavour without any of the heaviness that a plant-based butter can sometimes bring. Once they’re out of the oven and cooled, dip them in melted dark chocolate and whatever toppings you have on hand — desiccated coconut, freeze-dried berries, rainbow sprinkles if you’re making these with kids.
These are the ones that surprise people most. Nobody expects a vegan baked doughnut to be this good. That’s the whole point.
Mini Vegan Doughnuts
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease a mini doughnut pan generously with Wilson's Foods Coconut Oil.
- Mix the plant-based milk and apple cider vinegar together in a small bowl and leave for 2 minutes — the vinegar will cause the milk to curdle slightly, which is exactly what you want. This is your vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
- Add the vegan buttermilk mixture, melted Wilson's Foods Coconut Oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
- Spoon or pipe the batter into the greased doughnut pan, filling each cavity about three-quarters full. Bake for 10–12 minutes until risen and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cool, dip each doughnut into the melted dark chocolate and set on a wire rack. Scatter over your chosen toppings while the chocolate is still wet.
Notes
A Few Tips Before You Start
Use a thermometer — oil temperature is the single most important variable in frying. Too cool and the doughnuts absorb oil. Too hot and they burn outside before cooking through. 160°C–170°C is where you want to be for most of these.
Don’t crowd the pan — fry in small batches. Adding too many at once drops the oil temperature immediately and the results suffer. Three to four at a time is enough for most home pans.
Drain properly — a wire rack over a tray is better than kitchen paper for draining. The paper traps steam underneath and can make the bottom of the doughnut go soft. Let them breathe.
For the yeasted spiced doughnuts — don’t rush the proves — the second prove is as important as the first. Under-proved doughnuts are dense and heavy. Give them the full hour and the difference is significant.
For the fritule — test the first few — drop one or two in first to check the oil temperature and get a feel for how quickly they cook. Fritule go from golden to overdone quickly. Once you’ve calibrated on the first batch, the rest go fast.
Eat them warm — every single one of these is better hot. Doughnuts don’t improve with time. Make them, eat them, don’t wait.
Questions You Might Have
Can I reuse the frying oil?
Yes — let it cool completely, strain it through a fine sieve to remove any debris, and store it in a sealed container at room temperature. It can be reused two or three times for frying. Discard it when it starts to smell or turns dark.
Can I make the fritule without brandy?
Yes — replace the brandy with extra lemon juice and a splash of vanilla extract. The flavour is slightly different but the texture is the same. The brandy does help reduce oil absorption during frying, so the alcohol-free version may be very slightly richer.
Do the spiced doughnuts have to be ring-shaped?
No — you can roll the dough into balls instead and fry them as filled doughnut holes. Skip the hole-making step, fry as balls, and fill with jam or custard once cooled using a piping bag. Allow slightly longer frying time to ensure they cook through.
What beer works best in the hush puppies?
A light lager works best — something clean and not too hoppy. Castle Lager, Black Label, or any standard South African lager is perfect. A darker beer adds a slightly bitter note that can compete with the cheese. Save the craft IPA for drinking alongside.
Do I need a mini doughnut pan for the vegan doughnuts?
A mini doughnut pan gives you the shape, but you can also spoon the batter into a greased mini muffin tin for doughnut holes, or roll into small balls and bake on a lined tray. The baking time stays roughly the same — check at ten minutes.
Can I make any of these ahead of time?
The fritule batter can be made and refrigerated overnight before frying — this actually improves the flavour. The spiced doughnut dough can be proved overnight in the fridge after the first prove. The hush puppy batter can sit for thirty minutes before frying. The vegan doughnuts are best baked and eaten the same day.
Get the Oil. Make the Doughnuts.
Wilson’s Foods Grapeseed Oil, Canola & Olive Oil Blend and Coconut Oil are available online and at leading retailers across South Africa.
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