Doughnut-Making Tools

The center holes in the deep-fried cakes known as doughnuts (also called oliekoecken, fried dough, or dough nuts in the 1800s) have been accomplished with gadgets since at least the 1850s. The first cake cutter patent, in 1857, shows a strap-handled, round cutter for cookies plus an insert piece to be snapped on to cut center holes. In 1867 a patent was issued for a rolling “confectionery” cutter that had rolling pin–like handles and cut two with every revolution. An 1876 spring-activated cutter was placed on dough, the center knob was depressed to cut a hole quickly, and the cutter sprang back. In 1954 an almost identical ejection cutter was patented. Also in the 1870s cookie dough presses, consisting of a tube and a plunger, were widely used for making jumbles. Similar tools continued to be made through the 1930s but were finally called “doughnut presses.” Such presses were filled with dough, and the doughnuts were expressed directly into the boiling fat.