Donuts
What Is a Buttermilk Bar? And Where to Get One in Utah County
15 September 2026 · 5 min read
A buttermilk bar is a cake donut, not a raised one. That single fact is the whole thing, and it is the fact most people get wrong. It is dense rather than airy, faintly tangy rather than purely sweet, and its surface splits into craggy ridges as it fries — which is exactly why it holds glaze better than anything else in the case.
Cake dough, not raised dough
Donuts split into two families and almost nothing else about them matters as much.
Raised donuts are made from yeasted dough. It proves, fills with air, and fries into something light and nearly hollow with a pull to it. A traditional glazed is the reference example.
Cake donuts are batter, not dough. They are leavened chemically — baking powder rather than yeast — and the result is closer to a pound cake than to bread. Tight crumb, tender, substantial. They also keep considerably better through the day, because there is no delicate air structure to collapse.
A buttermilk bar sits firmly in the second camp. Buttermilk in the batter does two things: it adds a faint sour note that keeps the sweetness in check, and its acidity reacts with the leavening to produce that rough, open surface. Those splits are not a flaw. They are the point — every crack is another edge that catches glaze and crisps.
Why people confuse it with a Long John
Because they are the same shape. Both are bars. That is the entire source of the confusion, and it is worth clearing up before you order.
| Buttermilk bar | Long John | |
|---|---|---|
| Dough | Cake — batter, chemically leavened | Raised — yeasted |
| Texture | Dense and tender, craggy surface | Light, airy, pull-apart |
| Flavour | Faintly tangy from the buttermilk | Sweet, led by the topping |
| Topping | A thin glaze, all over | Maple or chocolate along the top |
| Keeps through the day | Well | Less well |
| Price here | $2.75 | $2.75 |
If you want the topping to be the star, order a Long John. If you want the dough to be the star, order the bar.
And why it is basically an old fashioned
Our old fashioned is the same buttermilk cake batter, fried so the surface cracks open, shaped as a ring. The buttermilk bar is that donut in a bar. If you already know you like one, you will like the other — the difference is the ratio. A bar has more flat glazed surface and fewer thin crisp edges; a ring has more edge and less middle.
People who want crunch tend to prefer the old fashioned. People who want the tang and the crumb tend to prefer the bar. There is a longer comparison in glazed, cake or old fashioned.
Where to buy one in Utah County
Spanish Fork. 1306 E Center St, Spanish Fork, UT 84660, (801) 416-0800 — about fifteen minutes south of Provo down I-15. Open 5:00am to 3:00pm Monday through Thursday and 5:00am to 2:00pm Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday.
Buttermilk bars are on the specialty board at $2.75 each, $27.50 a dozen, and a dozen here means buy ten, get two free. They are fried in the morning with everything else, starting at five. The same board runs at our Ogden and St. George shops.
How to eat it
Plain, and not in a hurry. A buttermilk bar is one of the few donuts that genuinely improves with coffee rather than just tolerating it — the tang has something to push against. We grind coffee fresh at $2.50.
It is also the donut we would hand someone who says they do not really like donuts. Most of the time what they mean is that they do not like the sugar-forward raised ones, and a buttermilk bar is a different proposition entirely.
The full board, with what each item actually is, is on the Utah Donut Index.
Common questions
What is a buttermilk bar?
A buttermilk bar is a cake donut shaped into a bar rather than a ring. It is batter-based and chemically leavened rather than yeasted, so the crumb is dense and tender instead of airy, and the buttermilk in the dough adds a faint tang. The surface splits open as it fries, which is where the craggy ridges come from.
Is a buttermilk bar the same as a Long John?
No, and this is the most common mix-up. They are the same shape and completely different dough. A Long John is raised yeast dough, light and pull-apart. A buttermilk bar is cake dough, dense and craggy. If you order one expecting the other you will be disappointed for no good reason.
Is a buttermilk bar the same as an old fashioned?
Same family, different shape. Both are buttermilk cake donuts fried so the surface cracks. The old fashioned is a ring; the bar is a bar. The bar gives you more glazed surface per bite and the ring gives you more crisp edge.
Where can I buy a buttermilk bar in Utah County?
The Donut Run in Spanish Fork, at 1306 E Center St, has buttermilk bars on the specialty board, made fresh from 5:00am Monday through Saturday. Spanish Fork is in Utah County, about fifteen minutes south of Provo.
How much is a buttermilk bar?
It prices as a specialty donut: $2.75 each, $27.50 a dozen. A dozen here is buy ten, get two free.
Do buttermilk bars sell out?
Cake donuts hold up better through the day than raised ones do, so a buttermilk bar at noon is closer to its morning self than a glazed would be. That said, the specialty board is a small part of a day's bake — if it is specifically what you want, come early or call the shop.