Do you yearn for a fluffy, glazed classic or prefer a denser, cakey delight? Specialty doughnut shops are thriving in Vancouver, with consumers willing to shell out their hard earned cash for drool-worthy doughnuts.

With the artisanal doughnut trend on the rise, the McLaughlin on Your Side team decided to hit the streets and take on the task of determining who makes the best doughnuts in the city.

We decided to keep it local, choosing four popular stores: Lucky’s Doughnuts, Lee’s Doughnuts, Cartems Donuterie and Honey Doughnuts.

At each shop we bought a dozen classic, cake style doughnuts with a glaze. We then cut them into bite sized pieces, laid them out on a table outside of the CTV station and let people passing by try our blind taste test.

“Get your doughnuts, doughnut test right here,” shouted McLaughlin as he pointed at the table full of doughnuts.

It didn’t take long for a crowd to gather.

“So I have to try all of them?” asked one person.

“Amazing,” said another tester, “I love doughnuts.”

We asked them to rank each doughnut by preference – from first place to fourth.

"This one's really sugary,” said one woman, while pointing at doughnut #3, “But this one [doughnut #1] is kind of bland."

And some really knew their doughnuts.

"I recognized these guys. These are Honey Doughnuts from Deep Cove," said one man as he tried doughnut #2. He was right.

He’s not the only one who picked Honey Doughnuts. Kate Winslet recently raved about Honey’s fried doughy goodness on the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival.

“I pine for Honey’s Doughnuts in Deep Cove… pine for Honey’s Doughnuts,” she emphasized.

But not everyone agrees. Preferences did emerge from our group of 17 hungry folks who gobbled up our test and when they were done rating, it was Cartems that came out on top.

The remaining three competitors – Lee’s, Lucky’s and Honey - were very close, all within a point of each other.

“That’s probably why none of these businesses go out of business,” said one tester.

“It’s true. They’ve gotten so popular,” said another doughnut lover.

And while our unscientific results may have been very close, what’s definitely clear is whatever your preference, there’s a doughnut out there for everyone.