Unless you live in the area, chances are you'd never just happen upon Oram's Donut Shop, in Beaver Falls. But it's worth the detour.
The name may be familiar: The bakery has been operating at its Seventh Avenue location since 1939, and it has been featured in a Rick Sebak special, as well as on the short-lived, Pittsburgh-based CBS drama Three Rivers.
If you've heard of Oram's, it's likely because of one thing.
"People tend to know us best because of our cinnamon rolls," says Vickie George, who co-owns the shop with her husband, Jon. The coiled, donut-like pastries weigh in at about six to eight ounces each and could cover most of a dinner plate.
While these gigantic cinnamon rolls have rightly received plenty of notice, I was equally impressed with Oram's No. 2 best-seller -- the cream-filled donut.
The typical cream-filled donut can be a greasy, oblong lump with filling so sweet that it makes your teeth hurt. But Oram's donut -- made at the shop with its own recipe -- is a light, raised-dough cake harboring a generous portion of smooth, evenly sweetened white butter cream. Rather than the traditional thin sugar glaze on top, Oram's cream donuts sport a shmear of chocolate-, vanilla- or maple-flavored butter cream.
"It's a huge seller," George says of the cream-filled donut, while standing in front of bakery cases filled with 20 varieties of donuts. "We're known because of our cinnamon rolls, but everybody who comes in here has their favorite donut, and to them, that's the best."
1406 Seventh Ave., Beaver Falls. 724-846-1504
