Growing up in Venezuela, Claudia Monroy didn’t really eat doughnuts. But when she moved to Seattle from Florida for a job at Amazon, she noticed a local phenomenon: people brought boxes of these confections into the office nearly every day. If someone announced, “Doughnuts in the kitchen,” she says, “Everybody would rush to the kitchen. It doesn’t matter what floor, or what building.”

Monroy and her husband, Damian Castillo, took note. In spring 2023, the couple opened Doce Donut Co. on Stone Way. The shop’s lineup of 10 brioche doughnut flavors applies Latin pastry traditions to America’s signature form of fried dough. Cuban pastelitos de guayaba y queso inspire a doughnut with a center full of guava and cream cheese. A ganache spiked with ancho chile, paprika, and cinnamon coats the Mexican hot chocolate doughnut; on top, a cloud of whipped marshmallow cream does an admirable job channeling the sensation of drinking from a mug topped with whipped cream.

But even the plain OG is one marvel of a doughnut. Credit belongs to Doce’s house brioche dough, which proofs for a full 24 hours rather than just overnight. The result is soft, somehow dense and airy all at once: a brioche to win over cake doughnut fans. Flavors here aren’t excessively sweet, but a vanilla and coconut glaze adds another layer of interest.

Actually, the real credit might belong to Castillo’s parents, Daniel and Silvia. The couple, originally from Argentina, have run bakeries for more than two decades, first in Venezuela, then in Miami. Eventually their son (or let’s be real, the existence of their grandson) convinced them to trade palm trees and pleasant forecasts for the Northwest’s moodier skies. Castillo is also a culinary school graduate, though nobody in the family had experience with doughnuts before Doce.

It turns out, a trio of veteran bakers lacking preconceived doughnut notions will create flavors you aren’t gonna find anywhere else. Reimagining tres leches cake—a staple throughout Latin America—as a doughnut takes some doing. Doce’s bakers fry up rounds of their brioche dough, then cut off the top to soak the whole enterprise with a custard of evaporated, condensed, and whole milks. The all-important soaking happens twice, says Castillo. Do it only once and “you get a little flavor, but it’s not gonna be wet.” A coating of dark chocolate on the bottom keeps the liquid from escaping. Housemade meringue goes on top next; a few waves of a blowtorch make the fine details in the piping stand out. They’re not doing that over at Krispy Kreme.

The shop’s open kitchen lets you witness bakers, some originally from places like Argentina and Brazil, working with ingredients like whole apples that will end up caramelized for a cobbler doughnut flavor. Developing a vegan version of the OG glazed doughnut took months of R&D, says Castillo.

The meshing of cultures doesn’t end with Latin America. Asian customers were asking for matcha flavors, says Monroy. “We didn’t want to just sprinkle matcha on a doughnut,” ergo the new matcha tiramisu seasonal flavor. But the family is a quick study on hometown tastes as well. “Doce” is Spanish for “twelve,” a number Monroy and Castillo quickly learned is dear to Seattle sports fans. The uber-American maple bacon flavor—topped with inviting chunks of thick-cut bacon—is a big seller.

Doce’s wares are less doughnut, more artful, intricate pastry creations you might happen to consume at 9am—maybe with a Fulcrum-roasted americano from Doce’s custom-painted blue machine. Or, as Castillo puts it, “If you ask a Latino, they would consider this a dessert. If you ask an American, they would consider this a breakfast.”