We examined the effect of the butter and margarine contents in dough on the lipid composition of deep-fried doughnuts. An increasing content of butter or margarine in the dough increased the absorption of frying oil and the efflux of butter or margarine from the dough during the deep-frying procedure, and also increased the efflux of cholesterol from the dough. Differing butter or margarine content in the dough did not result in a differing fatty acid composition in the resulting doughnuts due to the higher efflux of fatty acids from the dough.