A “fauxnut” (faux + donut) is an imitation donut. Danny DeVito was required to eat donuts for his role in the film Other People’s Money (1991), but he didn’t eat junk food. Mani Niall, the founder of Mani’s Bakery in Los Angeles, developed specifically for DeVito the “fauxnut”—a donut that is baked (not fried) and is low in fat. The “fauxnuts” were later sold at California bakeries.
 
The 2013 popularity of New York City’s “cronut” (croissant + donut)—a trademarked name—resulted in many cronut copycats, called a “fauxnut” (faux + cronut). This “fauxnut” has been cited in print since at least June 2013.
 
 
The Internet Movie Database
Other People’s Money (1991) 
Trivia
Danny DeVito refuses to eat junk food, so the donuts he eats in this film aren’t fried, contain no sugar, and are fat-free. They were made to order by Mani’s Bakery Cafe on Fairfax in Los Angeles.
       
3 February 1994, Milwaukee (WI) Journal Sentinel, “Punsters ready for induction ceremony” by Alex Thien:
The word from the World Future Society is that faux food offers consumers a choice, like today’s Faux-nut, a doughnut that is baked rather than deep-fried, ...
   
Google Books
Hollywood Dish:
More Than 150 Delicious, Healthy Recipes from Hollywood’s ...
By Akasha Richmond
New York, NY: Penguin Group
2006
Pg. 30:
Maple Glazed Fauxnuts
Makes 6 Fauxnuts
I have learned a lot about baking with natural sweeteners from my friend Mani Niall, author of Covered in Honey (2003). Mani is the founder of Mani’s Bakery in Los Angeles, and when actor Danny DeVito was making Other People’s Money (1991) the production company came to him to make a low-fat doughnut that DeVito’s character could eat throughout the movie. Mani’s creation—“fauxnuts”—were baked, not fried, and overnight he became the “baker to the stars.”
 
Every Food Fits
February 10, 2011
Celebrating Our 2nd Blogiversary with “Fauxnuts.”
Q:  What’s better than a homemade donut?
A:  One that is purchased at the donut shop.
 
What’s a “fauxnut?” A failure donut. Or a fake donut. Though Stacey sincerely wanted to fry them, the thought of the stench of fried trapped in the house (since it is winter and we’re unable to open windows to air out the kitchen) was not terribly appealing. So she was talked into baking them.
 
East Bay Express (Oakland, CA)
Friday, November 30, 2012
A First Look at Uptown’s Sweet Bar, Home of the ‘Fauxnut’
Luke Tsai —  Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 4:58 PM
(...)
In the end, I went with a banana-chocolate “fauxnut” ($3), which resembles a doughnut from a distance insofar as it’s round and, at least for this version, topped with chocolate glaze. Up close you can see it’s more like an upside-down cake or mini bundt cake — baked rather than fried and pretty substantial. Also, it’s vegan and dairy-free, with an almond-milk based chocolate ganache, and the cake batter itself is even sugar-free — sweetened with agave. (Edit: Niall clarified, via email, that though the cake is sugar-free, the ganache is not.)
(...)
Turns out the fauxnut has a good story to go with it, too: Apparently, Niall invented the cake in the early ’90s at the behest of a Hollywood prop master who needed a doughnut that Danny DeVito could eat for a film he was shooting — and DeVito didn’t eat sugar or fried foods.
 
The Guardian (UK)
Edd Kimber’s lemon and vanilla fauxnuts recipe
Cronuts are all the rage in New York. Save yourself the airfare and make these tasty fauxnuts at home
Wednesday 5 June 2013 13.04 EDT
Every day since Dominique Ansel launched the Cronut last month, there have been queues of people lined up outside his New York bakery at 6am. Cronuts haven’t just taken New York by storm, they have taken the internet by storm too. Since I won’t be in New York any time soon, I thought I would see if I could replicate them at home.
 
Love Swah
Jun 17, 2013
The Nutella Fauxnut – A Super Easy DIY Cronut!
By now we’ve all pretty much heard of the Cronut™. The croissant/donut hybrid created in New York by chef Dominique Ansel that has seen people queuing up from before 5am in the morning just to give it a try.
 
Gothamist
Taste-Testing The Fake Cronut: The Fauxnut
By Jen Carlson in Food on Jun 25, 2013 3:58 PM
While Dominique Ansel has trademarked the Cronut™, he cannot stop people from making their own cronut-like pastries, slapping a $5 pricetag on them, and calling them something else. Mille-Feuille Bakery (located near Washington Square Park just blocks from Ansel himself) isn’t the first, and they’re certainly not the last to do this… but they are and always will be the first place the Gothamist staff ever tasted a cronut-esque thing. We tried their Vanilla Bean and Raspberry “french donuts” this afternoon—unsurprisingly, they were really quite good.
 
Look at My Takeout
Squat / Fauxnut / Fake Cronut – Fort Greene
Published on July 22, 2013, in Donuts, Fort Greene.
(354 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205‎)
Le Petit Bakery -Yelp Reviews - Gothamist Review
•Lemon Blueberry Squat ($4.00)
•Vanilla Squat ($4.00)
•Maple Bacon Chocolate Squat ($4.00)