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Cream-Filled Donuts (Soft, Fluffy & Loaded With Vanilla Custard!)

Soft, fluffy donuts filled with silky homemade vanilla pastry cream and dusted with powdered sugar—your new favorite bakery-style treat.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Rise Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 donuts
Calories 260 kcal

Ingredients
  

For the Donut Dough

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast 1 packet
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ cup warm milk
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter softened
  • 1 large egg
  • Vegetable oil for frying

For the Vanilla Cream Filling

  • 1 ½ cups whole milk
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp butter

For Topping

  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions
 

Make the Dough

  • In a bowl, mix warm milk, yeast, and 1 tbsp sugar. Let sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy.
  • Add flour, remaining sugar, egg, softened butter, and salt.
  • Knead 7–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
  • Place in a greased bowl, cover, and rise for 1 hour or until doubled.

Shape the Donuts

  • Roll dough to ½-inch thickness.
  • Cut into circles using a cookie cutter or jar lid.
  • Place on parchment, cover, and rise again for 20–30 minutes.

Fry

  • Heat oil to 350°F (175°C).
  • Fry donuts 1–2 minutes per side until golden.
  • Drain on paper towels.
  • Dust lightly with powdered sugar.

Make the Cream Filling

  • Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together.
  • Heat milk until warm (not boiling).
  • Slowly pour milk into the egg mixture while whisking.
  • Return to pot and cook until thickened.
  • Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
  • Allow the cream to cool completely.

Fill the Donuts

  • Poke a hole in the side of each donut.
  • Transfer pastry cream to a piping bag.
  • Fill generously until the donut feels plump.
  • Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Notes

Tips

  • Keep oil at 350°F—too low causes greasy donuts, too high burns the outside.
  • Don’t overfill or the donuts may burst.
  • Let pastry cream cool completely before filling.
  • Allow dough to double during both rises for maximum fluffiness.

 

Variations

  • Chocolate cream: Add melted chocolate to the pastry cream.
  • Lemon cream: Mix in lemon zest and a splash of lemon juice.
  • Jam-filled: Pipe in strawberry or raspberry jam.
  • Nutella: Fill donuts with a chocolate hazelnut spread.

 

Storage

  • Refrigerate filled donuts for up to 2 days.
  • Freeze unfilled donuts for up to 2 months.
  • Do not freeze cream-filled donuts—the texture of the cream breaks.
  • Reheat unfilled donuts briefly in the microwave before filling.
Keyword bakery-style doughnuts, cream-filled donuts recipe, fluffy donut recipe, homemade custard-filled donuts, pastry cream filling donuts