Rainbow Doughnuts (Print-Friendly Version)
Soft doughnuts stuffed with vibrant rainbow pudding and a simple glaze. They’ll turn any day into a celebration!
# Ingredients:
→ Doughnut Dough
01 -
2½ cups all-purpose flour
02 -
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
03 -
½ cup warm water (around 105-110°F)
04 -
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
05 -
2 large eggs
06 -
¼ cup sugar
07 -
1 teaspoon sugar for yeast
08 -
2 teaspoons salt
09 -
Canola oil for frying
→ Sweet Glaze
10 -
½ cup whipping cream
11 -
1½ cups powdered sugar
12 -
Rainbow sprinkles for topping
→ Rainbow Pudding Filling
13 -
Rainbow coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
14 -
2½ cups prepared vanilla pudding
# Steps:
01 -
Mix your yeast with warm water and a teaspoon of sugar in your stand mixer bowl. Give it 10 minutes for the top to get foamy—this shows your yeast is alive and kicking.
02 -
Toss the salt, sugar, softened butter, flour, and beaten eggs into the yeast mixture. Use your dough hook attachment and knead everything for about 5 to 7 minutes on medium until it’s smooth and stretchy.
03 -
Cover up the mixing bowl with a towel or some plastic wrap. Leave it somewhere warm for an hour or until you see it puff up and double in size.
04 -
Sprinkle some flour on your counter and roll the dough out until it’s about ½-inch thick. Grab a cutter or glass (roughly 3 inches wide) and make as many circles as you can. Lay them on parchment paper.
05 -
Loosely cover the dough circles with a towel or plastic wrap. Leave them alone for 30 minutes so they rise a bit more.
06 -
While they’re resting, pour canola oil into a deep pan or Dutch oven and heat it to 350°F (around 175°C). Set up a plate with paper towels to soak up extra oil after frying.
07 -
Gently lower a couple of doughnuts into the hot oil. Don’t overcrowd them. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on both sides until golden brown. Take them out with a slotted spoon and drain on the towels. Repeat till all are done.
08 -
Scoop the vanilla pudding into six bowls. Add a different food color to each bowl (go for red to purple). Stir well. Transfer each colored pudding into its own piping bag, or put all colors into sections of one large piping bag for a swirly rainbow effect.
09 -
After the doughnuts have cooled a little, make a small hole in the side of each. Pipe in the pudding, either layering colors or squeezing multiple colors at once.
10 -
In a medium-sized bowl, mix the powdered sugar with whipping cream until it’s smooth and thick enough to pour. Add a bit more cream or sugar if needed to adjust the texture.
11 -
Dip each filled doughnut’s top into the glaze. Let any extra glaze drip off. Before it dries, sprinkle on rainbow sprinkles. Set the doughnuts on a cooling rack for 10 minutes so the glaze firms up.
# Notes:
01 -
These doughnuts are at their best the same day they’re made. The filling can make them softer later.
02 -
If making pudding from scratch isn’t your thing, instant pudding mix works just fine. Follow the package directions.
03 -
For a perfectly swirled rainbow filling, try combining the colored layers in a single piping bag like you’d do for multicolor frosting.