Milk Cream Donut Recipe: Tips On How To Prepare a Delicious Milk Cream Donuts

After falling into the deep hole of Youtube-recommended videos, I came across many videos about milk cream donuts. First of all, I was attracted to the amount of cream in this donut, at first glance thinking it was an obscene amount, and then slowly being mesmerized. After making them and eating them… I am a full believer and worshiper. Whoever invented these delicious donuts deserves an award. I watched a bunch of ASMR videos where the camera will lead you into the kitchen of this dessert shop, you watch as they create this huge mass of dough, roll and form it into donuts, proof them, deep fry them, and then stuff them to the absolute brim with this wonderful whipped cream that looks like a marshmallowy meringue.

I did a lot of research into this magical cream — the texture did not look like plain 35% fat whipped cream. It didn’t have the same colour, give, or texture, it resembled meringue much more. I imagined eating a donut with this much meringue wouldn’t be very good, especially because meringue can often be a little sweet. I couldn’t accept that people would be eating this large amount of cream if it was secretly meringue, yet called a milk cream donut… so I dove further into my research. I looked up all many different ways to stabilize whipped cream. I used plain whipping cream countless times in pastry school, but we never stabilized it. We just left it as is — a time bomb. There have been times where I piped whipped cream for an order, they picked up the cake late, and the whipped cream was no longer in its pristine stiff peaks. Working with whipped cream can sometimes be a disaster, structurally.

I’ve read that you could stabilize whipping cream with powdered skim milk here, although I didn’t try to because I don’t have milk powder on hand, but I did grow up eating a lot of skim milk powder, and I imagine adding it to whipped cream would take away from the freshness and pure delicate flavour of whipped cream. I tossed that plan out of the window. I read that you could stabilize whipped cream with gelatin, which I first got the idea from the meringue-like texture of the Korean milk cream, which made me think of marshmallows, which made me think of gelatin, which was further proved by the countless blog posts on the internet about using gelatin to stabilize the cream. While I am very happy with how my milk cream donuts came out, I am still convinced the milk cream used in those bakeries is a totally different cream. I came across a forum that said they use something like “Ever-Whip”, which is an already stabilized whipped cream topping.

Defeated and not willing to venture out into the world of hard-to-find, manufactured, whipped cream topping, I stuck with 35% fat whipping cream and added a little powdered sugar and gelatin. The result… delicious. Even until the next day. The dough that I made generated donuts that were small and mighty. Dense yet fluffy, chewy, pillowy, and crisp on the outside. A little sweet, and packed with flavour, these donuts are a dream on their own. Add the whipped cream and it is just too good to be true.

Here is the recipe below.

1. Add the bread flour, salt, half the sugar, and instant yeast to a mixing bowl with a hook attachment. Add the milk and the egg, and mix on low speed for 5 minutes to combine.
2. Turn the speed up to second, and mix for 8 minutes to develop the gluten. Add butter in small chunks on low speed, and the second half of sugar. Turn back to second speed and mix for another 4-8 minutes or until the dough comes clean off the sides of the bowl.
3. Round up the dough and place into a floured medium bowl, and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap to let the dough rise for 1 hour at room temperature or until doubled in size.
4. After the dough has risen, we can dump it out onto a clean work surface dusted in more flour, flatten out the dough and remove excess air, roll it out, fold into 3 panels, and roll again until your dough is about 12″x4″ and 1/3″ thick. Cut out 12 two inch circles, and place onto a floured tray.
5. Place that tray into a turned off oven with a mug of hot water and close the door, allowing the donuts to proof for 45 minutes to double in size. You can check if it’s ready by poking the dough and seeing if it leaves an indent.
6. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot or high-sided skillet with about 2 inches of canola oil to 325F/163C.
7. Place the donuts into the oil carefully and allow it to fry on one side for 2-3 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Flip and cook for another 1-2 or until golden browned. Drain on a wire rack and let the donuts cool completely.

For the Cream

1. Bloom the gelatin sheets in enough cold water to cover it, let it sit for 5 minutes or until softened. If using granulated gelatin, sprinkle over the cold water to bloom and set aside until fully absorbed.
2. Transfer to a heat proof bowl, and add 1 tbsp water (15g), and microwave for 10-15 seconds on full power or until the gelatin has just dissolved in the water. Set aside to cool.
3. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer and a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream with the powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Slowly pour in the cooled gelatin liquid while mixing on low to incorporate the gelatin. Whip the cream until it reaches stiff peaks.

To Assemble the Donut

1. Cut the cooled donut in half using a serrated knife — do not completely sever the donut in two.
2. Drizzle condensed milk over the bottom half of the donut.
3. Open the donut about 120 degrees, and fill with cream, then smooth it over. Repeat until all are filled.
4. Dust the donuts in icing sugar and serve chilled.