Donut Frosting Recipes

What's a donut without frosting?? But there are so many options when it comes to frosting. Chocolate, vanilla, just glaze, maple... we all have different opinions in this house!

What You Need:
For Glazed Donuts:
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp. milk

For Chocolate Ganache Icing:
1 cup whipping cream
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)
2 Tbsp. corn syrup (optional)

For Basic Cream Cheese Icing:
4 oz. (1/2 brick) Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Butter (at room temperature)
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. milk

Flavors:
Vanilla: 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
Maple: 1-2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
Chocolate (option 1): 1-2 Tbsp. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
Chocolate (option 2): 2 Tbsp. Melted Chocolate Chips
Chocolate (option 3): 2-3 Tbsp. cocoa powder + 2-3 Tbsp. milk
Peanut Butter: 2 Tbsp. Melted Peanut Butter
Coffee: 2 Tbsp brewed strong coffee
Mocha: 1 Tbsp. cocoa powder + 2 Tbsp. brewed strong coffee

Donut Glaze:

Glaze is the easiest way to sugar-up a donut. But there are a few things you need to remember. First and foremost... only glaze donuts when they're warm. If you do it when they've cooled the glaze just soaks in and get goopy.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the powdered sugar and milk until the glaze is runny, almost like maple syrup.

Drop the donut in, and use a fork to flip it so that both sides are coated with glaze.

Remove the donut to a cooling grid set over a cookie sheet or waxed paper to catch the drips.
The glaze will set up within five to ten minutes.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

The most chocolatey frosting you can make is chocolate ganache. This is the favorite in our house. Ganache isn't too hard to make. The hardest part is waiting the right amount of time so that it's not too runny.

Start with 1 cup of heavy cream + 2 Tbsp. corn syrup (optional). Combine those in a heatproof 2 cup measure, and microwave on high for 60-90 seconds, until bubbles just form around the edges of the liquid. Pour the hot cream over 8 oz. of chocolate (Any kind will do. I usually make my life easier and use chocolate chips.) Let that sit for about a minute.

Stir with a whisk or a fork. It will look weird and kind of separated at first-- like in this kind of bad photo above. That's okay, keep mixing.

Eventually, it will turn into this gorgeous chocolatey-ness. No, it really will!
You need to then refrigerate it for about 15-30 minutes, stirring often to check the thickness. I know that's a wide range of time, but it really depends on about 75 things. You want the consistency, when you use it on the donuts to be almost pudding-like. If it's too thin it will just run off of the donuts or soak in and get soggy.

But when it's right, it's sooooooo good!

Cream Cheese Frosting
Now, of course you could use just about any kind of icing you'd like on a donut. But I find that the cream cheese icing makes these homemade donuts that much more special.

Combine the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on medium-low speed until combined.

I divide my frosting then into bowls and thin them with either vanilla, maple syrup or chocolate syrup.
See all of my flavoring options above. You can really flavor the base of cream cheese, butter and sugar with just about anything your heart desires!!

You want the icing to be thick enough so that it's not pouring all over the place, but thin enough that it sticks to a warm donut when you dip the top in the icing.

Like this!

And then, of course, the toppings... you need sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, I even like pretzels or chili peppers! But I'll have more on those ideas tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Click the Links Below to See:
Homemade Healthy Donut Recipe
Easy Homemade Donut Recipe (using cake mix + flavors)
What's the best donut maker/ donut pan?
(Coming soon!) Crazy Donut Flavor Concoctions
(Coming soon!) "Donuts for Dads" segment on the local news

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