Looking for the ultimate homemade doughnut recipe with a unique twist? These Chocolate Chai Spiced Crème Diplomat filled doughnuts are soft, fluffy, and bursting with flavour in every bite. The rich, silky crème diplomat is a lightened-up pastry cream infused with warm chai spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and clove, plus a touch of decadent chocolate. It’s the perfect balance of cosy and indulgent, all wrapped up in a golden, deep-fried doughnut. Whether you’re craving something sweet for a weekend brunch or want to impress guests with a next-level dessert, these filled doughnuts are a must-try!
Ingredient:
Doughnuts
500g Strong White Flour
50g Caster Sugar
50g Soften Butter
250ml Milk
7g Fast Action Yeast
10g Salt
2 x Eggs
Chai Spiced Sugar:
150g Caster Sugar
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Ground Cardamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves
Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat:
4 x Egg Yolks
65g Caster Sugar
15g Plain Flour
18g Cocoa Powder
25g Cornflour
200g Dark Chocolate
350ml Whole Milk
1 x Vanilla Bean
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Ground Cardamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves
100g Double Cream
25g Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract/Vanilla Bean Paste
1. Heat the milk in a pan on medium heat until the milk starts to simmer, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Then, in a large mixing bowl, add the flour, caster sugar, softened butter, eggs, yeast and salt (keep the salt away from the yeast) and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
2. Next, add the milk (which should be around body temperature) and mix using a stand mixer with a hook attachment. A dough should start to form after 5 minutes of kneading.
3. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic; it should take another 5-7 minutes of kneading. If kneading by hand, a dough scraper can be used to help knead the dough, as this is a sticky dough. You can tell the dough is ready when it becomes elastic, smooth and slightly shiny.
4. Leave the dough to prove and double in size. This will take about 1 to 1 ½ hours or you can prove the dough overnight in the fridge and this will make the dough easier to handle.
5. While the dough is proving, make the Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat Crème Patisserie (which will be used later to make the Crème Diplomat) by adding the whole milk, ground cardamon, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground clove and ground nutmeg into a pan. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the vanilla seeds out and place into the pan along with the pod. Heat the mixture till it starts to simmer. Once the mixture has simmered, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
6. While the milk mixture is infusing, in a bowl, add the egg yolks, caster sugar, plain flour, cocoa powder and cornflour. Whisk until the mixture becomes airy and lighter in colour (ribbon stage).
7. Once the milk mixture has cooled, slowly add around 1/3 through a sieve into the egg yolk mixture while whisking continuously. This tempers the egg yolk mixture, preventing it from scrambling. Once combined, add the rest of the milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture and mix.
8. Pour the mixture back into the pan. Turn the heat on to medium and continuously mix the Crème Patisserie mixture until it starts to thicken, then remove from the heat.
9. Place the mixture into a clean bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Next, add the broken pieces of dark chocolate to the Crème Patisserie. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted into the Crème Patissière.
10. Cover the bowl with cling film, ensuring the cling film is touching the Crème Patisserie. This will prevent a skin from forming. Chill the Crème Patissière in the fridge.
11. Now that the dough has proved and doubled in size, tip the dough onto a floured work surface, and knock back the dough; this will remove any large air bubbles in the dough.
12. Next, roll the dough out into a large circle with a thickness of 1 inch.
13. With a 3-inch round cutter, punch out the doughnuts and carefully pull away the excess dough. The excess dough can be formed back together, re-rolled to an inch thick and more doughnuts can be punched out.
14. I placed my doughnuts on small parchment paper squares to make them easier to move into the fryer for later. Cover the cutout doughnuts with a damp tea towel and allow to prove for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
15. To make the Chai Spiced Sugar, add the caster sugar, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground clove and ground nutmeg in a bowl and mix.
16. Around 30 minutes into the doughnuts’ proving time, fill the deep fat fryer with vegetable oil or a neutral oil and set the temperature to 170C. If you do not have a deep-fat fryer, use a heavy-based saucepan and heat. Use a candy thermometer or digital thermometer to monitor the temperature.
17. After 40 minutes, the Doughnuts should have doubled in size.
18. Once the oil has reached the right temperature, slowly and carefully place the Doughnuts into the deep fat fryer (I put 2 at a time in the fryer, don’t add too many, as this will lower the temperature of the oil). Fry the Doughnuts for 5-8 minutes, then at around 3 minutes into the frying time, the Doughnuts should flip over and start frying on the other side. If this doesn’t happen, just flip the Doughnuts. You can tell the Doughnuts are done when they are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap the top of the Doughnuts with a fork.
19. Remove the Doughnuts from the fryer and place them on a baking tray with some kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
20. Once the doughnuts have cooled a little, while still warm, place the Doughnuts into the Chai Spiced Sugar and cover the Doughnuts in the sugar.
21. Leave the sugar-coated doughnuts to cool.
22. While the doughnuts are cooling, to finish the Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat, we need to make a Chantilly Cream. In a bowl, add the double cream, vanilla bean paste/vanilla extract and icing sugar. Whisk until you get soft peaks.
23. Remove the cooled Crème Patissière from the fridge and whisk. This willl make the Crème Patissière easier to work with for when we need to fold in the Chantilly Cream.
24. Add a bit of the Chantilly Cream into the Crème Patissière and whisk until everything is incorporated. Ensure all the Chantilly Cream has been mixed in.
25. Then add the remaining Chantilly Cream into the Crème Patissière and fold. Keep folding the mixture until there are no white streaks in the mixture. We have now made the Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat.
26. With a sharp knife, cut a small hole in the Doughnuts.
27. Transfer the Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2M Star Tip. Pipe the Chocolate Chai Crème Diplomat into the Doughnuts. You will notice the doughnuts will get heavier as the Crème Diplomat is piped into the doughnuts.
Here are some other Doughnut recipes you might want to check out!
