Doughnut Funfetti Ice Cream is two delicious desserts in one! This rich, creamy homemade ice cream is packed with lots of sprinkles and REAL doughnut pieces.
Happy National Doughnut Day! You know me—I never miss a chance to celebrate phony food holidays, especially when said holidays involve fried dough, sweet glaze, and lots of sprinkles. I mean, obviously, every day is National Doughnut Day in my heart, but it’s nice to give the humble doughnut some official recognition once a year.
(And by “official recognition,” I mean I saw this info on a random food holiday calendar online somewhere. Doesn’t get much more official than that!)
I love a good doughnut as much as the next girl, and I think they’re pretty much perfect without many fancy bells and whistles. HOWEVER. It’s summer, y’all! Temperatures are rising, my son is out of school, and I have the beginnings of a baby tan going on. I am in a perpetual ice cream mood, so I decided to combine some pretty pink doughnuts with freshly churned homemade ice cream to make the ultimate summer dessert. Want to take your presentation to a whole new level? Try serving this ice cream in a Chocolate Bowl!
I found it very helpful to use a candy thermometer while making the custard for the ice cream. If you are new to using a thermometer, check out my guides for how to use a thermometer and how to test and calibrate a thermometer correctly.
If you’re looking for more go-to summer treats, don’t forget to check out this AMAZING German Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream and these unique and fun Cannoli Cones.
The doughnuts in this case were your standard yeast pink-glazed ones from a bakery. You definitely CAN make your own doughnuts for this recipe, but considering the fact you’ll only need 1 large one for the ice cream, it seems like your time could be better spent working on that baby tan than making a whole batch of doughnuts. So hit your local doughnut spot, grab one for the ice cream, a few more for luck (and snacking), and don’t forget the baby doughnuts to put on top, if you want your ice cream to be extra adorbs.
Here is the secret for getting that doughnut/funfetti flavor in the ice cream itself: Lor-Ann’s Princess Cake and Cookie Bakery Emulsion. I know that’s a mouthful of a name. Basically, it’s a flavoring emulsion that tastes like the cakes and cookies you get from a bakery. Which is to say, it tastes like clouds and unicorns and pixie dust and little fluffy bites of heaven. If I were trying to be more specific, I might say that it tastes like a mix of vanilla, almond, and maybe lemon extracts, but really, it’s impossible to fully describe. I use it for many of my cakes and sometimes my buttercream, and it gives them a wonderful depth of flavor that vanilla just can’t match.
You can buy the Princess flavoring online (Amazon, holla!) or get it from many cake/candy supply stores—basically wherever Lor-Ann extracts are sold. I’ve also sometimes seen it at TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, and similar. Of course the Princess flavoring is optional, and you can substitute just vanilla (or a mix of vanilla, almond, and lemon if you’d like).
So let’s recap. You have your chunks of doughnut mixed into the ice cream—yum. You have your Princess flavoring—delish. You have your sprinkles stirred throughout the batch—yesssss! All that’s left is to dish up big scoops of ice cream, and top each cup with an adorable miniature doughnut! Then devour.
Wishing you a happy National Doughnut Day. May you celebrate with a doughnut in each hand, and one in your mouth. Cheers.
🍦More Ice Cream Recipes
- Circus Animal Ice Cream (No-Churn)
- Lemon Sour Cherry Ice Cream
- Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream
- Peach Honey Ice Cream With Lemon Verbena
- No-Churn Peach Ice Cream
Chocolate Bowls
Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cups
Doughnut Funfetti Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 12 oz milk (1½ cups)
- 12 oz heavy cream (1½ cups)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 tsp Princess Cake; Cookie Bakery Emulsion see Note below
- 1 large frosted doughnut cut into small pieces
- 2 TBSP assorted sprinkles of your choice
Instructions
- Combine the milk, cream, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan, and place the pan over medium heat. Whisk occasionally as the milk heats up. While you’re waiting for the milk to come to a simmer, place the yolks in a medium bowl and whisk them to break them up.
- Once the milk comes to a simmer, remove the pan from the heat and whisk the egg yolks while you slowly pour in about a third of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs heat up but don’t cook during the process.
- Now return the saucepan to the heat and start whisking the milk while you pour in the hot egg mixture. Continue to whisk as the custard cooks, and cook it until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. If you want to use a candy/deep fry thermometer, you’re shooting for 175 F (80C).
- Take the pan from the heat and strain the ice cream custard through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl or container. Add the Princess Cake & Cookie emulsion and whisk it in. Continue to whisk occasionally as it cools, and once at room temperature, press a layer of cling wrap on top of the custard and refrigerate it until it’s completely chilled. (To speed up the process, you can place the bowl over an ice bath and whisk it as it cools down.) The custard can be made several days in advance and kept in the refrigerator until you’re ready to churn it.
- Churn the custard according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. When the ice cream is almost finished churning, and has a soft-serve consistency, add the doughnut pieces and sprinkles, and mix just enough to get them well-distributed. At this point, you can serve the ice cream, but it will be very soft. If you have time, I recommend packing it into an ice cream container, plastic container, or loaf pan and freezing it for an hour to help it firm up and become more scoopable. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
This is adorable! Where did you get the cups and spoons?!
Thank you so much. I got them at Target but it was about two years ago so it might not still be around. Sorry about that, good luck!