Friends, I can’t wait for you to try my newest flavor of Brioche Doughnuts with Passion Fruit Cream Filling. Deliciously tender rounds of fried brioche are rolled in glittering sugar and stuffed with a sweet-tart cream for an over-the-top breakfast pastry experience!
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Light and fluffy brioche doughnuts are always a weekend dream come true for Calvin and me, and these passion fruit cream-filled babies are no exception. Made with a tropically flavored sweet-tart curd-laced whipped cream, they are just in time for summer weather.
If you’re new to brioche, I can confidently say you’re in for a real treat. The dough is enriched with both eggs and butter, which yields a supremely tender crumb and deliciously rich flavor. In fact, it’s also the basis for my strawberry bavarian cream donuts and my classic raspberry pecan babka.
Once you master the traditional recipe for this French bread dough, you can use it to make everything from hamburger and hot dog buns to delectable bread puddings and the most sublime french toast you can imagine.
The homemade passion fruit curd is also a real game-changer. It takes just about 20 minutes to make and uses only 5 ingredients including passion fruit puree, but its tropical flavor knows no limits! You’ll want to spread it on your morning toast, swirl it into yogurt, pour it over ice cream, and flavor your buttercream with it, just to name a few things. I can also guarantee it makes for a delicious donut filling when folded into pillowy clouds of whipped cream. YUM!
🍴Ingredients
Despite being something of a lengthy and moderately challenging recipe, these passion fruit cream-filled brioche doughnuts require fewer than 10 ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:
For the brioche doughnuts you’ll need:
- Granulated Sugar - You surprisingly don’t need much sugar for the actual brioche dough, just enough to feed the yeast and bring it out of hibernation. Save a little extra for giving your donuts some sparkle.
- Active Dry Yeast - Yeast is a living organism, so you’ll need to proof it before starting to make sure it is still viable. Store your yeast in the freezer to extend its shelf life.
- All-Purpose Flour - This is the best option for the lightest, fluffiest doughnuts, so try not to replace it.
- Eggs - You’ll need plenty of eggs for the brioche donut dough and homemade passionfruit curd to make the cream filling. Make sure they’re at room temp for the easiest incorporation.
- Salt - Salt can actually kill the yeast if it is too high of a concentration, so make sure to not add it to the mix until you’ve added the AP flour as a buffer first.
- Unsalted Butter - Look for butter that is labeled organic, grass-fed, and/or cultured for the best flavor.
- Neutral Oil - Any neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point is great for frying donuts. I suggest using canola oil or palm oil (sustainably sourced, of course!) or canola oil, but peanut, vegetable, corn, or grapeseed oil will all do the trick. Head on over to my guide for choosing the right oil to fry donuts for more information!
To make the passion fruit cream filling you’ll need:
- Passion Fruit Curd - Have you heard the news? Curd isn’t just for lemons! Make this simple homemade passion fruit curd recipe with just 5 ingredients and about 20 minutes of effort.
- Heavy Whipping Cream - With a minimum fat content of 36%, heavy cream (known as “double cream” across the pond) is the best and literally creamiest option here. If necessary, you can swap in whipping cream, which clocks in between 30-36% fat.
⚒️ Equipment
As I mentioned earlier, this brioche donut recipe is a bit of a commitment. These three pieces of equipment will make your life a LOT easier:
- Mixer with Paddle Attachment and Whisk - Making brioche dough requires quite a bit of kneading and whipping cream takes a lot of mixing to get it nice and fluffy. Give your arms a break with a little electronic assistance!
- Small Fryer - I've recently fallen in love with this little fryer. It doesn't take up too much space in the kitchen and it allows me to fry at a consistent temperature. This is completely optional - a sturdy dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot to hold your oil in will work as well! Jump down to the FAQs to learn more.
- Pastry Bag and Tip - Filling donuts with passion fruit cream can be a messy affair if you don’t have the right tools. In a pinch, you can swap in a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off or make a pastry bag using parchment paper.
📖 How To Make Brioche Doughnuts with Passion Fruit Cream Filling
While I always recommend you read a recipe all the way through before starting any kitchen project, this one looks a bit more daunting than it actually is. Remember that you’ll be spacing out the work over at least 2 days (3, if you make your passion fruit curd well in advance).
Also, a lot of the time that the recipe takes is just spent waiting, so it’s not like you’ll be slaving away in the kitchen all weekend long. If you start to feel overwhelmed, take a deep breath, follow along with my step-by-step photos and instructions, and remember: you’re just making donuts, not performing surgery!
Make Brioche Donuts
Step 1: Proof Yeast. Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast together in your stand mixer’s mixing bowl. Let this mixture rest undisturbed for 5-10 minutes until you start to see bubbles start to form on the surface.
Step 2: Knead Dough. Add the flour and eggs to the active yeast mixture using the paddle attachment. After one minute of mixing on medium speed, the ingredients should be well combined. At this point, switch to using the dough hook attachment and knead for 6-8 minutes before adding salt and butter one tablespoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook for another 5-8 minutes until the dough looks smooth and glossy and you notice that the dough is not sticking to the sides of the bowl and passes the window pane test. This means that your dough has been well developed and we can stop mixing.
Step 3: First rise & overnight rest. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to proof for 1.5 to 2 hours covered in plastic wrap. You’re looking for the dough to have about doubled in size before moving on to the next step. If your kitchen tends to run quite cold, try to find a warm spot to leave the dough for this resting period. Then, remove the plastic wrap, and degas (that’s de-gas, as in remove the gas, not Degas, the French painter) the dough by punching it down before recovering and placing in the fridge overnight. This overnight rest of about 12-14 hours is essential in order to develop flavor as the dough continues to ferment slowly within low temperatures.
Step 4: Shape & second rise. After the dough has rested overnight, it’s time to start shaping! Divide your dough using a sharp knife or a bench scraper into even 65-gram pieces. Gently degas each piece by pressing on top of the ball with the heel of your hand before forming into a tight boule. Place each piece of dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray that has been sprayed with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit undisturbed in a warm spot to proof until they have doubled in size for about 1.5 -2 hours.
Step 5: Fry Prep. Approximately twenty minutes before the doughnuts have finished their final proof, it’s time to start heating your frying oil! Grab a large Dutch oven or your preferred container for frying. Add the oil, ensuring that you have at least 3 inches of height from the bottom of the Dutch oven to the top of the oil. Turning the stove on medium-high, heat the oil to 340° F. Place sugar on a plate for tossing the donuts after they’ve fried.
Step 6: Fry time! I always do a “test” doughnut before moving on to the remaining doughnuts. Fry the test doughnut for 2-3 minutes on each side before removing it from the oil with a slotted spoon and placing it on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Then, coat in sugar before letting cool completely. Continue this process by gently dropping four pieces of proofed dough into the oil at a time, making sure not to crowd the doughnuts too much! Make sure to check the temperature of the oil after each batch, in case you need to reheat the oil back to 340° F.
Make Passion Fruit Cream Filling
Step 1: Make Passion Fruit Curd. Hop on over to my post to learn all the tips & tricks for making the perfect sweet, tart, and velvety homemade curd.
Make-Ahead Tip: Passion fruit curd will keep covered in the fridge for up to a month!
Step 2: Make Cream Filling. Whip heavy cream until you've reached soft peaks, then fold gently into your chilled passion fruit curd. Continue to gently fold the two ingredients together until they are homogenous and set aside for assembly.
Fill Doughnuts
Pierce the doughnut with the tip of the piping bag (or use a knife to assist if you’re using a homemade piping bag) and fill the center of the doughnut until it feels heavy. Add a dollop of passion fruit pulp as garnish. Repeat with remaining donuts. Enjoy!
⏲️ Substitutions & Variations
While these brioche doughnuts filled with passion fruit cream filling are spectacular, there are always plenty of ways to switch things up to work with your own flavor preferences or ingredient limitations. Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning:
- Try a different curd. Folding curd into freshly whipped cream is one of the quickest ways to level up your donut-filling game. Instead of using passion fruit, try making lemon, lime, grapefruit, rhubarb, or cranberry curd. It’ll work with any tart fruit you can think of! You can also add an extra layer of flavor to your curds by adding aromatic ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, or mint.
- Keep it simple with vanilla whipped cream. Vanilla cream donuts are a classic for a reason: they’re amazing! If you go this route, try using vanilla paste instead of extract in your whipped cream; the tiny black flecks are supremely attractive.
- Flavor your sugar. Pulverize freeze-dried fruit to add a bit of color, or use citrus zest or even flavor extracts to add another dimension of taste to your doughnuts.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Make your homemade passion fruit curd well ahead of time. It’ll need at least 3 hours of chilling time to be able to make the passion fruit cream filling, but it can be stored in the fridge for up to a month!
- Eat ‘em while they’re fresh! Technically, you can store unfilled doughnuts in an air-tight container in a dry, cool space for up to three days. This being said, I would highly recommend baking and enjoying these passion fruit cream-filled brioche doughnuts rather promptly after frying! Doughnuts are best straight from the fryer as they can dry out quite quickly.
- Don’t forget to proof your yeast. If the yeast/water/sugar mixture doesn’t start bubbling and foaming within 10-15 minutes, your yeast is dead. Don’t make the mistake of forging ahead anyway; the brioche dough will end up hard as a rock.
- DON’T skip the overnight rest. The dough continues to ferment slowly overnight within the low temperatures, which is essential to developing flavor.
- Use either an electric fryer ~or~ a thermometer to consistently check the oil’s temperature. It can raise and lower as you move through the frying process. Keep a close eye on the temperature to ensure it stays at 340ºF for even and consistent doughnuts.
- Be prepared before you start frying! After the second rise, this recipe moves quickly, so have your thermometer, a plate lined with paper towels, and your sugar coating ready before you begin frying.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Not at all, though it does help with temperature regulation. That said, you can totally make it work with a heavy-bottomed dutch oven so long as you have a thermometer.
If you’re new to frying, you may not realize that adding dough to your hot oil will cause the temperature to dip. Make sure you keep your oil at a nice, steady 340F to prevent either soggy donuts (from too low temps) or burned ones with raw interiors (from too high temps).
The primary difference is that yeast donuts use yeast, while cake donuts are made using a cake-like batter that relies on baking powder or soda for leavening. Most often, I bake my cake donuts rather than frying them, but these old-fashioned donuts are a great example of when they’re fried.
Unlike my many recipes for baked donuts, I always prefer to fry my brioche doughnuts for superior flavor and texture. While this recipe for yeasted brioche donuts does take quite a while to execute (you’ll need an overnight rise for the dough), I guarantee the results are worth it.
More Filled Doughnut Recipes
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Passion Fruit Cream Brioche Doughnuts
Equipment
- Piping Tip & Bag
- Slotted Spoon
Ingredients
Brioche Doughnuts
- ¾ Cup (175 g) Warm Water
- ¼ Cup (50 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- 3 ¾ Cup (500 g) All-Purpose flour
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ Cup + 1 Tablespoon (100 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 2 liters Palm or Canola oil, for frying
- ½ Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar, for coating doughnuts
Passion Fruit Curd
- ½ Cup (135 g) Passion Fruit Puree, about 8 passion fruits
- 4 (72 g) Egg Yolks
- ⅔ Cup (135 g) Granulated Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ⅔ Cup (150 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
Passion Fruit Cream
- 1 ½ Cups (360 g) Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 ½ Cups (360 g) Passion Fruit Curd
- Passion Fruit Pulp, for garnish
Instructions
Brioche Doughnuts
- Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast together in your stand mixer’s mixing bowl. Let this mixture rest undisturbed for 5-10 minutes until you start to see bubbles start to form on the surface.¾ Cup Warm Water, ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar, 1 teaspoon Active dry yeast
- Add your lemon zest, flour, and eggs to the active yeast mixture using the paddle attachment. After one minute of mixing on medium speed, the ingredients should be well combined. At this point, switch to using the dough hook attachment and knead for 6-8 minutes before adding salt and butter one tablespoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook for another 5-8 minutes until the dough looks smooth and glossy and you notice that the dough is not sticking to the sides of the bowl. This means that your dough has been well developed and we can stop mixing.1 teaspoon Lemon Zest, 3 ¾ Cup All-Purpose flour, 3 Large Eggs, 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt, ⅓ Cup + 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to proof for 1.5 to 2 hours covered in plastic wrap. You’re looking for the dough to have about doubled in size before moving on to the next step. If your kitchen tends to run quite cold, try to find a warm spot to leave the dough for this resting period. Then, remove the plastic wrap, and degas the dough by punching it down before recovering and placing in the fridge overnight. This overnight rest of about 12-14 hours is essential in order to develop flavor as the dough continues to ferment slowly within low temperatures.
- After the dough has rested overnight – it’s time to start shaping! Divide your dough using a sharp knife or a bench scraper into 65 gram even pieces. Gently degas each piece by pressing on top of the ball with the heel of your hand before forming into a tight boule. Place each piece of dough onto a parchment lined baking tray where the parchment has been lightly sprayed with baking spray and cover with plastic wrap that has also been sprayed ( so the plastic wrap doesn't stick to the dough). Let the dough sit undisturbed in a warm spot to proof until they have doubled in size for about 1.5-2 hours.
- Approximately twenty minutes before the doughnuts have finished their final proof, it’s time to start heating your frying oil! Grab a large Dutch oven or your preferred container for frying. Add the oil, ensuring that you have at least 3 inches of height from the bottom of the Dutch oven to the top of the oil. Turning the stove on medium-high, heat the oil to 340° F. Prepare your sugar while the oil is heating – add sugar and mix to combine.2 liters Palm or Canola oil, ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
- I always do a “test” doughnut before moving on to the remaining doughnuts. Fry the test doughnut for 2-3 minutes on each side before removing from the oil with a slotted spoon and placing on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Then, coat in sugar before letting cool completely. Continue this process by gently dropping four pieces of proofed dough into the oil at a time, making sure not to crowd the doughnuts too much! Make sure to check the temperature of the oil after each batch, in case you need to reheat the oil back to 340° F.
Passion Fruit Curd
- Slice the passion fruits in half and scoop out the pulp.½ Cup Passion Fruit Puree
- Add the passion fruit pulp to a bowl and vigorously whisk or use food processor and pulse 1-2 times - this helps to separate the seeds. Make sure you don't process the pulp too much, otherwise the seeds will start to break down which we don't want.
- Then, strain the pulp through a fine sieve to remove the seeds using a spatula to help.
- Add the egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and whisk together for a minute or two. You'll notice that the two ingredients will start lightening in color, creating a light, pale yellow. Then, add salt and passion fruit puree mixing to combine.4 Egg Yolks, ⅔ Cup Granulated Sugar, ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
- Add mixed ingredients into a saucepan, and whisk while cooking on medium until thickened and starts to boil. This should take about 5-7 minutes total.
- Strain the curd through your fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and add your unsalted butter, mixing with a spatula until melted and combined.⅔ Cup Unsalted Butter
- Pour curd into a container and press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd. Place in the fridge until chilled before using - this should take about 2-3 hours to cool completely.
Passion Fruit Cream
- Whip heavy cream until you've reached soft peaks, then fold gently into your chilled passion fruit curd. Continue to gently fold the two ingredients together until they are homogenous and set aside for assembly!1 ½ Cups Heavy Whipping Cream, 1 ½ Cups Passion Fruit Curd
Assembling Doughnuts
- Fill a piping bag with your passion fruit cream. Pierce the doughnut with the tip of the piping bag and fill the center of the doughnut with the cream. Add a bit of passion fruit pulp on top and enjoy!Passion Fruit Pulp
Kaylee
In step 6, the recipe says to coat them in cardamom sugar, but there’s no cardamom in the ingredient list. When does that come in or did you mean to remove that? Because it sounds good and I kind of want to try it lol
Emily Laurae
Thanks for your comment Kaylee! I use a cardamom sugar to coat my blackberry brioche doughnuts, also on the site - apologies for the confusion! You can certainly add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom into your coating sugar for some extra flavor on these passion cream donuts - that sounds amazing!
Lucia
I made these and oh my god !!! They exceeded my expectations, just WOW!! I'm not gonna lie they were a few moments I thought I was messing everything up but I trusted the process and they ended up so so good. The brioche dough was fluffy, airy and I believe the overnight rest gave them the flavour as said in the recipe ! The filling was so easy to make and so tasty. It complimented well the doughnut.
Overall one of the best recipes I've tried, I most definitely will make these again !
Emily
Thanks so much for sharing your review and experience Lucia! So glad to hear you enjoyed them so much!
Marija
The absolute best donut recipe. I’ve tried it this weekend and I can tell for sure this donuts were the best I’ve ever tasted!
Emily
I'm so happy to hear that they were such a hit!! Thanks for sharing Marija!