We’ve made several kinds of homemade donuts before, but we mostly chose them for flavour and or kept them pretty simple just to get that nice, homemade “old fashioned” style taste. The last time we made them, however, our kids begged us to get the cookie and cake decorating stuff out and to help them liven the donuts up a little! Now they’ve got us hooked on the idea of look up all kinds of awesome donut decor inspiration and concepts.
Just in case you love the idea of making and decorating your own unique, fun looking donuts just as much as we do, if not more, here are 15 adorable and totally scrumptious tutorials that will help get your creative cogs turning!
1. How to make brightly coloured donut glaze
To get you started off, here’s a fantastic tutorial from A Subtle Revelry for making awesomely pigmented brightly coloured icing that still tastes like sweet, light donut glaze rather than thicker cake icing! We love the way they outlined different hues and shades of some of the same colours in order to help you make pastel versions of your favourite colours too.
2. DIY unicorn donuts
Just in case you were hoping for a whole concept and the guidance to make it but you also wanted it to be something totally trendy that your kids will adore, here’s a fantastic tutorial from Popsugar that guides you step by step through the process of turning your donuts into adorable unicorns! We adore their technique for making the horns metallic gold, just for a bit of extra sparkle.
3. Edible spray paint donuts
If you’ve never worked with edible spray paint before then we’re sorry to tell you that you’ve been missing out on a whole lot of fun! Check out how Aww Sam made these fantastic donuts that look like pastel rainbows happen using this particular kind of confectioners tool that’s actually way simpler to use than you might think. We love the way the colours blend together!
4. Bourbon sugar French toast donuts
Okay, we know this particular post is actually supposed to be about fancy donut decor, but we simply couldn’t get over the fantastic flavour in this recipe from Sweet Peas and Saffron! Check out how they made these wonderful bourbon sugar French toast donuts with a deliciously sugared outside.
5. Coconut cake donuts
Sometimes in donut land, part of the recipe also acts as decor because it’s just so fantastic! That’s precisely the case with these fragrant, delicious, and satisfyingly dense coconut cake donuts outlined step by step on Will Cook for Smiles. They taste summery and tropical but they almost look like little snowballs thanks to the shredded coconut topping!
6. Coffee cake donuts
Are you the kind of baked goods lover who enjoys things most when they’re made like a combination recipe to harness the great flavour of another favourite sweet of yours too? In that case, we’d absolutely suggest taking a look at how Baker by Nature made these fantastic donuts that look and taste like coffee cake, complete with the classic vanilla drizzle!
7. Maple bacon donuts
When we first heard that people were beginning to put bacon on donuts, we were completely baffled and admittedly a little wary. Don’t get us wrong, we completely adore bacon, but we’d never tried it with anything sweet before. Then we took our first bite of an experimental batch we made using this tutorial from Wonky Wonderful and we could not believe our tastebuds! These donuts are why trying new things is a fantastic idea.
8. Over the rainbow donuts
Did we really catch your attention with the colourful edible spray paint donuts because you know your kids adore colours but you can’t help wondering whether there’s a guide out there that will help you make donuts that actually look like rainbows, rather than just being colourful like them? Then we think you simply must take a look at the way Club Crafted made these fantastic rainbow iced donuts complete with little clouds!
9. Ombre strawberry lemonade donuts
Just in case you’re still debating whether you want to concentrate on flavour or decor in your next donut recipe, here’s one that has a little bit of both! We adore the way this lovely glazed treat from Creme de la Crumb not only tastes like sweet strawberries but also has a lovely ombre effect started at white on top with the sugar and glaze and ending in a lovely bright pink on the bottom.
10. Summer fruit donuts
Are you actually feeling really confident in your donut icing skills so you’re looking for something that’s a little more challenging than some of the decorative designs you’ve seen so far? In that case, we’d absolutely suggest trying your hand at this tutorial outlined on Aww Sam that teaches you how to make your donuts look like all kinds of adorable summer fruits!
11. Marbled donuts
Have you been thinking a lot about the way the colours in the spray paint donuts tutorial kind of blended together but you can’t help wondering whether there might be a decorating technique out there that will blend the colours a little more intentionally for a cool effect? In that case, we’d definitely suggest taking a look at how Club Crafted made these fantastic marbled donuts!
12. Graphic letter donuts
Now that you’ve mastered the art of making brightly pigmented donut glaze, would you like to try your hand at adding some kind of simple decor that will contrast well with those pigmented shades? In that case, we’d definitely suggest taking a look at how Studio DIY made these fantastically bright donuts that feature little black fondant block letters for easy statement sayings!
13. Cactus donuts
Honestly, we never knew that cactus donuts were something we really needed in our lives until we saw these positively adorable DIY treats outlined step by step on Aww Sam! Their tutorial shows you how to get green icing that’s precisely the right colour, as well as how to use white sprinkles to make the spikes and fondant to make adorable little flowers, just like real cacti have.
14. Cotton candy donuts
We’ve always loved cotton candy. We love the colours, the taste, the smell, and anything else that tastes or smells like it too! We’re sure you can imagine, then, just how excited we were to come across this fantastic tutorial from Studio DIY that guides you step by step through the process of making cotton candy donuts that- we couldn’t believe our eyes- actually have real cotton candy on top!
15. Fried egg donuts
What if you’ve been scrolling through our list and thinking about how you’re really like to make a donut design that looks like something cute and kitschy but you’re actually a beginner at all of this, so you’d like to keep things as easy as possible as well? In that case, we think you simply must take a look at how Club Crafted made simple white glazed donuts but used yellow jawbreakers (you could also use a gum ball) popped in the centre to make them look like fried eggs!
