Ingredients You’ll Need

All-Purpose Flour – This is the best choice of flour to use for these donuts. Most baked donuts call for cake flour, but this recipe is already so soft and tender that anything else will cause them to fall apart.
Granulated Sugar – An essential ingredient in donuts! The high sugar content in this recipe is what also contributes to dough being so soft and fluffy.
Baking Powder – Baking powder is what makes these donuts rise, since they are not made with yeast like a typical fried donut.
Salt – Just a little bit to balance out the sweetness.
Eggs – I like to use large organic eggs when I bake.
Milk – Full fat whole milk is best for this recipe.
Butter – I like to use unsalted butter when I bake, this way I can control the amount of salt in the recipe.
Cotton Candy Flavor – I use LorAnn’s Cotton Candy Super-Strength Flavor in the donut as well as the glaze. This ingredient is key in giving the donuts that lighter than air flavor. You can use LorAnn’s Super Strength Flavors in all your favorite baked goods, like cookies, cakes, frostings and even ice cream! The possibilities are endless!
Vanilla Extract – I use LorAnn’s Organic Madagascar Double Strength Vanilla Extract. The vanilla helps to balance out all of the flavors in this donut.
Powdered Sugar – This sugar is best for the glaze since it dissolves easily and won’t stay grainy like other sugars.
Gel Food Coloring – The galaxy glaze is the real star of this recipe, and in order to get that effect you need to use highly concentrated gel colors for the icing. I used LorAnn’s NEW Liquid Gel Coloring to get those deep and vibrant galaxy shades. A little drop goes a long way, so add sparingly.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• Do not over mix the donut batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added, stir the batter just until everything is combined. Over mixing will result in the donuts being tough and dense.
• Spray the donut pan generously with non stick cooking spray. This helps the donuts easily pop out when they are done baking.
• Remove the donuts from the pan and onto a wire cooling rack when they come out of the oven. Since they are still hot, they will be in a very fragile state, so do this part carefully.
• Cool the donuts completely before glazing. Glazing a warm donut will cause the icing to melt and drip off.
• Combine the colored glazes in small batches instead of all together in one large bowl. By doing it this way you can mix and match the colors so each donut has its own unique patterned glaze.

How To Create The Galaxy Glaze

• Add more milk to the glaze if needed, if it is too thick it will not be as shiny. The glaze should flow in ribbons.
• Use high pigmented, dark colors, think deep shades of blue, purple, teal, and pink. You can even add a little black gel color in there. Keep some of the icing white, to add subtle streaks throughout the vibrant colors.
• Combine the colored icing in smaller batches. This allows you to mix and match the colors, giving each donut its own unique glaze pattern.
• Do not swirl the colored icing together, swirling them will give you a more marbled look. Instead, drizzle a little of each color in a shallow bowl, alternating colors over each other. Then proceed to dip the top of the donut into the icing, and when pulling it out of the glaze, tilt it to the side to let the excess icing drip off. This is what creates the streaks of color in the glaze.
• If garnishing the donuts with sprinkles, do this immediately after they are glazed so the sprinkles will stick. If using gold luster dust, wait until the glaze is set, then lightly tap a brush dipped in luster dust onto the tops of the donuts.

Directions

For Donuts:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a donut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In another bowl combine the milk, egg, melted butter, cotton candy flavoring, and vanilla extract.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.
5. Spoon the filling into the prepared donut pan filling each one a little more than 3/4 of the way full.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Unmold the donuts from the pan and move onto a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before glazing.

For Glaze:

1. In a large bowl combine the powdered sugar, milk, and cotton candy flavoring.
2. Mix together until fully combined, adding more milk if needed. The glaze should be thin enough to flow in ribbons.
3. Separate the icing into 5 small bowls making each one a different color. Make sure to leave one bowl white.
4. In a shallow bowl, drizzle a spoonful of each color into the bowl. Working in smaller amounts allows you to be able to have enough icing to mix and match the colors. Do not stir or swirl the different colors together. Dipping each donut into the icing will be enough to start to create a galaxy effect. Let the excess glaze drip off the side and place on a wire rack to set.
5. Once glazed, garnish the donuts with sprinkles or luster dust.

*Store donuts in an airtight container for 1-2 days.