We all love banoffee pies, but have you heard of banoffee doughnuts? These banoffee doughnuts combine pillowy-soft milk dough with creamy banana custard filling, salted caramel, and a brûléed sugar top that cracks like crème brûlée. They’re the kind of doughnuts that make you feel like a professional pastry chef, and yeah, they take some effort – but one bite of that banana cream with salted caramel and you’ll understand why they’re absolutely worth it!

Understanding Your Components

1. Milk Doughnut Dough: This uses the tangzhong method – a cooked flour and water paste that creates incredibly soft, fluffy doughnuts that stay fresh longer. The dough is enriched with milk and butter for a tender crumb that’s somewhere between a traditional raised doughnut and a brioche. The key is mixing until it passes the windowpane test – when you can stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through without tearing. This develops the gluten structure needed for that pillowy texture.
2. Banana Cream Filling: This is a banana pastry cream lightened with whipped cream – think banana cream pie filling but better. Roasting the bananas (especially if they’re not fully ripe) intensifies their sweetness and creates a deeper flavor. The custard base is thick and rich, then gets folded with whipped cream to create something light and mousse-like that pipes beautifully. Make sure your custard is completely cool before folding in the cream or it’ll deflate.
3. Salted Caramel: Homemade salted caramel takes these over the top – it’s deep, buttery, and has that perfect sweet-salty balance that cuts through the richness of the banana cream. The darker you take your caramel, the more complex and slightly bitter it becomes, which actually works beautifully with the sweet banana. Don’t be scared of making caramel – just watch it carefully and have your butter and cream ready to go.
4. Brûléed Sugar Top: Instead of a glaze, these get brushed with honey, dipped in sugar, and torched until caramelized like crème brûlée. The result is a thin, crackly shell that contrasts perfectly with the soft doughnut. You need a kitchen torch for this – there’s really no substitute. That crack when you bite through the sugar is half the experience!

Tips!

Roast Your Bananas: Even if your bananas are ripe, roasting them concentrates their flavor and removes excess moisture. Blackened, caramelized bananas make for a much more intense banana cream. Skip this and your filling will taste bland.

Windowpane Test: Knead your dough until you can stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through it without tearing. This ensures proper gluten development for soft, airy doughnuts. Under-kneaded dough makes dense, heavy doughnuts.

Double Proof: The dough needs to proof twice – once after mixing (until doubled, about 1 hour) and again after shaping (30 minutes). Don’t rush these steps. Properly proofed dough fries up light and fluffy; under-proofed dough stays dense.

Oil Temperature: Keep your frying oil at exactly 350°F/175C. Use a thermometer and adjust heat between batches. Too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks; too cool and you get greasy, oil-soaked doughnuts.

Fill Generously: Don’t be shy when filling – these should be packed with banana cream and caramel. Poke the hole deep into the doughnut and pipe until you feel resistance. You want every bite to have filling.

Torch Technique: Hold your torch about 2-3 inches from the sugar and move it constantly in small circles. You want even caramelization, not burnt spots. The sugar should turn golden-amber and bubble.

Storage and Reheating Guide

• Banana Cream Storage: Store banana pastry cream (before folding in whipped cream) in the refrigerator for up to 3 days with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface
• Salted Caramel Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.
• Unfilled Doughnuts: Store plain fried doughnuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day before filling
• Filled Doughnuts: Best eaten within 4-6 hours of filling and brûléeing. The sugar top softens and the doughnuts get soggy if they sit too long.
• Freezing Fried Doughnuts: Freeze unfilled fried doughnuts for up to 1 month. Thaw, fill, and brûlée when ready to serve.

Make ahead tips:

• Tangzhong Ahead: Make tangzhong up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before mixing into dough.
• Banana Custard Base: Make the custard portion (before whipping and folding cream) up to 3 days ahead. Whip cream and fold together on the day you’re filling.
• Caramel Ahead: Make salted caramel up to 2 weeks ahead and refrigerate. It’s actually easier to work with when slightly cool and thickened.
• Fry the Day Before: Fry doughnuts the day before, store at room temperature, then fill and brûlée the next day. They’re best fresh but this makes the process more manageable.
• Component Cooking: Spread the work over 2-3 days – make custard and caramel day 1, make and fry doughnuts day 2, assemble and serve day 3.

Ingredients

Milk Doughnuts:

Tangzhong:
45g milk
45g water
15g bread flour

Dough:
300g bread flour
20g milk powder
40g sugar
8g instant yeast
1 tsp salt
115 ml milk
60g butter, melted
1 egg
Vegetable oil, for frying

Banana Pastry Cream:
2 bananas, ripe
250ml milk
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
40g sugar
20g cornstarch
20g butter, cold
150ml heavy cream

Salted Caramel:
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tbsp butter, diced
1/4 cup heavy cream, slightly warmed in the microwave
1/3 tsp salt

Method – How to make Doughtnuts

1. Banana Cream: If your bananas are not ripe, place them onto a baking tray and into the oven at 150C/300F for 20-30 minutes or until they are blackened. Let them cool slightly, remove the skin and blend the flesh into a smooth paste.
2. In a pot, bring your milk to a slight simmer. While your milk is heating up, in a separate bowl, add in the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla and whisk vigorously until pale and puffy. Whisk in the cornstarch and then slowly drizzle in the warm milk while whisking.
3. Transfer the mixture back into the pot and continue stirring over low-medium heat. It should slowly turn into a thick custard. Remove from heat and slowly add in the butter and whisk well until incorporated. Whisk in the banana paste from step 1. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the custard and refrigerate.
4. Once the custard is cooled, whip your heavy cream into stiff peak. Fold the banana custard into the cream, transfer the mixture into a piping bag and return to the fridge.
5. Salted Caramel: In a heavy duty pan over medium heat, add in your sugar and melt until it turns into a golden caramel – the more amber your caramel is the more toasted/bitter it’ll taste. Carefully add in the butter and whisk well until combined. Then add in the cream and salt and whisk until combined. Set aside to cool then refrigerate.
6. Tangzhong: In a small pot, add in the milk, water and flour, and whisk well until homogenous. Place the pot over medium heat and continue whisking until the mixture turns into a thick white paste. Set aside to cool.
7. Milk Doughnuts: In a stand mixer, add in the all the ingredients for the doughnuts, except for the vegetable oil. Add in the cooled tangzhong and turn the mixer onto medium speed. Mix until the dough passes the window pane test. Transfer dough into a slightly greased bowl, cover and leave to proof for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. Punch the dough to knock the air out and transfer onto a lightly floored benchtop. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch or 1.5cm thick. Use a round cookie cutter to cut out your donuts and place each donut onto a small piece of baking paper. Cover and set aside to proof for another 30 minutes.
9. Bring a pot of vegetable oil to frying temperate 350F/175C. Carefully drop in the doughnuts individually. Once one side is golden, flip the donuts and continue to fry. Remove from oil and place onto a drying rack once the donuts are golden on both sides. Repeat with all the remaining dough.
10. Assemble: Poke a hole on 1 side of each doughnut and fill them with both the banana cream and salted cream. Brush the top of each doughnut with a bit of melted honey and then dip the brushed top into a bowl of sugar. Blow torch the sugar top until the sugar is melted and golden for a brulee top.