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Boston Cream Donut Cocktail

5 from 1 vote

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cream cocktail in chocolate dipped glass with donut holes
Boston Cream Donut Cocktail

It’s hard to believe, but I’m upping the decadence of Donut Quarantine Cocktails week with this Boston Cream Donut – it’s a custard-filled chocolate glazed donut and it is everything. Getting that creamy, custardy taste in a cocktail isn’t easy, and after a few unsuccessful attempts with cream cocktails and flips I decided I just had to go ahead and use drinking custard.

Which I had never made before.

After I picked out an easy recipe with just milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla and cooked some up (it was exceedingly simple to do). I had a quart of boiled custard, which I now realize is very much the same thing as melted vanilla ice cream.

If you’re just joining me for Donut Quarantine Cocktail week, you can check out Maple Caramel Long John, Pecan Sticky Bun cocktail and Blueberry Cake Donut from earlier in the week.

So if it’s not around the winter holidays and you can’t find drinking custard in the stores and don’t feel like making at batch, simply let some vanilla ice cream melt and you’ll be one your way to an outstanding cocktail. Wish I had figured that out beforehand, but now I’ve got a quart of delectable drinking custard to play with.

cream cocktail in chocolate dipped glass with donut holes
Boston Cream Donut Cocktail

But more about this Boston Cream Donut cocktail. And this donut. A cream-filled chocolate glaze donut is one of my favorites. I love it because when it’s really fresh you bite into that chocolate glaze, taste a little of the pastry and then the custard starts to ooze into your mouth. If you’re really lucky, it’s so fresh that the cream is still little liquid and it drips from the center cavity, forcing you to keep your attention on it to capture any small drips that might escape.

The trick was getting that custardy-flavor without using pure custard in the cocktail. I had thought a flip might work (a category of cocktails made with eggs and yolks), but somehow the flavor of the custard needed to be cooked, not just a raw egg in the cocktail. However, flips are very fun to play with, so I might have to devote a week to flips in the future.

However, even though I had never had it, I had an idea that a runny form of custard, a drinking custard (referred to as boiled custard here in the south) might work. I used this recipe here, and even for a non-cook like me, it was very easy. I beat together the egg yolks, sugar and milk and stirred over a medium heat until it reached 185 degrees, then added vanilla, strained it and cooled it down. And then I tasted it to find it was basically vanilla ice cream, melted. Live and learn.

Now for this cocktail I chose Old Forester 100 as the bourbon for two reasons. First, I love how it tastes with chocolate. And second, it’s my favorite bourbon for eggnog, so I know it goes exceedingly well in cream drinks. It was a win-win situation for me.

However, any bourbon or whiskey that you find pairs well with chocolate will do wonders in the Boston Cream Donut cocktail. You can build this in a glass as I would my eggnog when I’m adding the alcohol, but it tastes a little better when you put it in a shaker with ice and treat it as a regular cream-based cocktail.

cream cocktail in chocolate dipped glass with donut holes
Boston Cream Donut Cocktail

The chocolate glaze on the glass is completely over the top and you might just use regular chocolate syrup at home. However, if you’re using chocolate syrup, you’ll need to put it on the inside of the glass, not the outside because it will slide right off the outside of a glass.

I prefer this neat in a coupe all fancy, but if made in a batch as a dessert cocktail you will love it over the rocks in a glass garnished with a donut hole, or tiny mini-éclair.

For those of you curious about the other recipes in the Quarantine Series, I’ll put them here before you skim past to get to the recipe. Quarantine Juleps, (Breakfast Julep, the Pineapple Sage Rum Julep, Elvis Julep (peanut butter-banana), Root Beer Float Julep, and the Persian Julep (rose-apricot) ), Quarantine Old Fashioneds (Breakfast Wakey Wakey, Smoke and Spice, Home School, Taco Truck, and Campari/Bitter Lessons ), Quarantine Manhattans (Balanced Perfection (Perfect Manhattan), Coffee Manhattan, Chocolate Ginger Manhattan, French Quarter Manhattan, and the Caramel Orange Manhattan.), Quarantine Whiskey Sours (Blackberry Sunset, Whiskey Tiki, Blue Mood Orange, Ya Basic, and Peach Rosemary), and Quarantine Smashes (Whiskey Smash, Blackberry Sage Smash, Pineapple Tiki Smash, Strawberry Basil Smash and the Coffee Cherry Smash.)

cream cocktail in chocolate dipped glass with donut holes
Boston Cream Donut Cocktail
cream cocktail in chocolate dipped glass with donut holes

Boston Cream Donut Cocktail

Picture of Heather Wibbels, Cocktail Contessa, pouring a cocktailHeather Wibbels
Take things over the top with this creamy, custard-based cocktail blended with bourbon, chocolate liqueurs and a little syrup. It’s as if you’re drinking a custard-filled donut dripping with chocolate glaze. If you really want to take things up a notch garnish with mini-eclairs or chocolate-covered donut holes.
5 from 1 vote
Course Drinks
Cuisine Bourbon Cocktail
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 oz bourbon (I used Old Forester 100)
  • 1 oz Faretti chocolate
  • ½ oz crème de cacao (light/clear)
  • 2 oz drinking custard (can substitute with 2 oz of melted vanilla ice cream)
  • ¼ oz Monin’s cupcake syrup (optional – adds a cakey flavor)
  • 1 dash Bittercube cherry bark vanilla bitters
  • 1 dash chocolate bitters
  • Garnish: chocolate glaze, chocolate-glazed donut holes (or mini eclairs)

Instructions
 

  • Combine drinking custard (or melted ice cream), chocolate liqueurs, bourbon, syrup and bitters in a shaking tin. Fill with ice and shake briefly to chill but do not overdilute. Strain into a coupe glass garnished with chocolate glaze and a couple of chocolate covered donut holes.
Keyword chocolate, cream cocktail, custard, doughnut
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
By on May 8th, 2020
Picture of Heather Wibbels, Cocktail Contessa, pouring a cocktail

About Heather Wibbels

Heather Wibbels is a whiskey and cocktail author (Executive Bourbon Steward, no less) with a passion for cocktails. She loves researching and designing cocktails, drinking cocktails, and teaching cocktails. Mostly whiskey cocktails, given her Kentucky location.

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2 thoughts on “Boston Cream Donut Cocktail”

    • It is so good, even non-bourbon drinkers will want to sip it. It’s so much easier this time of year since you can get drinking custard in the store. That being said, the custard was very easy to make!

      Reply

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