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Home » Sweet

Pastry Cream (Crème Patisserie)

Published: Aug 11, 2023 by Lisa Russo

Spread the hangry love....

Use this classic pastry cream (also known as crème patisserie) in your trifles, tarts & pastries. Quick & easy to make!

This is a rich, thick, smooth & creamy custard. Yet it doesn’t contain cream, only whole milk. It’s more dollop-able than pourable. It’s layered in trifles, piped into pastries and used to line tarts.

Rippled rich smooth custard in a glass bowl.
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Jump to:
  • 🥘 Ingredients
  • 🔪 Instructions
  • ❓FAQs
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💭Other really useful recipes

We combine egg yolks, sugar, corn flour/starch, milk and vanilla in a saucepan. Heated, stirring all the time, until thickened. Whisk through cubes of cold butter to cool down the mix and enrich it. Cover the pastry cream and place in the fridge to chill.

Pastry cream contains flour. This means it’s not as finickity to cook as thinner flourless custards. The flour helps stop the egg curdling. This means we don’t have to worry so much about keeping the heat low and gentle. We can cook the pastry cream straight in a saucepan. No bain-marie required (when you heat in a bowl set over a bowl of simmering water).

🥘 Ingredients

Ingredients needed to make pastry cream.

Corn starch/cornflour- thickens without imparting a floury flavour. It has the advantage over wheat flour of being lighter in texture and flavour. It’s also gluten-free. Corn flour allows egg yolk to thicken beyond the usual temperature. Custards without flour need gentle heat. This pastry cream is easier to make because it contains a starch.

Butter – added at the end for shine, flavour and texture. It helps cool down the custard once cooked.

Milk – whole milk recommended. It delivers full body and rich flavour. Using cream in custards can give a greasy mouthfeel and ever so slightly grainy texture. This pastry ‘cream’ is plenty creamy enough without using cream. If you want to make this low FODMAP, use lactose-free milk.

Eggs – contribute flavour and provide structure. Pastry cream typically calls for egg yolks, not whole eggs. The high fat content of yolks supplies fuller flavour, richer colour and a more tender, creamy structure. They help to thicken the custard too.

Sugar – apart from adding sweetness, sugar helps slow down the rate at which eggs coagulate. This allows you to cook the pastry cream enough with a lower risk of scrambling the eggs.

Vanilla Paste – has advantage over vanilla extract of containing seeds. These look nice in the finished pastry cream.

🔪 Instructions

Start combining ingredients straight in a saucepan off the heat. We start with egg yolks, sugar, corn flour and salt.

Top view of whole egg yolks in a saucepan with white powder (sugar, cornflour & salt).

We smear these ingredients together until well combined and lightened in colour.

Blanched egg yolks in a saucepan.

We add the milk and vanilla.

Thin custard in a saucepan before heating to thicken.

We cook over medium heat on the stove top, whisking all the time. The custard will steam and come to a bubble.

We need to reach a certain temperature and hold it there for a bit….

We need to heat the custard base and bring the pastry cream to a simmer. We need to maintain it at a gentle bubble for around 40 seconds.

When mixed with water (in the milk) and heated to around 80°C, starch granules gelatinise. This means that they absorb water, then leak out their starchy molecules. This thickens the custard base.

Meanwhile, the proteins in the yolks are being altered by heat to form a strong, flexible network.

We can’t only bring the pastry cream to 80°C and be done. The yolks contain an enzyme called amylase. This can slowly break down the thickening power of the corn starch and ruin our efforts. Our once-thick pastry cream can revert to a runny sauce. We need to hold the pastry cream at a bubble while whisking all the time for about a minute. This destroys the amylase so that it’s no longer a threat to the structure of the pastry cream.

Don’t worry too much overheating and scrambling the eggs. The other ingredients dilute the egg proteins. They'll be further apart and less likely to rapidly and tightly bond.

Stay focused!

You need to pay constant attention and whisk continuously – don’t multitask! Luckily you don’t have to be patient for too long. Pastry Cream takes about 12 minutes to make.

Hand whisk resting in thick custard in a saucepan. Cubed butter in a small white dish alongside.

Once thickened and cooked for long enough, we pass the pastry cream through a fine-mesh strainer into a cooled bowl.

Cooked pastry cream being sieved into a glass bowl.

We whisk through cubes of cold butter until melted. This helps cool down the custard to stop the cooking and adds a glossy finish. We cover the pastry cream closely with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge to cool.

Custard in a glass measuring jug closely covered in plastic wrap.

❓FAQs

What is blanching?

When we whisk egg yolks into sugar to achieve a lighter colour and texture. A silicone spatula is handy for this. It's great for flexing and smearing the yolks into the granular sugar and getting into the edges of the pan. Don’t stress too much if the sugar granules don’t fully dissolve at this stage.

Do I need to temper the eggs?

No. There’s no need to heat the milk before adding it to the eggs. That means there’s no need to ‘temper’ the eggs yolks. Tempering is the gradual mixing of a small amount of hot liquid with eggs. This raises their temperature without causing curdling or scrambling.

Do I need to prepare an ice bath?

No. Some recipes will instruct that you cool the pastry cream ASAP to prevent the eggs curdling. This isn't necessary. Most of the pain points that could arise from making pastry cream is not cooking it for long enough or getting it hot enough.
Do you have a pastry cream emergency and need it stat? You CAN whisk the custard in a metal bowl set inside another containing ice and water. This will speed up the cooling process.

Why is my custard lumpy?

You need to stir the pastry cream constantly while cooking. The custard at the base and sides of the pan cooks more quickly. You need to keep the mix on the move to prevent scorching the mixture or curdling the egg yolks. Straining the mix before chilling helps filter out any lumpy bits too. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap resting on the surface to prevent a skin forming.

Can I fix split custard?

If you’ve taken it a little far and it starts to curdle/split, it is easily rescued with some vigorous whisking. You can even use an immersion (stick) blender.

My custard has developed a greasy layer after cooling….

It’s split, but you didn’t realise just after cooking 😊. Again, whisk, whisk, whisk. I’ve suggested cooling a sieve (fine-mesh strainer) and bowl in the fridge at the start. Ideally the bowl will be metallic. Metal conducts heat well and will enable heat to escape from the pastry cream more rapidly). Once we've cooked the custard, we pass it through the cold sieve and into a cold bowl. Quicker cooling means less chance of splitting.

My custard is soupy on cooling….

Don’t throw it away! Reheat and cool again. This just means you didn’t reach and maintain a high enough temperature to thicken the pastry cream.

Can I make pastry cream in advance?

Yes. It will keep well in the fridge for a few days. You may need to give it a gentle whisk before using to ensure a smooth texture.

📖 Recipe

Rippled rich smooth custard in a glass bowl.
Print Recipe
Use this classic pastry cream (also known as crème patisserie) in your trifles, tarts & pastries. Quick & easy to make!
This amount will be enough for 12 serves of Rhubarb, Custard & Gingerbread Trifle or to fill a 23cm tart.
Prep Time2 minutes mins
Cook Time12 minutes mins
Total Time14 minutes mins
Servings: 600 ml
Author: Hangry Miss

Ingredients

  • 115 g granulated sugar (note)
  • 30 g corn starch/cornflour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • yolks from four large eggs
  • 455 g whole milk
  • Teaspoon vanilla paste
  • 30 g unsalted butter

Instructions

  • Sieve Ready – set a sieve over a heatproof medium metal bowl. This will hold the finished custard. Put these in the fridge to chill.
  • Butter – cube the butter and put back in the fridge.
    30 g unsalted butter
  • Combine Ingredients - In a saucepan stir together the sugar, corn starch and salt. Whisk in the egg yolks until the mixture is pale yellow, smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Don’t worry if all the sugar granules haven’t dissolved. Add the vanilla to the milk. Add this to the egg yolk mix in three lots, stirring well until it is all incorporated.
    115 g granulated sugar
    30 g corn starch/cornflour
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    yolks from four large eggs
    455 g whole milk
    Teaspoon vanilla paste
  • Cook, Whisk & Bubble – place pan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the pastry cream begins to thicken, about 10 minutes. Once it thickens and starts to bubble, continue to whisk for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
  • Strain – pour the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve set over a heatproof medium bowl.
  • Butter – add the cold cubes of butter. Whisk through until melted and well incorporated.
  • Cover - immediately place plastic wrap on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until cold and very thick, about 4 hours.

Notes

Sugar – apart from adding sweetness, sugar helps slow down the rate at which eggs thicken. This allows you to cook the pastry cream enough without scrambling the eggs. If you find this pastry cream too sweet, you can reduce the sugar to as low as 70g without compromising texture. The sweetness you want might depend on what you're serving it with.

Make Ahead

Can make and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Not recommended for freezing.

💭Other really useful recipes

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  • Tomato & Basil sauce in a glass jug on a wooden surface.
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More Sweet

  • Slices cut from a banana cake loaf and smothered in butter.
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  • Sugar-crusted blueberry muffins cooling on a rack.
    🫐Blueberry Muffins
  • Custard being poured over a whole steamed pudding.
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  • A tall stack of buttermilk pancakes. There is some melted butter at the top and maple syrup drizzled all over.
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me using a pasta machine with one of my sons.

Hello! I'm Lisa. I’m the recipe developer, cook, photographer, and author behind Hangry Miss. I am a genuinely angry/often hungry person, who finds it convenient to blame my Sicilian parents for both attributes.

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