How to Make Delicious Pastry Cream 🍰 (2024)

FAQs

What is pastry cream made of? ›

Pastry cream is made of milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Is pastry cream the same as custard? Pastry cream is a type of custard, while custard is simply a liquid (often milk) thickened with eggs.

The methodology and most of the ingredients are the same, except pastry cream incorporates flour or cornstarch and therefore needs to be boiled. This results in a much, much thicker custard. Crème anglaise on the other hand, is thickened only with egg yolks resulting in a thinner, silkier, more pourable sauce. Hi!

Starch. Starch thickens pastry cream. Most recipes incorporate flour, cornstarch, or a mix of the two.

Also called Crème Pâtissière, this French staple is an important part of many desserts, like eclairs and fruit tarts. It is similar to vanilla pudding but much thicker (perfect for piping and filling Bavarian Cream Donuts!) It is made in 10 minutes and uses pantry staples: egg yolks, milk, and cornstarch.

Bavarian Cream is made from a Crème Anglaise base (milk, vanilla, egg yolks and sugar), thickened with Gelatine and lightened with Whipped Cream. Pastry Cream (or Crème Pâtissière) is relatively similar to a Crème Anglaise but is thickened on the stove with Cornstarch (or sometimes flour).

Crème Chantilly is cream sweetened with sugar and flavoured, usually with vanilla. Either granulated, caster or powdered icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) along with vanilla extract or paste is added to the cream. It's then whipped until light and airy and holds its shape.

Pastry cream will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days. After that it may start to weep.

Pastry cream delivers in flavor — sweet and custard-like — but lacks lightness. Whipped cream is as light as it comes but doesn't have much flavor or stability.

If your pastry cream hasn't thickened properly, that can be down to two possible reasons: What is this? You haven't cooked it enough – cook it longer. Remember, you need to cook the pastry cream until it's thickened and it comes to a boil, and then cook it for about one minute longer.

Runny pastry cream most often comes from undercooking the egg yolk mixture. If you remove it from the heat too soon, the amylase in the egg yolks won't break down and will prevent the cream from fully setting. If you find your crème pâtissière is too thin, return to heat and bring to a boil over medium heat to thicken.

What happens when you overcook pastry cream? ›

When heated, the eggs in the mixture coagulate, thickening the cream to a velvety consistency. However, if the cream is heated for too long or at too high a temperature, the eggs can become overcooked, resulting in a curdled, unpleasant texture — or even scrambled eggs in your cream.

At its most basic, crème brûlée is a creamy, pudding-like, baked custard with a brittle top of melted sugar that cracks when you gently tap it with a spoon. The custard is made with heavy cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

The US equivalent of custard is custard. We also have pudding which is thicker and more set than custard usually with flour or cornstarch. We do not refer to the dessert course of a meal as pudding. Custard has no cornstarch or flour and is often served as a sauce over berries or poundcake.

Pastry cream, on the other hand, is thought to be French in origin. It has a considerably thicker consistency, allowing it to be piped into or spread onto pastries and other dishes. This is because, while its base is the same as custard sauce, it relies on the addition of cornstarch to reach completion.

Pastry cream delivers in flavor — sweet and custard-like — but lacks lightness. Whipped cream is as light as it comes but doesn't have much flavor or stability.

TWO SIMPLE RULES FOR CHOUX PASTRY

The 7 ingredients are staples that you likely have in the kitchen right now: butter, water, milk, sugar, salt, flour, and eggs. Some recipes use all water instead of milk + water, but I find the combination yields a slightly softer and richer pastry.

“Heavy cream”, “whipping cream”, or even “double cream” will work here. This lends a rich creaminess to the finished product. If you're in a pinch, you can substitute both the milk and cream for half and half. Egg yolks.