Pastry cream (Crème Pâtissière) is a simple and delicious cooked custard with a smooth and creamy texture. Often used in French pastries, it's perfect for filling cakes, pies, and tarts, and solo as a rich gluten-free vanilla pudding!
Jump to:
Why this recipe works
- Flavor with fresh vanilla beans for a rich taste, or use other flavoring ideas to suit your needs
- Uses cornstarch for thickening - no floury aftertaste
- Can be used for filling cakes, tarts, and pastries, or serve as a gluten-free pudding
Classic French pastry cream (Crème Pâtissière, or "Creme Pat", for short) is a thickened cooked custard, in the same family as ice cream and Crème Brûlée. In fact you can say that vanilla pastry cream is just a thicker version of vanilla custard (Crème Anglaise), as they share almost the same ingredients.
Making creme pat at home might seem daunting, but once you've mastered the technique, you have a delicious and versatile product that you can use in many different ways.
This versatile custard is the creamy center that holds our cakes and pastries together (literally), and it can be made easily at home. You'll be able to make a world of rich desserts, or have a quiet indulgence on a spoon.
I'm all in for that!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Using the actual vanilla bean is such an upgrade! Totally worth the extra faff of scraping all the seeds and everything! I made your Italian meringue macarons and had all these leftover egg yolks so I decided to make some pastry cream and I almost ate too much of it plain to have any left!
- Ella
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make this pastry cream recipe:
Ingredient Notes
Milk: Provides the basis for the dairy custard. If you want an even richer product, you can substitute up to ½ cup of heavy cream for some of the milk. You can also make a non dairy pastry cream by using your favorite dairy-free milk alternative.
Egg yolks: Provides richness, flavor, and structure.
Sugar: Besides a lovely sweetness, sugar helps modulate the thickening process so the yolks can cook without scrambling. You can reduce the amount of sugar by up to a half if you want less sweetness.
Thickener: Cornstarch picks up the job of thickening from the yolks, taking it beyond a Crème Anglaise custard sauce to that of a sturdier filling with body. While some recipes include or exclusively use flour, cornstarch does the job without masking the taste of the finished product. Plus, using cornstarch makes this a gluten-free recipe.
Flavoring: Here we're using fresh vanilla beans to flavor the creme pat, but you can substitute vanilla extract if you prefer.
Butter: Although not strictly necessary for a classic French Crème Pâtissière recipe, butter adds shine and flavor.
See the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Pastry Cream Flavoring Suggestions
You can flavor creme pat to your liking. Here are some flavor variations you can try (from King Arthur Baking):
- Chocolate Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and stir in 1 cup (170 grams) chopped semisweet or dark chocolate after the custard has been strained, stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Caramel Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and stir in ¾ cup (213 grams) chopped caramel after the custard has been strained, stirring until the caramel has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Orange Pastry Cream: Stir in 1 teaspoon orange extract, ¼ teaspoon orange oil or Fiori di Sicilia, or 3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest after the custard has been strained.
How to make pastry cream
Step 1: Make the yolk mixture
In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks briefly. Add the cornstarch and half of the sugar and whisk to combine (photo 1). Set aside.
Step 2: Heat the milk mixture
Whisk the milk and the remaining sugar together in a medium saucepan. Using the tip of a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk mixture (if using), then add the vanilla bean pods (photo 2).
Heat the milk mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until small bubbles form and it starts to steam, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Step 3: Cook the custard
Gently heat the yolk mixture by slowly adding ¼ cup of the warmed milk mixture to the yolk mixture while continuously whisking. Add another ¼ cup of the milk and whisk again.
This process is called tempering the eggs, and its purpose is to prevent the yolks from curdling while the custard cooks.
Add the yolk mixture to the pan and cook, whisking constantly, until the custard is bubbling and thickened (photo 3).
Allow the custard to boil approximately 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Don't overcook the custard to avoid curdling the eggs (photo 4).
Step 4: Strain the custard
Remove the custard from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl, removing the spent vanilla bean (photo 5). If the custard boiled during thickening, straining it out will help remove any curdled bits of egg.
Don’t toss that vanilla bean - instead rinse the bean, then place it in a jar and cover with vodka to make your own vanilla extract.
If you are using vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean, stir it in now along with the butter, if using. Stir until the butter melts, but don't over-mix, as this will thin the custard.
Step 5: Chill the custard
Cool the custard using an ice bath (½ ice cubes and ½ water), reaching halfway up the sides of the bowl (photo 6). Stir occasionally until it's cooled to room temperature (a digital thermometer should read about 80 to 85 °F).
Once cooled, place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard and refrigerate it in an airtight container until needed.
Storage information
Pastry cream can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, for up to 5 days. If it starts to separate, just stir it until it's smooth.
Yield Notes
This crème pâtissière recipe makes about 2 cups (about 615 grams), enough to fill a full-sized Boston Cream Pie or a 10-inch fruit tart.
Uses for pastry cream
Crème Pâtissière is used widely to make delicious desserts.
- As a filling for layer cakes and pastries: Creme pat features prominently in Boston Cream Pie, in cream puffs (choux cream), and in éclairs
- As the base for fruit tarts: Fill a baked shortcrust pastry with creme pat and top with your choice of fresh sliced fruits
- As the pudding in compound desserts: Use creme pat instead of boxed pudding in a No Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake and in trifles,
- On its own as a rich gluten-free pudding.
Creme pat is also used as a base for other types of dessert creams. For example:
- Diplomat Cream (Crème Diplomate): Pastry cream mixed with sweetened whipped cream (aka Chantilly Cream or Crème Chantilly) and gelatin, for stability.
- Mousseline Cream (Crème Mousseline): Pastry cream mixed with whipped butter
Questions asked and answered
Here are some questions you might have...
Chilling the creme pat quickly prevents it from sitting at room temperature for too long, so that no microorganisms can grow and cause a food-borne illness. It's not a good idea to put hot food directly in the refrigerator because that can raise the temperature inside to unsafe levels, so using an ice bath is the safest method for chilling pastry cream.
This creme pat recipe, made with cornstarch, should not be frozen because the cornstarch breaks down when thawed, ruining the texture.
You might say that pastry cream is the richer cousin of vanilla pudding, which is made without eggs. Those egg yolks add so much flavor and texture, and you can taste the difference.
I hope you like this recipe! Let me know if you have any questions, and don't forget to leave a comment and rating. Thanks!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
- Tammy
More custard recipes to try
Recipe
Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar, divided, see Recipe Notes
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 cup milk, see Recipe Notes
- 1 fresh vanilla bean, split, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, see Recipe Notes
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks briefly. Add the cornstarch and half of the sugar and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Whisk the milk and the remaining sugar together in a medium saucepan. Using the tip of a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk mixture (if using), then add the vanilla bean pods.
- Heat the milk mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until small bubbles form and it starts to steam, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Gently heat the yolk mixture by slowly adding ¼ cup of the warmed milk mixture to the yolk mixture while continuously whisking. Add another ¼ cup of the milk and whisk again. This process is called tempering the eggs, and its purpose is to prevent the yolks from curdling while the custard cooks.
- Add the yolk mixture to the pan and cook, whisking constantly, until the custard is bubbling and thickened. Allow it to boil approximately 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Don't overcook the custard to avoid curdling the eggs.
- Remove the custard from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl, removing the spent vanilla bean. If the custard boiled during thickening, straining it out will help remove any curdled bits of egg.
- If you are using vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean, stir it in now along with the butter, if using. Stir until the butter melts, but don't over-mix, as this will thin the custard.
- Cool the custard using an ice bath (½ ice cubes, ½ water), reaching halfway up the sides of the bowl. Stir until it's cooled to room temperature (a digital thermometer should read about 80 °F to 85 °F).
- Once cooled, place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until needed.
- Storage information: Pastry cream can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, for up to 5 days. If tit starts to separate, just stir it until it's smooth.This pastry cream should not be frozen because the cornstarch will break down during thawing, ruining the texture.
- This recipe makes about 2 cups (615 grams) of pastry cream, enough to fill a full-sized Boston Cream Pie or a 10-inch fruit tart.
Notes
- Chocolate Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and stir in 1 cup (170 grams) chopped semisweet or dark chocolate after the custard has been strained, stirring until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Caramel Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and stir in ¾ cup (213 grams) chopped caramel after the custard has been strained, stirring until the caramel has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Orange Pastry Cream: Stir in 1 teaspoon orange extract, ¼ teaspoon orange oil or Fiori di Sicilia, or 3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest after the custard has been strained.
Ella says
Using the actual vanilla bean is such an upgrade! Totally worth the extra faff of scraping all the seeds and everything! I made your Italian meringue macarons and had all these leftover egg yolks so I decided to make some pastry cream and I almost ate too much of it plain to have any left!
Tammy Spencer says
Love this! Save a spoonful for me