Creme patissiere, creme pat, or pastry cream is a rich and creamy king of custards. It’s thicker than creme Anglaise, which is a pouring consistency custard.It’s simple to make and has many uses. We love to whip up a batch and fill choux pastry for eclairs, or profiteroles.
Creme patissiere is one of those recipes that you need to have in your repertoire as it’s very versatile.
Easy to Make
It will take you about fifteen minutes to make this delicious custard. First off you whisk egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) together making sure that the cornflour is completely incorporated otherwise you’ll end up with lumpy custard and we don’t want that!
Next up you heat the milk, cream and vanilla until it just comes to the boil. Using a whisk you pour the hot milk mixture over the egg mixture and whisk like crazy to avoid any lumps.
Now pour the mixture back into a saucepan over low heat and whisk continuously until the custard thickens. Once it has thickened you continue to beat for a few minutes to ensure that the cornflour (cornstarch) has cooked out.
That’s it, now you cover it with cling film onto the surface to stop a skin forming and cool, then chill in the refrigerator. Job done!
Creme Patissiere Variations
Creme patissiere can be used to make other delicious creme’s such as:
Creme Diplomat – is creme patissiere mixed with Chantilly cream and gelatine
Creme Bavarois – is a dessert on its own like panna cotta, but made with creme patissiere
Creme Legere – is creme patissiere mixed with freshly whipped cream
Flavouring
Suggestions for flavouring creme patissiere are:
Cointreau or Grand Marnier liqueur and finely zested orange peel
Coffee powder
Frangelico
Chocolate or cocoa powder
Limoncello
Kirsch
Brandy
Pureed fruits such as strawberries or raspberries
Storing
Creme patissiere will keep for 5 days refrigerated. Its best kept in an airtight container to stop any food odours tainting the flavour.
Unfortunately, the custard does not freeze well. The starch in the cornflour (cornstarch) will break down during the freezing and the custard will separate when thawed.
Although it’s easy to make there are a couple of watchpoints to look out for:
– make sure that your egg yolk, caster sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) are whisked together till smooth as any lumps will result in a lumpy custard
– when adding the milk mixture to the egg mixture pour it in slowly and whisk like crazy
– don’t use an aluminium saucepan or your custard will have a grey colour to it
Creme Patissiere Uses
Creme patissiere can be used to fill eclairs, profiteroles, trifles, fruit tarts, sandwiching cakes together, served simply with fresh berries or straight out of the fridge at midnight. Your call!
One of our favourite desserts is this mille feuille filled with strawberries and raspberries that looks very impressive and time consuming, but in fact is easy to make using store bought frozen pastry sheets.
Click on the link for the recipe ……. Mille Feuille with Berries
Check out Creme Patissiere’s cousin, Creme Anglaise
click on the link for the recipe…..Super Simple Creme Anglaise
Creme Anglaise is the French fancy pants name for English cream, or custard. It’s ridiculously easy to make and we can just about guarantee you’ll never buy store bought custard again.
The custard is pouring consistency and is perfect for pouring over cakes, stewed fruits or fruit tarts, or for that matter, anything that you want to pour a custard over.
We would love to hear from you in the comments below when you make this delicious creme patissiere recipe.
Yield: about 3 cups
Creme Patissiere
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Creme patissiere is a lovely custard to have in your repertoire. It's easily made and is perfect for making trifles, eclairs, profiteroles, cream puffs, fruit tarts, mille feuille, or sandwiching cakes.
Ingredients
300ml (10 fluid ounces) full cream milk
200ml (6 3/4 fluid ounces) pure cream
3 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or extract
5 large egg yolks (90g or 3 and a bit ounces)
50g (1 3/4 ounces) cornflour (cornstarch)
100g (3 1/2 ounces) caster sugar
100g (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
Instructions
whisk egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour together in a medium sized bowl till you have a nice smooth paste
pour milk, cream and vanilla into a saucepan and bring just to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat
slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the egg mixture whisking continuously
return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat stirring continuously until the cream thickens and comes to the boil, then cook for a further 2-3 minutes to cook out the flour, again stirring continuosly
remove from the heat and pour mixture through a sieve into a bowl
beat in the butter till smooth
cover the surface with cling film and leave to cool, then refrigerate until chilled
Notes
once chilled the creme patissiere will be quite gelatinous so just give it a whip until its smooth and creamy
Creme Chantilly is lightly whipped cream sweetened with sugar and (usually) flavored with vanilla.Creme Patissiere is a thicker custard. It's thickened using starch and eggs/egg yolks and can be piped. It's mostly used to fill pastries and other desserts.
P.S. In case you're wondering what the difference is between Crème Pâtissière and custard (which the French refer to as Crème Anglaise), it's the cornflour. Officially, custard shouldn't contain cornflour. So basically, Crème Pâtissière (or pastry cream) is simply set custard.
Always cover your pastry cream with plastic wrap, letting the plastic wrap touch the top of the pastry cream to avoid the creation of any film on top. Store in a fridge for up to three days. You can also freeze the pastry cream for up to three weeks, but only if you are using flour in this recipe.
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.
Chantilly is a lightly whipped cream, lightly sweetened, and delicately flavored, often with vanilla but also with ingredients like rum. The sweetening typically comes from powdered sugar, which dissolves completely on contact with the cream so there is no graininess.
Not much! Chantilly cream, otherwise known as creme chantilly in French, is what becomes of classic whipped cream once it's become sweetened and flavored. So, because we're adding powdered sugar and vanilla, it's basically the same!
Creme Patissiere is pastry cream, a rich custard thickened with cornstarch or flour.Creme Diplomate is pastry cream mixed with whipped cream and sometimes added gelatine for stability (depending on the usage). Creme Chantilly is a French name for sweetened whipped cream with the addition of vanilla flavoring.
What's the difference between crème anglaise and crème pâtissière? Crème anglaise has a similar composition to crème pâtissière, but doesn't contain cornstarch or flour. It's therefore more liquid and less thick. It's possible to turn a crème anglaise into a crème pâtissière.
There are three types of custard: baked, stirred, and frozen. Baked custards include bread pudding, flan, and cheesecake, and are prepared by baking in an oven or water bath. Boiled Custards include beverages like eggnog. Puddings, creme anglaise (krem on-GLAYZ), and pastry cream are some examples of stirred custards.
In the pastry and baking world, frozen custard/creme patissiere is usually frowned upon. Custard/creme patissiere cannot be frozen since it divides into emptiness.
This is a thickened custard which can be used in lots of different ways, to sandwich cakes together, in fruit tartlets or to squeeze into fresh doughnuts or eclairs. My current favourite way to use it is in these Portuguese style custard tarts. I have also be known to eat it by the spoon on more than one occasion!
It is normal for the custard to become congealed or rubbery after refrigeration. When you are ready to use it, simply let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. Then whisk it until it is smooth enough to pipe.
Note: if the heat is to high you run the risk of the egg becoming curdled..grainy is the result. Once a pastry cream is set up it's not really fixable. At least from a classic recipe standpoint. However if it's still fluid incorporating cornstarch can, (NOT guarenteed) smooth out the texture.
Starch. Starch thickens pastry cream. Most recipes incorporate flour, cornstarch, or a mix of the two. I found that flour produced a thicker, heavier texture and imparted an undesirable “floury” taste.
The invention of Chantilly whipped cream is often attributed to the great French chef Vatel who worked in the kitchens of the Château de Chantilly. In April 1671 he was commissioned to organise a party for the Duc de Condé, owner of Chantilly, and his cousin Louis XIV at the Chateau.
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).
The cake's name comes from Chantilly cream, a French term for sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla or liqueur. To make the frosting for this cake, you fold sweet, fluffy Chantilly cream with a rich, tangy mixture of whipped mascarpone and cream cheese.
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