Delicious Pastry Cream Recipe for Tarts & Pastries
This pastry cream recipe is a great way to up your baking cred and impress your friends. When they ask: “What’s in this?” you can say: “Oh, it’s créme pât” and bada-bing bada-boom you now look like a professional chef.
You’ll find it used in a variety of pastries from fruit tarts and eclairs to cakes and trifles. It makes for a deliciously creamy layer that comes together rather easily.
Without further ado, get to adding this perfect pastry cream to your baking tool belt.
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WHAT IS PASTRY CREAM?
Pastry cream or créme pâtissèrie (sometimes lovingly called “créme pât”) is the base of a lot of your favorite tarts and danishes. It’s a simple custard that thickens in the fridge while it sets.
You can place it in a piping bag and pipe along the bottom of a pastry crust, or spread it flat in the fridge and use a cutter to slice discs out for various fillings. It’s a simple baking element for making bakery-worthy desserts.
Why do you stream the warm milk in slowly? This allows you to gradually whisk the heat of your mixture into your eggs to prevent them from prematurely cooking (or scrambling).
INGREDIENTS
- Whole milk: Forms the creamy base of the pastry cream.
- Vanilla extract: Enhances flavor and rounds out the sweetness.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the cream and balances the custard flavor.
- Egg: Adds richness and helps thicken the custard.
- All-purpose flour: Provides structure and stabilizes the cream.
- Cornstarch: Helps thicken the cream for a smooth, velvety texture.
- Unsalted butter: Adds silkiness and a glossy finish to the pastry cream.
How can I use pastry cream? Pipe it as a layer between cakes, fill your cream puffs, use it as the base for a seasonal fruit tart, cut it into discs and place in the center of danishes… the options are endless!
HOW TO MAKE PASTRY CREAM
Heat the milk and vanilla in a medium pot over medium-high heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges.
Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl for about one minute until smooth and slightly frothy. Stir the cornstarch and flour into the egg-sugar mixture, whisking until fully incorporated.
Once the milk reaches a scalding point, slowly stream in a third of the hot milk, whisking constantly, then repeat with the remaining milk in two additions.
Rinse the pot with cold water and wipe out any residue, then return the combined mixture to the pot. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the pastry cream begins to thicken evenly.
Bring the cream to a gentle boil and continue whisking for just one minute to fully activate the starches. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter one cube at a time, ensuring each piece is fully melted and incorporated before adding the next.
Pour the pastry cream into a clean bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours until completely cooled, then use as a filling for tarts, danishes, or other pastries.
3 reasons you’ll love this pastry cream
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- This pastry cream recipe (créme pâtissèrie) is a smaller batch version, feel free to double as needed.
- Keep an eye on your milk and vanilla as it heats. You don’t want it to boil, just come to a gentle scald – where you see tiny bubbles surrounding the rim of the pan.
- Slowly stream in your hot milk, whisking as you do to prevent your eggs from scrambling
- Make sure that the entire surface of the cream is covered in plastic wrap. This ensures that no skin forms on your pastry cream as it cools.
- Your pastry cream will thicken as it cools making it the perfect filling for tarts, danishes, cakes, and more!
STORING THIS PASTRY CREAM RECIPE
Your pastry cream will last in a sealed container for up to 5 days in the fridge. Do not freeze, as it will separate and ruin the texture of the cream.
MORE FRENCH RECIPES
- Raspberries & Cream Hearts Wreath Pavlova
- Classic French Quiche Lorraine
- Best Lemon Madeleines
- Homemade French Baguettes
- Bacon, Onion, & Potato Tartiflette Galette
EQUIPMENT YOU’LL NEED
Equipment
- Bowl
- Medium Pot
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Digital Scale or Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 250 g whole milk (1 cup)
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 50 g granulated sugar (approx. ¼ cup)
- 50 g little less than one whole egg
- 12.5 g All Purpose flour (2 tbsp)
- 12.5 g corn starch (2 ¼ tbsp)
- 25 g unsalted butter, cubed (2-3 tbsp)
Instructions
- Heat milk and vanilla in a medium pot over medium-high heat until tiny bubbles appear at the rim of the mixture.
- In a bowl, whisk together your eggs and sugar for one minute.
- Whisk your cornstarch and flour, into your egg/sugar mixture. Whisking for another minute until everything is incorporated.
- Once you milk reaches scalding point, stream in ⅓ of liquid into your egg mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat with another third, whisk, and then the final third, until all is incorporated.
- Rinse your pot with cold water to cool it down and wipe out any residue. Return all of the liquid from the bowl, back to the pot.
- Over medium heat, use a whisk to constantly stir the mixture as it thickens.
- Bring it to a boil and let boil for only one minute stirring continuously so it evenly thickens.
- Remove the pot from the heat and drop in one cube of butter at a time, whisking each in before adding another piece. Repeat until all your butter is added.
- Pour your pastry cream into a bowl and cover the surface of the cream with plastic wrap* before placing in the fridge for a few hours to cool completely.
- Once cooled, it’s ready to use!
