How to Make Delicious Pastry Cream 🍰 (2024)

FAQs

How to fix runny crème pâtissière? ›

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.

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.

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.

Once you have transferred the cooked creme patissiere to a bowl, press a damp piece of greaseproof paper, baking parchment or parchment paper on to the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let the creme patissiere cool slightly then wrap the bowl tightly with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and transfer to the fridge.

Pour in the sugar and cream of tartar as you keep whipping.

Gently pour in the sugar and cream of tartar with one hand, and with the other, keep whipping the cream. Cream of tartar is a fine white powder that is a byproduct of winemaking. Lots of recipes use it to stabilize or increase volume.

Stir as recommended by your original recipe, but if your custard is still runny, try more vigorous stirring. Make sure to use the appropriate tool, such as an immersion blender or a hand whisk.

When whipping cream, add sugar and vanilla when the cream is about 1/2 whipped, and it will whip to a thicker consistency. Adding the sugar at the beginning results in thinner consistency. The cream and the bowl should be as cold as possible. The cream will whip easier and to a thicker consistency when very cold.

However, Crème Pâtissière contains corn flour (cornstarch) which thickens the custard as it cools. Custard, however, thickens form the egg yolks alone and is of a more pourable consistency. Why is my Crème Pâtissière lumpy? The pastry cream has been heated up too quickly causing the egg yolk to over cook.

Reheat the pastry cream slowly and bring it to boiling point. Once bubbling, reduce the heat and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Reason 2 - Adding too little corn starch or flour will result in a runny pastry cream.

Bringing pastry cream to a bubble deactivates the yolk's starch-dissolving amylase. Finishing with butter adds shine and flavor.

Why pastry cream should be boiled? ›

Pastry cream has flour or cornstarch added to it and, therefore, must come to a boil in order to cook out that starchy flavor. Because of this, pastry cream is quite a bit thicker and more pudding-like than anglaise.

Vanilla Bavarian Cream: Vanilla pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. A more flavorful and delectable cream filling as opposed to plain whipped cream. Vanilla Custard: A mixture of milk, egg yolks, and sugar cooked to a pudding consistency; also called pastry cream.

If your crème pâtissière isn't thick enough, the best solution is to let it cook for longer. Cornstarch should only be added when the crème pâtissière is boiling, while flour is not recommended at all.

“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.

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.

Cornstarch: I use cornstarch to thicken the pastry cream. You can adjust this amount per preference, read more about it my pastry cream post. Milk: I use whole milk but any kind of milk works fine. Butter: I use salted butter for this custard since it's just a little but unsalted works fine too.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

Whip until thick: Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, begin whipping the creme fraiche on medium-high speed. Gradually increase the speed as the creme fraiche thickens. Be sure to stop occasionally and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even whipping.