Creme Patissiere

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.

Watch Points

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

Watch how to make Creme Patissiere

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.

Continue to Content

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.

Print

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

1. whisk egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour together in a medium sized bowl till you have a nice smooth paste
2. pour milk, cream and vanilla into a saucepan and bring just to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat
3. slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the egg mixture whisking continuously
4. 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
5. remove from the heat and pour mixture through a sieve into a bowl
6. beat in the butter till smooth
7. 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

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 111Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 154mgSodium 75mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 0gSugar 1gProtein 6g

Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.