Pastry cream has a long history but it was in the 18th century that it became a key element of French pastry. Pastry chefs began using it in pastries such as éclairs, cream puffs and napoleons. Pastry cream has also been used as a flavor and texture enhancing additive for cakes and desserts.

Later, new techniques and quality ingredients allowed the appearance of lighter and creamier pastry creams.

Today, custard is an essential part of French pastry and is used in many desserts and pastries. It is also popular in many countries around the world, where it is often used as a flavor and texture enhancing additive for cakes and desserts. You can also enjoy it with dry cakes for example, it’s delicious.

The recipe varies little. You can use flour or starch to lighten the cream. Whole eggs or just egg yolks can be used. I decided to use whole eggs for lightness, flexibility of result, simplicity and economy of production. It turns out that egg yolks are heavier and require doubling the number of eggs used but give a smoother, yellow-colored result.

Concerning sugar, I first tried a version with 40 g of sugar, everyone who tasted it found it too sweet so I decided to remove 5 g and the result was good for everyone. This really varies depending on your personal taste. You can add the milk and flavors you want to color or vary the flavors of your dessert cream.

Pastry cream ingredients

• 250 g of milk.
• 45 g of egg (I removed a little white from my 50 g egg)
• 25 g of flour or cornstarch
• Vanilla extract in this case.
• 35 g of sugar. (for me this is enough but you can add a little more depending on taste)

Preparation of the pastry cream

• I pour my egg and the sugar into the « mixing bowl ».
• I blanch the mixture with a whisk.

• Once blanched, I add the flour and continue to mix with a whisk until I obtain a homogeneous mixture without lumps.
• I pour my milk into my saucepan, add the vanilla and bring to the boil.
• As soon as the milk is hot, I pour it into the « mixing bowl ». I’m still mixing.
• I pour my mixture into the saucepan and cook it for about 3 minutes over medium heat without stopping mixing until boiling then I stop cooking.

• Once cooking is finished, I pour my cream into a cold dish and whisk it until it cools. To prevent a film from forming on the surface. This step can be done with a robot and its whisk, at low speed.
• When the cream is cold, I film it and refrigerate it.

Tips

• To flavor with chocolate or praline, simply add 25 g of chocolate or praline to the milk instead of adding the vanilla flavor. Summary:
  • Or 10% real chocolate or praline compared to the quantity of milk.
  • Or 5% cocoa powder compared to the quantity of milk.
• The pastry cream cannot be frozen.

Original ideas (Antho’s corner)

1. If you have too much pastry cream left that you don’t know what to do with, you can bake it in the oven and make a delicious pastry flan.