Best Pastry Cream {Crème Pâtissière}

What is Pastry Cream?

Pastry cream is a custard made with eggs, milk, sugar, and starch, that's thick enough to be used in a wide variety of pastries and desserts. And, there are few pastries in this world that really good pastry cream can't make even better.

Good pastry cream is silky smooth, flavorful, and more rich than sweet. It should be thick enough to hold its own between layers of cake or flaky pastry, or when pipped into doughnuts or spread into a tart or pie shell.

What's the difference between pastry cream and custard?

I feel like this is a tricky question that may have more to do with the area and culture in which you grew up than any sort of "technical" differentiation.

But, essentially, the word "custard" is used to describe any kind of dessert or dessert sauce that is thickened with eggs. Think of it as more as a broad category than any kind of specific food.

For example, here's a short list of dessert custards we all know and love:

Custard Sauces

Custard sauces, like the kind typically poured over Irish Apple Cake, or the crème anglaise spooned over a rich Chocolate Soufflé, are quite thin and somewhat similar to the consistency of melted vanilla ice cream.

For that matter, many kinds of ice cream are technically custard desserts as well. Frozen custard style ice cream, and Italian Gelato, begin with a custard base that is essentially the same thing as crème anglaise.

Oven baked custards

Oven baked custards like Mexican Flan, Pots de Creme, Creme Brûlée, or Crustless Custard Tart are thick enough to be cut with a knife, while starch-thickened custards are similar in consistency to pudding.

What's the difference between Crème Pâtissière and American-style puddings?

Crème Pâtissière and American-style puddings are both starch-thickened custards made from a simple mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, and flour or cornstarch.

So, there isn't actually a difference between pastry cream and custard. Pastry Cream IS a kind of custard.

Ingredients Needed to Prepare this Recipe

• Unflavored gelatin. Just 1 ½ teaspoons of unflavored gelatin is the secret weapon in this recipe because it creates pastry cream that is incredibly stable. (More about what gelatin does for pastry cream below.)
• 6 large egg yolks. Egg yolks create a super rich and creamy pastry cream. Check out the notes section in the recipe card for ideas about what to do with the egg whites.
• Cornstarch. This recipe uses cornstarch to thicken the custard.
• Whole milk. You can, in a pinch, use 2% milk, but I don't recommend using skim milk in this recipe. The little bit of extra fat in whole milk creates a richer consistency in the pastry cream.
• Granulated sugar. This recipe calls for just ½ cup of sugar, which is the perfect amount for pastry cream that's sweet, but not cloying.
• Salt. Just ¼ teaspoon of salt brings out the flavors of the other ingredients.
• Pure vanilla extract. Avoid imitation vanilla in this recipe because it can leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
• Heavy whipping cream. A bit of whipped cream, folded into the pastry cream right before using creates a light and fluffy consistency.

How to Make Pastry Cream {and avoid some common problems}

In general, starch thickened custards like Pastry Cream rely on cornstarch or flour to create a thick, rich, pudding-like texture that can hold its own when used as a filling for a wide varieties of pastries and desserts.

Not only are starch-thickened custards thicker than custard sauces like crème anglaise, they are also more stable. This is because starch slows down protein coagulation, making the eggs more resistant to curdling.

Even still, there are three common pastry cream problems I wanted to overcome with this recipe:

1. Pastry cream can become unstable and "break" (separate) if it gets too cold or sits out at room temperature for too long.
2. Pastry cream has a tendency to curdle when baked inside a pastry.
3. It's challenging to add enough thickener (cornstarch or flour) to pastry cream in order to create a pipe-able consistency that will hold its shape and not squeeze out from between the layers of cakes or pastries without ending up with a chalky texture and starchy taste.

The Surprising Secret Ingredient that Solves Many Pastry Cream Challenges

A little bit of gelatin added to pastry cream after cooking is the solution to so many difficulties with this custard.

The addition of gelatin creates a pastry cream that's thick and sturdy enough to hold up between layers of a flaky Napoleon, as a filling for a layer cake, or piped into chocolate eclairs, cream puffs (profiteroles) or banana cream cake.

Even better, gelatin will remain stable at room temperature and does not curdle when baked. 🙌

So, for example, you can confidently fill a wedding, birthday, or anniversary cake with pastry cream, even if you know it will need to sit out at room temperature for several hours, and NOT worry about the filling breaking down and turning to liquid mush inside your cake.

Or, as I have done many times, confidently serve lovely little amaretto custard and fruit tarts at a brunch open house, placing them on the serving table at 9am and know that they will still be perfectly sliceable at noon.

Can Pastry Cream Be Used in Baked Pastries?

Gelatin makes it possible to include crème pâtissière in baked desserts.

Say what??? Yes, it's true. Two of my favorite desserts of all time are filled with pastry cream BEFORE you bake them:

1. Strawberries and Cream Pie includes a thick layer of pastry cream topped with fresh strawberry pie filling inside a flaky double pie crust. It's bright, and creamy, and absolutely screams summer and picnics and sunshine.
2. Apple Butter and Pastry Cream Hand Pies. These buttery little hand pies are filled with almond pastry cream and apple butter. They are flaky, creamy, & packed with warm apple flavor.

For both of these desserts, I have received emails from skeptical bakers asking if I'm sure the pastry cream should be added before baking. It's a good question because usually the answer would be no.

In this case, thanks to the awesome properties of gelatin, the answer is YES! Try it. You'll see.

How to use pastry cream in baked pastries:

If you are going to use this pastry cream in a pastry or dessert that will be baked after filling, do NOT add the whipped cream.

This recipe instructs you to chill the cooked custard in the refrigerator for about three hours then beat in some whipped cream. The whipped cream lightens the pastry cream, giving it a lovely, airy texture, without interfering with it's sturdy, rich structure.

However, if you are going to use this pastry cream to fill a pie, or any other pastry that will be baked, it's important to leave out the addition of the whipped cream which could "melt" while baking.

Can you Freeze Pastry Cream?

According to the entire internet, you cannot freeze pastry cream. But, friends, I am here to tell you that you CAN, in fact, freeze this pastry cream because of one superstar ingredient: gelatin.

Yes, the recipe also includes cornstarch and freezing things thickened with cornstarch generally results in a gloppy, gluey mess. But, simply add some gelatin and you can freeze the pastry cream with abandon.

The consistency after it has thawed will still be perfectly creamy and delicious. It's magical. Here's how to freeze it:

1. Freeze the filling BEFORE adding the whipped cream. Let the pastry cream cool in the refrigerator completely. Then, make sure it's in an air-tight container or a bowl that's well wrapped and put it in the freezer for up to 3 months. 
2. Allow the frozen pastry cream to thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for about 3-4 hours. Once thawed, add the pastry cream to whipped cream as instructed in steps 10 and 11 of this recipe.

16 Recipes that Use Pastry Cream

1. The Classic French Napoleon: The classic Napoleon Dessert (mille-feuille) includes flaky puff pastry layered with creamy vanilla pastry cream. It's one of those classic French pastries that exemplifies everything I love about French pastry - It's elegantly simple and deliciously indulgent.
2. Cannoli Napoleon: This Cannoli Napoleon marries two delicious desserts, the Italian Cannoli and the French Napoleon, into one delicious, flaky, creamy pastry.
3. Coconut Cream Cake: This coconut cake is light, tender, and exceptionally soft and fluffy. Filled with a super thick layer of coconut cream and covered in coconut buttercream, every bite is so rich and creamy it practically melts in your mouth.
4. Extra Creamy Coconut Cream Pie: This Coconut Cream Pie, with its rich cream filling and buttery toasted almond crust, is the ultimate coconut lover's indulgence.
5. Easy Homemade Doughnuts: This doughnut recipe can be used to make pretty much any kind of homemade doughnut you can imagine, including cream filled.
6. Doughnut Holes Filled with Salted Caramel Pastry Cream: Tender yeast raised doughnut holes are filled with salted caramel pastry cream and drizzled with salted caramel sauce.
7. Profiteroles {Cream Puffs}: Profiteroles (cream puffs) are buttery little balls of choux pastry (pâte à choux) baked until light, tender, and puffed up to form a hollow center. They are the perfect vessel for pastry cream, ice cream, whipped cream, all varieties of savory ingredients, or anything your imagination and taste buds, can dream up.
8. Pasty Cream Filled Chocolate Eclairs: Eclairs are buttery logs of choux pastry (pâte à choux) baked until light, tender, and puffed up to form a hollow center that’s perfect for filling with luscious vanilla pastry cream and topping with a rich chocolate glaze.
9. Mini Butterscotch Eclairs: These buttery little two-bite mini éclairs are bursting with butterscotch pastry cream and covered butterscotch sauce.
10. Apple Butter and Pastry Cream Hand Pies: These buttery little hand pies are filled with almond pastry cream and apple butter. They are flaky, creamy, & packed with warm apple flavor.
11. Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Mascarpone Cream: Olive Oil Cake is exceptionally moist and flavorful, with a fine, tender crumb that’s not too sweet and positively delicious. On it’s own, it’s one of my all-time favorite cakes, but split in half and filled with a thick layer of Lemon Mascarpone Pastry Cream takes it to a whole other level of YUM.
12. Strawberries and Cream Pie: Vanilla pastry cream and fresh strawberry pie filling are layered inside a flaky pie crust for a strawberries & cream pie that is the perfect summer treat.
13. Peaches and Cream Crepe Cake: This crepe cake includes layer upon layer of buttery crepes, vanilla pastry cream and fresh peaches, and is covered with a generous layer whipped cream and more fresh peaches.
14. Amaretto Custard Blackberry Tarts: Buttery, flaky pasty crust is brushed with jam, filled with creamy amaretto custard, and topped with fresh blackberries for delicious individual fruit custard tarts that are simple, elegant, and delicious.
15. Chocolate Cream Pie: This Chocolate Cream Pie is what happens when you take really good pastry cream, add copious amounts of bittersweet chocolate, spread all that rich, chocolate dreaminess into a crispy Toasted Almond Crust, and then top it with a mile-high layer of whipped cream.
16. Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie: This Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie includes layers of chocolate pastry cream, vanilla rum custard, bananas, and whipped cream in a buttery vanilla wafer crust. It's incredibly rich, creamy, and indulgent without being overly sweet, and has been a favorite recipe in our family for years and years.