Homemade Custard Recipe (Pastry Cream) (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good custard? ›

The secret to cooking stirred custard is to cook it in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Stirring distributes the heat so the custard doesn't become too hot, which can curdle it.

Put simply, pastry cream is a type of custard. Adding cornstarch to the vanilla custard will give you a thick, firm substance (almost like vanilla pudding) that will hold its shape when piped. Custard that you can pour, which is only thickened with eggs, is actually called crème anglaise.

The most common mistake people make in baking a custard is not putting enough water in the hot-water bath. The water should come up to the level of the custard inside the cups. You must protect your custard from the heat.

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.

Custard is a decadent dessert made with eggs, milk, and sugar. Eggs are responsible for custard's thick and velvety texture, but some recipes (such as this one) call for thickeners such as cornstarch or arrowroot for extra richess.

Combine milk, eggs, sugar and gentle heat and one of our most treasured comfort food appears.

Starch thickens pastry cream. Most recipes incorporate flour, cornstarch, or a mix of the two. I found that flour produced a thicker, heavier texture and imparted an undesirable “floury” taste.

Pastry cream, on the other hand, is thought to be French in origin. It has a considerably thicker consistency, allowing it to be piped into or spread onto pastries and other dishes. This is because, while its base is the same as custard sauce, it relies on the addition of cornstarch to reach completion.

Bavarian cream and pastry cream are not the same. While both are custard-based fillings, Bavarian cream is lightened with whipped cream and set with gelatin, giving it a mousse-like texture, while pastry cream is a thick and creamy custard made with eggs, milk, sugar, and flour or cornstarch.

Rescuing the custard turned out to be a cinch with an immersion blender. A quick buzz effectively broke down the clumps, restoring a perfectly creamy texture (which didn't break when we refrigerated the fixed custard).

How do you keep custard from scrambling? ›

When adding eggs to the custard mixture, add them slowly while whisking continuously. This will help to prevent the eggs from curdling or scrambling. It is also important to temper the eggs before adding them to the custard mixture.

Add the milk in 1/2-cup increments to bring the temperature of the eggs up gradually while whisking. Tip: Whisking the eggs with sugar helps, too. Now you can add the tempered eggs to the hot milk without worrying that the eggs will curdle or scramble. Keep stirring over medium heat as the custard thickens.

The cornstarch: This recipe makes a very firm pastry cream that, when chilled, cuts neatly — a particularly nice thing when you're using it for tarts and cakes. If you'd like a more fluid cream, use a little less cornstarch. The butter: The butter adds richness to the cream as well as body.

When it's hot enough, three or four bubbles will burst on the surface, its temperature will read 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, and it will appear thick and glossy. Undercooked pastry cream won't set properly once it cools. Properly cooked pastry cream holds its shape when cooled.

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.

In my experience yolks in something like flan contribute to richness - so adding more of them (within reason) will amp up that sensation and make the whole dessert seem more filling.

Because it is not held in the chamber, there is very little air beaten into the custard, referred to as “overrun.” This low overrun (20-25%) is what gives frozen custard its wonderfully dense and creamy texture, or “mouthfeel.”

Ingredients in stirred custards are egg yolks, granulated sugar, cornstarch (generally), milk, and flavorings (such as vanilla). Examples of stirred custards are pastry cream and crème anglaise.

There are three types of custard: baked, stirred, and frozen. Baked custards include bread pudding, flan, and cheesecake, and are prepared by baking in an oven or water bath. Boiled Custards include beverages like eggnog. Puddings, creme anglaise (krem on-GLAYZ), and pastry cream are some examples of stirred custards.