Pastry Cream and Pastry Cream Variations by Le Cordon Bleu
This is an excellent recipe for Pastry Cream that I got from culinary school. I use it all the time for cake fillings, fruit tart fillings, etc… There are also 4 variations to this recipe.
Pastry Cream and Pastry Cream Variations by Le Cordon Bleu
Ingredients
- Milk 1quart
- Sugar 4oz
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- Egg Yolks 4
- Whole eggs 2
- Cornstarch 2.5 oz
- sugar 4oz
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- Butter 2oz
- Vanilla Extract 1 tbsp – or 1 vanilla bean
Instructions
- 1. In a heavy saucepan dissolve the sugar in the milk and bring just to a boil.
- 2. With a whip, beat the egg yolks and whole eggs in a stainless-steel bowl.
- 3. Sift the cornstarch and sugar into the eggs. Beat with whip until perfectly smooth. *Do this step when the milk/sugar is almost at a boil to prevent the sugar from cooking the eggs.*
- 4. Temper the egg mixture by slowly beating in the hot milk in a thin stream. *adding to much too fast with cook the eggs*
- 5. Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil; stirring constantly.
- 6. When the mixture COMES TO A BOIL and thickens, remove from heat.
- 7. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Mix until the butter is melted and completely blended in.
- 8. Strain using a mesh strainer – this will remove any “scrambled” egg pieces, if any.
- 9. Pour into a shallow pan, plastic plastic wrap directly over the surface to prevent crusting. Cool and chill as quickly as possible
- VARIATIONS:
- Deluxe Pastry Cream
- omit the whole eggs in the basic recipe and use 8-10 egg yolks – this makes it taste much richer.
- Pastry Cream Mousseline
- For a lighter pastry cream filling, fold whipped heavy cream in to the chilled pastry cream. Quantities may be varied to taste. In general, for every 1at pastry cream, use .05-1 Cup heavy cream.
- Chocolate Pasty Cream:
- Melt together 2 oz sweet chocolate and 2 oz unsweetened chocolate. Stir into the hot pastry cream.
- Coffee Pastry Cream:
- Add 2 tbsp instant coffee powder to the milk in step 1.
Hi, does this filling have to be refrigerated? Would a cake with this filling be okay sitting out for a day?
I just made this and it turned out perfect!! I was slightly worried when I tempered the eggs and wound up with a LOT of foam on top that didn't go away until after the bottom layer of mixture thickened fully. I just kept stirring and stirring and it all mixed together beautifully! I ran it through a wire mesh strainer after I was done but didn't have any scrambled egg pieces at all. Now I want to dabble with the other variations of this recipe! Thank you for posting it.
Can this recipe be cut in half for a lesser quantity? I would assume so but want to be sure.
Thank you.
Candace