Pastry Cream (Crema Pasticcera Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between pastry cream and custard? ›

The methodology and most of the ingredients are the same, except pastry cream incorporates flour or cornstarch and therefore needs to be boiled. This results in a much, much thicker custard. Crème anglaise on the other hand, is thickened only with egg yolks resulting in a thinner, silkier, more pourable sauce. Hi!

Pastry cream delivers in flavor — sweet and custard-like — but lacks lightness. Whipped cream is as light as it comes but doesn't have much flavor or stability.

At its most basic, pastry cream is a combination of milk, eggs, and starch that are cooked together to create a rich and thick custard that's a workhorse in the baker's kitchen.

Our cream fillings are especially designed for bakery and patisserie goods. It offers outstanding stability during pumping, baking and freezing, has great taste and offers a long shelf life. Our cream fillings can be applied before and after baking and can be used in ambient-stored bakery and patisserie goods.

Bavarian Cream is made from a Crème Anglaise base (milk, vanilla, egg yolks and sugar), thickened with Gelatine and lightened with Whipped Cream. Pastry Cream (or Crème Pâtissière) is relatively similar to a Crème Anglaise but is thickened on the stove with Cornstarch (or sometimes flour).

They are similar, but not quite the same. The main difference is that custard is actually less firm. Custard is typically thickened only with eggs (which you might recall is how we made the custard for our Creme Brulee), while pastry cream is thickened with a starch (corn starch, in this instance).

It's essentially a custard, and you can use it as a tart filling, inside danishes and brioche pastries, as the base of creme diplomat (pastry cream + whipped cream mixed together) and german buttercream, inside pies, as a layer in gateaux, and… well, if you're anything like me, you can just eat it by the spoonful.

Bavarian creams are custards stiffened with gelatin. Savoury custards are sometimes encountered, the most notable being quiche, a French tart with a filling of custard flavoured with cheese, onions, ham or bacon, or chopped vegetables.

Both have a sweet flavor and velvety texture that can be used to punch up all kinds of desserts. Don't be fooled, though; custard sauce and pastry cream differ in both composition and consistency. For this reason, the two ingredients can rarely act as substitutes for one another when cooking.

Whereas some recipes use flour instead, I prefer using cornstarch as it gives a better final taste and texture. Unsalted butter. The addition of butter makes the pastry cream even richer and creamier. It also helps it to set to the perfect texture during cooling.

What is the thickening agent in pastry cream? ›

A small amount of starch is needed to thicken the cream: I used corn starch (Maizena) which is available practically everywhere. You can also use other starches like rice starch, but please don't use flour: it might form lumps more easily, it is heavier and might leave a bad after taste.

This Pastry cream is also great for sandwich cookies and cream puffs, profiteroles. Made in just 15 minutes from start to finish and it's honestly a super easy recipe to make. You can store it in a fridge for up to three days or in a freezer for up to three weeks (only if you are using flour in the recipe).

The same easy choux pastry batter makes the light and airy confections we know as cream puffs, éclairs, and profiteroles. Cream puffs, round and fat, are filled with whipped cream and dusted with a blizzard of confectioners' sugar.

Although crema is also used to indicate the milk fat, panna is more common. Panna derives from panno, meaning cloth, as a reference to the fact that cream forms a layer on the surface of milk left to settle, and therefore it covers it like a cloth.

In Italy, the equivalent of heavy cream is known as "panna da cucina" or simply "panna." It is a rich, thick cream used in cooking and baking, similar to heavy cream in other parts of the world. Panna is often used to add creaminess and richness to sauces, soups, desserts, and various Italian dishes.

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.

Pastry cream is basically glorified vanilla pudding, but the best, richest vanilla pudding you've ever had. The texture is thicker and more luxurious, while the flavor is softer and tastes like real vanilla instead of something artificial.

Bavarian creams are custards stiffened with gelatin. Savoury custards are sometimes encountered, the most notable being quiche, a French tart with a filling of custard flavoured with cheese, onions, ham or bacon, or chopped vegetables.

The US equivalent of custard is custard. We also have pudding which is thicker and more set than custard usually with flour or cornstarch. We do not refer to the dessert course of a meal as pudding. Custard has no cornstarch or flour and is often served as a sauce over berries or poundcake.