How to Make Delicious Pastry Cream 🍰 (2024)

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Learn how to make Pastry Cream, a classic French stirred custard (crème pâtissière) used to fill cakes, pastries, tarts, and pies. It’s delicious plain or try one of my flavor suggestions.

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.

It’s useful, too. You can use it in layer cakes, fruit tarts, pies like Boston Cream Pie, and pastries like eclairs. But, you can also use it to elevate any processed dessert requiring pudding into something more homemade.

It takes a few more steps than a box of pudding, but it’s not difficult and worth the effort.

Recipe ingredients

Ingredient notes

• Milk: I’ve also tested this recipe with Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original Almond Milk and it worked perfectly.
• Vanilla: ½ vanilla bean pod, split, or vanilla bean paste may be substituted for the vanilla extract.
• Corn starch: My trick for making a thick pastry cream that’s also gluten-free.

Step-by-step instructions

1. In a medium non-aluminum saucepan over high heat, warm milk until tiny bubbles appear on the surface and the milk begins to simmer, about 6 to 8 minutes (about 180 degrees Fahrenheit). Do not boil, and stir to prevent the milk fromscalding.

2. Meanwhile, In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in cornstarch and salt into the egg mixture.

3. While whisking constantly, pour in half of the hot milk.

4. Whisk in remaining hot milk and return to saucepan.

5. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens to a firm consistency, about 5 to 8 minutes. Whisk in vanilla.

6. Remove from heat. Scrape into a heat-proof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream.

7. Refrigerate the hot pastry cream until chilled, about 2 to 3 hours.

Recipe tips and variations

• Yield: This recipe makes just over 2 ¼ cups pastry cream, enough for one Fresh Fruit Tart or one Danish Layer Cake.
• Storage: The cream can be made up to 4 days in advance. Store covered in the fridge with plastic wrap pressed directly on its surface.
• Butter: For a buttery flavor, softer texture, and a lovely shine, add 2 tablespoons of butter with the vanilla in Step 3. I tend to keep salted butter on hand (and I prefer the taste) so that’s what I use here, but unsalted butter is fine too.
• Vegan pastry cream: I’ve tested this recipe with almond milk (Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original Almond Milk, to be exact) and it worked perfectly! So feel free to make your next batch of pastry cream dairy-free if you want to. I have not tested it with other kinds of non-dairy milk.
• Chocolate pastry cream: Stir 2 ounces of finely chopped dark chocolate into the pastry cream with the vanilla in Step 3.
• Coffee pastry cream: Add ½ ounce coffee extract to the cream with the vanilla in Step 3.
• Lemon pastry cream: Infuse the milk in step one with large pieces of lemon rind or a few teaspoons of lemon zest. Do not use lemon juice which may curdle the milk.
• Coconut pastry cream: Substitute 8 ounces (1 cup) of the whole milk with an equal amount of unsweetened canned coconut milk.
• Mousseline pastry cream: Whip 6 ounces of heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks and fold into the chilled pastry cream. This will lighten the cream and make a great filling for eclairs or cream puffs.