Chocolate Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière) Recipe

Piped thickened chocolate pastry cream in a small glass jar.

5 from 5 votes

Chocolate Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière) Recipe

This easy-to-make chocolate pastry cream is rich, creamy and full of chocolate flavour. This French custard can be used in a myriad of ways such as a filling for éclairs, fruit tarts and cakes.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: creams

Cuisine: French

Servings: portions

Calories: 132kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Equipment

Heavy based saucepan

Ingredients

5 large egg yolks room temperature
100 g granulated sugar
50 g cornflour (corn starch)
15 g cocoa powder
520 ml whole milk
100 g dark chocolate 70% finely chopped
50 g unsalted butter, chopped room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Heat the milk. Add the milk to a medium saucepan. Heat milk over medium heat until it begins to simmer and bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan. Do not boil the milk.
Whisk eggs and sugar. Whilst the milk is heating, place the yolks and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl set on a tea towel and whisk until thickened and pale.
Add in cornflour and cocoa powder and whisk until combined.
Temper the eggs. While whisking the egg mixture continuously, pour in the milk in a slow thin stream and whisk until combined.
Pour the mixture straight back into the saucepan and return to low heat.
Heat the custard. Add in the chopped chocolate and whilst continuously whisking, (do not stop!), heat the custard on low to medium heat until it starts to bubble and thicken and the chocolate melts thoroughly. Once bubbles appear, heat for a further minute for the cornflour to reach the full point of thickening.
Add in butter and cool pastry cream. Remove the pan from the heat and pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium-sized bowl. This will remove any egg lumps.
Add the butter and vanilla extract to the custard and whisk until melted and combined and the cream is smooth and shiny.
Chill the pastry cream. Cover the cream with plastic wrap and set aside until cooled to room temperature, then refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight.
When ready to use, remove plastic wrap and whip or beat vigorously until smooth again.

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To store: Pastry Cream can be stored in an air-tight container with a piece of plastic wrap touching its surface in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To freeze: I would not recommend freezing Crème Pâtissière as it will lose its thickness once thawed.

Thickness: For a lighter Pastry Cream, add more milk to make it a more pourable consistency. Alternatively for a lighter filling, fold in whipped cream.

Tip 1: Don't whisk the eggs and sugar until ready to temper. When sugar comes into contact with the yolks and is left, it will 'burn' the yolks and cause them to essentially scramble creating unpleasant lumps that won't dissolve into the milk.

Tip 2: Heat the milk until just simmering around the edges. There's no need to boil it. Heating the milk too aggressively will create too much of a difference between the room-temperature egg yolks and boiling milk.

Tip 3: When tempering the eggs whisk continuously and add the milk in slowly. The yolks have to increase in temperature and the milk has to cool down whilst whisking. Doing this step too quickly will result in the milk 'cooking' the eggs and causing them to scramble.

Tip 4: Avoid aluminium or cast iron saucepans to make the pastry cream in. They can react with the ingredients creating a metallic taste in the cream and turning it grey.

Tip 5: Heat the custard mixture slowly. Once the eggs are tempered and the mixture is back in the saucepan, the custard needs to heat enough for the yolks to cook without scrambling but also for the starch in the cornflour to activate and allow the custard to thicken. Once you see a couple of bubbles- make sure to cook it for another minute.

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