Pastry Cream Recipe (Crème Pâtissière)

This pastry cream recipe (crème pâtissière) is a silky, thick, delicious vanilla custard filling that pipes beautifully, slices cleanly, and shows why every French pastry shop keeps a fresh batch on hand daily.

It's the best base for eclairs, cream puffs, mille-feuille, cream pies, tarts, and so much more. Learn it once, and it opens up an entire world of desserts.

I first shared this recipe on the blog in 2022. Since then, I've updated it with new photos, added helpful tips, lots of recipes to use, and included several flavor and ingredient substitution options.

What is Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)

Pastry cream is one of those foundational recipes that every serious home baker should know, as it opens up dozens of other desserts

Crème pâtissière is a cooked French custard, also known as vanilla pastry cream filling, crème pât or vanilla pudding. It is made with milk, butter, egg yolk, sugar, and flour and/or starch, cooked on the stove into a thick, rich custard. It is super silky and creamy, melts in your mouth, and is extremely delicious.

Pastry chefs use crème pâtissière to make other traditional fillings, including Crème Mousseline and Crème Diplomat. Master this one recipe, and you have essentially learned three.

Best vanilla pastry cream recipe

Making homemade French pastry cream may sound complicated, but it's actually quick and easy! A few steps need your attention, but I'll share all my pro tips and tricks. And once you've learned how to make it, you'll be surprised how much you can use it.

Homemade pastry cream has the most luxurious texture and vanilla bean flavor. It's creamy, silky, and rich yet well-balanced in sweetness.

What's more, you can use this easy crème pâtissière in so many ways. Its wonderfully pipeable consistency (with no gelatin) makes it the perfect texture to fill your French pastries and layer cakes. You'll be hooked.

The method is simpler than most people expect. The active cooking time is under 10 minutes, and the result is a cream so luxurious that people genuinely won't believe you made it at home.

Key Ingredients

Whole milk at 3% fat gives cream its richness and body. Don't use low fat milk or plant based milk as a direct swap, as the fat content affects both flavor and the final set.

Egg yolks give the custard its color, richness, and flavor. Farm-fresh or free-range eggs with deep orange yolks produce a more vibrantly colored cream. Supermarket eggs tend to give a paler result. Use the leftover egg whites to make macarons.

Add unsalted butter at 82% fat at the end; it gives the cream its silky, glossy finish. It must be at room temperature, not melted, not cold. Cold butter will not emulsify and will leave the cream greasy and broken. Let it sit out for at least one hour.

Vanilla is the dominant flavor here. Use vanilla bean paste for the best flavor and a beautiful speckled appearance, or vanilla extract as an alternative. Add one or two teaspoons, or honestly, as much as you fancy; you can never add too much vanilla to pastry cream. Imitation vanilla will noticeably damage the flavor.

Flour and cornstarch work together as thickeners. See the section above for why both matter.

How to make pastry cream

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together with a hand whisk for one to two minutes until slightly thickened and pale.

Add the vanilla bean paste to the egg mixture, then sift in the cornstarch and flour, and whisk until you have a completely smooth paste with no lumps.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it simmers. I recommend using a good-quality small/medium-sized saucepan with good heat distribution.

Once the milk simmers, remove the pot from the heat and slowly pour it into the egg yolk mixture in a steady stream, whisking constantly. This is tempering: you gradually raise the egg yolks' temperature with the hot milk without scrambling them. Pour slowly and whisk vigorously throughout.

Pour the tempered mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking continuously. Scrape the bottom and corners of the pan as you whisk to prevent the mixture from sticking and scorching.

Once the cream comes to a boil and thickens noticeably, keep cooking and whisking for 1 more minute. This step fully activates the starch and gives you a cream that sets properly and tastes clean.

Remove from the heat. If you see any lumps, strain the cream through a fine mesh sieve immediately while it is still warm and pourable. Once cool, lumps are much harder to remove.

Then, add the room-temperature butter in three additions, mixing well with a rubber spatula after each one. The cream will become visibly glossier and smoother with each addition.

Transfer the finished cream to a shallow bowl or container and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cold before using.

How to use pastry cream

Pastry cream firms up significantly in the fridge, which is normal. Before using it, give it a few whisks with a hand whisk until it loosens to a smooth, pipeable consistency. Don't overwhisk or use a stand mixer, as too much agitation can make it runny and lose its structure. A few firm whisks by hand are enough.

Here is a look at everything you can make with this pastry cream recipe:

Crème Diplomat — fold in whipped cream (made with heavy cream) for a lighter, airier texture.

Crème Mousseline — whip cold pastry cream with butter for a silkier, richer frosting.

Chocolate Eclairs — éclairs is the classic use. Pipe it directly into the baked choux shells. Other choux pastries include profiteroles, choux au craquelin, cream puff, and cream puff cake.

Chocolate Eclair Cake — all the flavors of an eclair in a no-bake cake.

Boston Cream — classic usage of the pastry cream as part of Boston cream pie (that is a cake really).

Mille-Feuille, Napoleon — layered puff pastry with pastry cream, one of the most delicious ways to use pastry cream.

Blueberry Cream Pie — pastry cream layered under fresh blueberries in a baked crust.

Vanilla Cream Pie — pastry cream as the pure star of the filling.

Banana Cream Pie — pastry cream with fresh banana slices and whipped cream.

Cake Filling — spread or spone between sponge layers for an elegant, stable filling.

Storing and freezing

Store the pastry cream in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate for up to three to four days. Do not freeze pastry cream, as freezing ruins the texture completely. It will turn grainy and watery after thawing, with no way to fix it.

Expert tips to make pastry cream

1. If lumps appear during cooking, don't panic or remove the pan from the heat. Keep whisking firmly. The lumps smooth out as the starch gelatinizes. Only strain if they persist after a full minute of whisking.
2. The butter needs to be at room temperature before you begin mixing it into the pastry cream for proper emulsification. Use my tips on softening butter, and avoid last-minute microwaving, as melted butter will not work.
3. Add the butter while the cream is still warm, not cold. Warm cream emulsifies butter much more easily.
4. The plastic wrap must touch the surface of the cream, not just cover the container's top. Any air gap between the wrap and the cream will prevent the skin from fully reincorporating.
5. If the finished cream is too firm after refrigerating, it likely needs re-whisking, not more liquid.
6. If your pastry cream is too runny, you may not have cooked it long enough on the stove. Let it bubble while whisking for a good minute after the first boil.

Flavor variations

Pastry cream is a wonderful base for flavor experimentation. For a lemon pastry cream, add the finely grated zest of one lemon to the milk while it heats, then strain it out before tempering. Orange and lime zest work the same way. Stir a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg into the dry mixture for warm, festive depth.

For chocolate pastry cream, I have a dedicated recipe that combines cocoa powder and real chocolate for a deep, rich flavor.

For coffee pastry cream, replace 50 grams of the whole milk with 50 grams of freshly brewed espresso. This pairs exceptionally well with chocolate sponge cake.

Ingredient substitutions

To make a gluten-free version, simply replace the flour with an equal weight of cornstarch. The cream will be slightly more translucent and set a little firmer, but the method is identical.

I have personally made this pastry cream with non-dairy milk and vegan butter for my mom, who cannot have dairy. It works, but keep a few things in mind. Most plant-based milks are too watery on their own. The lower fat content throws off the balance of the cream and makes it harder to achieve the right richness and consistency. What I recommend is using a combination of coconut milk and coconut cream, which together bring the fat content closer to whole dairy milk. I also increase the thickener slightly and add a bit more vanilla to compensate for the loss of richness from full-fat milk.

I do not recommend making this recipe without egg yolks. You could technically use more cornstarch and flour to thicken it, but the result is far from real pastry cream in flavor. The egg yolks are what give crème pâtissière its richness, color, and custard character; there is no real substitute for them here.

For more details, visit my substitute guides.

What Equipment to Use

A digital scale is essential for accuracy.

A hand whisk is used throughout the tempering and cooking stages. A rubber spatula is useful for scraping the pan corners during cooking and folding in the butter.

A small or medium saucepan with good heat distribution prevents scorching. A fine mesh sieve is useful for straining if needed.

Try Some of My Other Filling Recipes

• Chantilly Cream
• Lemon Curd
• Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting
• Caramel Filling
• Chocolate fudge frosting
• 7-minute frosting

Have you tried this recipe?

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