Classic Vanilla Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)

Method

1. 1

   Warm the milk with the vanilla paste in a saucepan until steaming but not boiling. Remove from the heat.

2. 2

   In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and salt until pale, then whisk in the cornflour until smooth.

3. 3

   Pour about a third of the hot milk into the yolks, whisking constantly to temper, then pour everything back into the pan.

4. 4

   Cook over medium heat, whisking hard and without stopping, until the cream thickens and bubbles for a full 60 seconds — this cooks out the starch.

5. 5

   Off the heat, whisk in the butter until glossy. Pass through a sieve into a clean bowl.

6. 6

   Press cling film directly onto the surface and chill for at least 2 hours. Whisk smooth before using.

Scaling notes

• •Halve for a single tart: the cook time drops by 1–2 minutes but the method is identical.
• •Doubling works well in a wide pan — keep whisking vigorously so the base does not catch.
• •Yolks scale to whole numbers; round to the nearest yolk and save whites for macarons (see below).

Ingredient substitutions

• •No vanilla paste? Use 1 split vanilla pod (steep in the milk) or 2 tsp vanilla extract added off the heat.
• •Cornflour can be swapped gram-for-gram with custard powder for a classic British flavour and pale-yellow colour.
• •For a chocolate pastry cream, whisk 80 g chopped dark chocolate into the hot cream at the end.

Dietary variations

Baker's tips

• •The 60-second hard boil is non-negotiable — under-cooked cream tastes starchy and weeps later.
• •Always sieve, then film the surface to prevent a skin.