Vanilla Custard (Pastry Cream)
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This delicious silky smooth Vanilla Custard is a super easy to make French pastry cream! Made with egg yolks, milk, butter, and vanilla, it’s infused with a delicate buttery vanilla flavor. You can eat it topped with fresh fruit with a spoon like pudding or use it to make other desserts like cream puffs, tarts, eclairs, and even cakes!
Easy Vanilla Custard Recipe
If you hear the words pastry cream and think it’s probably just too fancy to make, you’re not alone. But did you know that pastry cream, also known as crème patissière in French, is just another name for vanilla custard!?! And custard is just pudding with almost twice the amount of cornstarch.
So this homemade vanilla custard recipe basically makes a thick and creamy pudding with a smooth vanilla taste, which can be used as a filling for eclairs, cream puffs, tarts, pies, and cakes, or eaten on its own topped with some fresh strawberries and blueberries! A good example of how to use it is my Strawberry and Custard Tart! You can also use this pastry cream to fill a baked pie crust to make a custard pie, make a trifle with cookie crumbles, or spread it between layers of my Chocolate Cake instead of chocolate frosting.
Why You’ll Love This Vanilla Custard Recipe
- Quick and Easy! This simple 7-ingredient custard recipe takes just about 20 minutes to make! And it doesn’t require any fancy equipment, special skills, or expensive ingredients.
- Creamy Dreamy Vanilla! Almost like a thick refined pudding, this vanilla pastry cream made with egg yolks, milk, butter, and real vanilla beans or vanilla paste is super rich and creamy.
- Versatile Recipe! You can eat this yummy vanilla custard by the spoonful right out of a dish or incorporate it into other desserts like profiteroles, eclairs, tarts, cakes, and donuts.
- Whole Milk – Use whole milk for the best texture. If you opt to use low-fat milk or skim milk you may need to add a bit more cornstarch.
- Vanilla – You can use a vanilla pod or vanilla paste which you can easily find at almost any store. Vanilla extract should only be used as a last resort.
- Egg Yolks – They help to thicken the custard and add richness. For the best results, use room-temperature egg yolks.
- Sugar – White granulated sugar is needed to sweeten the pastry cream.
- Cornstarch – Used to thicken the custard. Make sure to sift out any lumps.
- Salt – A dash of salt helps to balance the flavors.
- Unsalted Butter – It adds a lovely richness. Always use unsalted butter in cooking and baking.
Making so-called fancy French recipes doesn’t have to be hard. Because it’s not! In fact, it’s pretty easy and doesn’t even require any special skills. So if you just follow these easy steps your pastry cream will come out silky smooth and perfectly delicious!
To begin, heat the milk and vanilla together over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan. You just want the milk to start steaming. The mixture should never come close to boiling.
Next, put the egg yolks and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and then use the whisk attachment to mix them together until light and fluffy. Then add the cornstarch and salt. Now, continue mixing on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. You can also use an electric mixer or do this step by hand with a whisk.
When the egg yolk mixture is ready, start slowly adding the milk while the mixer is still running. But do not stop mixing until the milk mixture is well incorporated. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Now, cook the pastry cream over low heat for about 6 to 10 minutes while stirring it constantly with a whisk until it has thickened up and is registering at 170°F (77°C) when checked with a kitchen thermometer. While doing this step the custard should never come to a boil.
Once the mixture has thickened, remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the softened butter until smooth.
Then put the vanilla custard in a bowl and cover the surface of it with plastic wrap. The plastic should be touching the surface of the cream. Finally, put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before serving or using it in another recipe.
What’s The Difference Between Vanilla Pudding And Vanilla Custard?
These two similar desserts are both thick and creamy, but there are some differences. To begin, vanilla custard tends to be thicker than vanilla pudding. Also, custard is always thickened with eggs and sometimes cornstarch. But pudding doesn’t always have eggs in it. In fact, most pudding is thickened with cornstarch only.
Why Is My Custard Lumpy?
This can happen for a few different reasons. Most often it’s because the egg yolks got too hot and they curdled. Lumps can also form if the cornstarch did not fully dissolve, which is why it’s important to use a whisk. But lumpy custard is easy to fix! Just pass the custard through a fine mesh sieve to remove the lumps.
Expert Tips
- Room temperature eggs and butter. The butter and egg yolks should be at room temperature so that they blend together properly with the other ingredients.
- Never let the custard boil. At no point in this recipe should the milk or custard ever come to a boil. This is to prevent the custard from curdling and having an eggy taste.
- Plastic wrap the surface. The plastic wrap should be laid right on the surface of the custard. Doing so prevents a skin from forming on the top when it goes into the fridge.
Storage
You can keep vanilla custard stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days. But it does not freeze well. Also, you should never keep it at room temperature. The milk, butter, and egg in it will spoil if it’s not kept cold.
More Great Recipes To Try
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Vanilla Custard (Pastry Cream)
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean (split in half and use scraped seeds, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
- 6 large egg yolks
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter (unsalted, softened)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Add the milk and vanilla extract to a medium saucepan and heat until hot but not boiling.
- Meanwhile, add the egg yolks, sugar, and whisk until light and fluffy. Add cornstarch and salt to the bowl of you mixer and mix on medium speed until smooth.
- Gradually add the milk while mixing until well combined. Pour the mixture back into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and registers at 170°F. Should take about 6 to 10 minutes, make sure to not boil.
- Stir in the butter until smooth.
- Transfer the custard to a bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap directly over the surface of the cream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.
Equipment
Notes
- Recipe yields about 3 cups of custard. Nutrition information is per ½ cup.
- Room temperature eggs and butter. The butter and egg yolks should be at room temperature so that they blend together properly with the other ingredients.
- Never let the custard boil. At no point in this recipe should the milk or custard ever come to a boil. This is to prevent the custard from curdling and having an eggy taste.
- Plastic wrap the surface. The plastic wrap should be laid right on the surface of the custard. Doing so prevents a skin from forming on the top when it goes into the fridge.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
How can I turn this into chocolate?
You would have to add about ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder or 4 oz. of melted dark chocolate and add it to the custard after incorporating the warm milk.