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Hi Bold Bakers!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: When you discover How to Make Chocolate Pastry Cream, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it! Rich, spreadable, and pipeable, it’s the mouthwatering dessert staple that will give you the confidence of a pastry chef.
- As a cake filling, Chocolate Pastry Cream delivers deep dark chocolate flavor and a supple, pudding-like consistency.
- Although this French pâtisserie staple is elegant, it’s made from simple ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now, and our Bigger Bolder Baking step-by-step instructions make it easy!
This rich and spreadable cream is the luscious filling in the stunning 24-Layer Chocolate Cake, and it would also be amazing sandwiched between the layers of our Best-Ever Vanilla Birthday Cake, in a Flourless Brownie Roll, or in my Homemade Donuts or Homemade Cream Puffs.
Table of Contents
- What is Chocolate Pastry Cream?
- Tools You Need
- Key Ingredients and Why
- How to Make Chocolate Pastry Cream
- Can I Make Chocolate Pastry Cream in Advance?
- How to Store Chocolate Pastry Cream
- FAQs
- Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
- More Filling and Frosting Recipes
What is Chocolate Pastry Cream?
- Chocolate Pastry Cream, also known as Crème Pâtissèrie au Chocolat, is a rich, stirred custard made from a base of whole milk, eggs, and cornstarch.
- It’s perfect here as a spreadable cake filling, and it’s also luscious piped in pastries, like choux buns.
- Pastry making emerged as an art form in Paris during the Renaissance, when iconic treats like choux pastry and crème patisserie were developed. Bakers today continue to use their creativity by customizing pastry cream with flavors like chocolate, strawberry, vanilla bean, or rum, or using other liqueurs and spices.
Tools You Need
Key Ingredients and Why
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Whole milk
- Whole milk gives the pastry cream velvety thickness.
- Its mild dairy flavor balances the intensity of the chocolate.
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Egg
- As the proteins in the egg yolks cook, the mixture develops a custardy texture.
- Eggs bind the recipe’s ingredients together and emulsifies the fats and the liquids, forming a cohesive mixture.
- I always recommend using room-temperature eggs, and you can warm them up quickly if you forget to take them out of the fridge.
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Granulated sugar
- Sugar sweetens the pastry cream, and it attracts and holds moisture, giving the Chocolate Pastry Cream its signature silkiness.
- This recipe relies on cornstarch and eggs to set instead of sugar caramelization, so sugar-free sugar substitutes will also work.
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Cornstarch
- This starch is the key to the Chocolate Pastry Cream’s structure. It absorbs liquid and swells to a gel-like consistency.
- Unlike another thickening option like all-purpose flour, corn starch is the perfect thickener here because there’s no floury taste; as a bonus, it’s gluten-free!
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Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Unsweetened cocoa powder, which is pure chocolate with most of the cocoa butter removed, adds deep chocolate flavor to this pastry cream.
- This dry ingredient helps stabilize the mixture by absorbing excess moisture.
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Salt
- Salt enhances the chocolate in this recipe and adds a balancing note to the sweetness, adding delicious depth to the flavor.
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Bittersweet chocolate
- Using bittersweet chocolate keeps the chocolate flavor bold and rich.
- Combining chopped bittersweet chocolate with unsweetened cocoa powder doubles down on the cocoa intensity, creating pâtissèrie-level flavor.
- Use chopped chocolate, not chocolate chips, as chopped melts smoothly and easily.
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Butter
- Butter gives this chocolate cream unparalleled creaminess, rich flavor, and luxurious mouthfeel.
- The fat in butter gives the pastry cream a lovely glossiness.
- Did you know it’s easy to make your own fresh and delicious butter?
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Vanilla extract
- Vanilla adds a luscious floral flavor note and enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Learn how to make your vanilla extract and other flavorful extracts.
How to Make Chocolate Pastry Cream
- Mix the pastry cream: Warm the milk in a saucepan until simmering. Whisk the whole egg, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Thicken the pastry cream: Gradually add the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk until it thickens and bubbles. Keep cooking for another minute or two as it continues to thicken.
- Remove from heat: Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla. Let sit for five minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- Strain and cool: Pass the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pastry cream (this will prevent a skin from forming). Let the pastry cream cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for at least three hours before using.
Can I Make Chocolate Pastry Cream in Advance?
Yes, you can make this Chocolate Pastry Cream recipe in advance.
To refrigerate:
- This pastry cream will keep in the fridge for up to two days.
- The pastry cream should be cooled to room temperature before refrigerating.
- Be sure to place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.
- Stir it before using to reincorporate any moisture that may have risen to the top.
How to Store Chocolate Pastry Cream
- Store any leftover Chocolate Pastry Cream in the refrigerator in an airtight container, with a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard.
- The Chocolate Pastry Cream will keep in the fridge for two days.
FAQs
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How do I prevent having lumpy pastry cream?
- When you heat the milk, it should be over medium-low heat, not medium heat or high heat.
- Be careful not to overheat your egg and hot milk mixture. It should just simmer, not boil!
- Be sure to keep stirring it as it comes to a simmer.
- Always pass the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer to make sure it’s perfectly smooth.
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Why is my pastry cream too thin?
- Undercooked pastry cream can be thin. Be sure to cook your pastry cream for the instructed time.
- A simple fix for pastry cream that is too thin is to add a little more cornstarch. Just add a bit at a time until you reach the proper consistency.
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What to do if my pastry cream is too thick?
- If your pastry cream is too thick, you’ve either added too much cornstarch or cooked it for too long.
- When making pastry cream, be sure to watch the cooking time carefully, and monitor the heat so it’s not too high.
- To thin our your pastry cream, slowly add in the tiniest amount of milk while stirring.
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Can I make Chocolate Pastry Cream without eggs?
- Chocolate Pastry Cream made without egg will differ in texture and taste from the pastry cream made by following the original recipe.
- Cornstarch from Guide to the 12 Best Egg Substitutes for Baking and How to Use Them will work closest to eggs in custard.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
- This recipe makes a fairly firm pastry cream that is good for piping and filling cake layers. For a looser cream, use an extra ¼ cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) of milk.
- You can serve this as a chocolate pudding cup with a dollop of whipped cream.
- You can replace the vanilla extract with another extract or spice for a different flavor: for instance, instead of the vanilla, try ½ teaspoon of instant espresso, ½ tsp. of cinnamon, or 1 teaspoon of orange or peppermint extract.
- Use this to fill Homemade Eclairs!
- For a richer pastry cream, replace the whole egg with three more egg yolks.
More Filling and Frosting Recipes
- Simple Vanilla Pastry Cream Recipe
- How to Make Stabilized Whipped Cream
- How to Make Homemade Frangipane
- Best Ever Cream Cheese Frosting
- Best Ever Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Try These Recipes!
Chocolate Pastry Cream
Learn how to make our Chocolate Pastry Cream, the luscious pudding-like filling that elevates cakes, donuts, eclairs, and cream puffs!
Servings: 3 cups
Learn how to make our Chocolate Pastry Cream, the luscious pudding-like filling that elevates cakes, donuts, eclairs, and cream puffs!
Servings: 3 cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups (16 fl oz/480 ml) whole milk
- 1 large whole egg, at room temperature
- 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 oz/115 g) granulated sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (6 oz/170 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (1 oz/28 g) cold butter, cubed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt.
- Once the milk is simmering, gradually add it to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and while whisking, cook until the custard begins to bubble and thicken.
- Keep cooking for 1 -2 minutes until thickened.
- Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, butter, and vanilla extract. Let this sit for five minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve and into a clean bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the hot custard and let cool to room temperature on the counter before transferring to the refrigerator to cool and set completely, for at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. Use as a filling in a pie, cakes, trifle and tarts.
Hi can we make this eggless?