pastry cream

noun

: a thick custard that is made of eggs, sugar, milk, flour or cornstarch, and usually flavoring and that is typically used as a filling for pastries and other baked goods

Once you've become comfortable with the technique for making pastry cream, opportunities abound for the versatile baker's staple. You can use it as a filling for cream puffs, éclairs, fruit tarts, and cakes …

—Kristina Razon

Pastry cream is an anomaly among custards. Although overheating a typical custard can lead to curdling, it's vital to bring pastry cream almost to a boil. Doing so sets the eggs and activates the starch, thereby ensuring a proper consistency.

—Bryan Roof

Guests will go wild for these little pies. They're at once delicate and decadent, the airy puffs of crisp meringue giving way to rich, vanilla-flavored pastry cream and a sprightly mix of fresh fruit.

—Lillian Cho

Examples of pastry cream in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Finish off with winter citrus pavlova—olive oil cake with yuzu pastry cream, mandarin pate de fruit, and caramelized pistachios. —Tori Latham, Robb Report, 11 Feb. 2025

These supremes — including the strawberry matcha version, filled with strawberry pastry cream and topped with a matcha glaze, strawberry dust, and strawberry pearls — typically sell out in two hours or less. —Lennie Omalza, The Courier-Journal, 12 Mar. 2024

The mango tart that finished my meal had an oat frangipane and coconut pastry cream. —Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 30 Dec. 2024

There are mountains of croissants filled with pastry cream and achingly good dulce de leche. —Rai Mincey, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024

The delightful peach roll-up cake had a delicate, moist sponge and coconut pastry cream, while the clove canelé — a riff on the classic French custard pastry — is a mung bean, cassava cake with a crunchy, sugary crust. —Meira Gebel, Axios, 12 Aug. 2024

According to the official tasting notes, the result is a bright whiskey with a malt-forward flavor that has notes of vanilla pastry cream, caramel sauce, and lavender green tea on the palate. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2024

To gild the lily, éclairs get both a sweet icing and filling, typically a pastry cream or crème pâtissière in French. —Cece Pascual, Washington Post, 19 July 2024

The pastry is twisted into the size of a giant muffin, drizzled with cinnamon sugar and filled with pastry cream. —Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 15 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1845, in the meaning defined above