Chocolate Pastry Cream Recipe
Chocolaty, creamy, smooth, and rich this Chocolate Italian Pastry Cream is the best filling for crostata, pastries, cakes, and more! Easy and 100% delicious.
Servings: 4 -6 servings
Ingredients
- 4 medium egg yolks yolks ONLY
- 80 g granulated sugar ½ cup
- 40 g cornstarch ⅓ cup
- 100 g chocolate 3.5 oz , broken into chunks or small pieces
- ½ liter whole milk 2 cups
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean scrape the inside of a vanilla bean pod you can also use 1 tsp of good quality pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder optional for added chocolate richness
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl whip the egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the corn starch (and cocoa powder if using) and mix again for 1-2 minutes until smooth and combined.
- In a sauce pan heat the milk on low heat. Add vanilla bean (or extract). Stir to combine. Now, turn heat to medium and heat milk until a soft boil (little bubbles on the sides and steam starts to form). When the milk is hot, remove from heat. Using a whisk- start adding the beaten egg mixture a little at a time into the milk. It’s very important to stir constantly until you achieve a unified mixture.
- Put the saucepan back on low heat and continue whisking. Simmer for about 3-4 minutes until the cream begins to thicken. It’s very important that the cream NEVER BOILS. In this way you have a smooth cream without lumps and without chunks of cooked egg.
- If you have a cooking thermometer you can check that the temperature never exceeds 85°C (185 F). Otherwise, as soon as you see that bubbles begin to form in the cream, lower the heat. You can even remove it from the heat for a few seconds and put it back. This step is the only difficult step in the Pastry Cream recipe.
- Keep cooking on very low heat until cream is thickened. When the cream is well thickened (it will stick to the back of a wooden spoon or spatula and not drip off), remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth with the cream.
- Immediately pour the hot pastry cream into a cold glass container. Important to remove the cream immediately from hot saucepan to prevent it from cooking longer.
- While cooling, cover the cream with plastic wrap. Keep it in contact with the cream. This step is to avoid forming a skin on the cream surface. Refrigerate at least 3 hours for it to set.
Notes
Storage
Allow the pastry cream to chill in the fridge for up to 3 days before using it. Store in an airtight container. Make sure to whisk/beat the mixture so that it’s silky smooth right before using.Nutrition
Calories: 381kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 210mg | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 305mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 468IU | Calcium: 190mg | Iron: 1mg
