A beautifully rich vanilla custard pastry cream that's perfect for filling doughnuts or using up in bread and butter pudding.
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Serves
8
Caster Sugar
Cornflour
Egg Yolk
Double Cream
Vanilla Pod
Lily Vanilli
Lily Jones (aka Lily Vanilli) is a baker and cake designer based in East London.
If you’re not planning to serve it right away, you can keep your custard hot by standing it in the jug in a pan of hot water and covering the top (of the custard, not the jug) with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming. If you want to use it cold, you can cover and refrigerate it for up to a day.
Custard is essentially a cooked mixture of milk or cream and egg yolks (the whole of an egg has the thickening properties desired in custard, but just the yolks are used for their flavour and texture) – they make the custard smooth and rich and give it its colour.
Because eggs are very sensitive to heat, a double boiler (a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, otherwise known as a bain-marie) is used to slow the heat transfer and make sure the eggs don’t curdle. It can take a while for your custard to thicken, so don’t lose patience or panic that it hasn’t worked. Just remember to keep stirring and keep an eye on it.
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Serves
8
Caster Sugar
Cornflour
Egg Yolk
Double Cream
Vanilla Pod
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- Unlimited access to 3000+ recipes
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Press GO to start step-by-step mode and keep your screen awake as you cook.
Step 1.
Stir the egg yolks and sugar together in a heatproof bowl.
Step 2.
Heat the cream in a pan with the salt and vanilla pod until hot but not boiling. You’ll know it’s hot when it starts to steam. Pour the hot cream over the egg yolks slowly and evenly, whisking continuously as you go. Get someone to help you here if possible – they can pour while you whisk.
Step 3.
Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water to make a double boiler, and heat, whisking continuously with a large balloon whisk, until it thickens. The custard is ready when the bubbles disappear. Another good test is to drag your wooden spoon through the middle of the custard – if it is ready the spoon will leave a mark that takes a moment to disappear. It should take about 8 mins to get to this stage.
Step 4.
Remove the vanilla pod, split it lengthways and scrape the seeds into the custard. If necessary sieve the custard through a fine mesh to eliminate any lumps, then pour into a jug and serve at once.
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