Pastry Cream substitute

Substitutes for Pastry Cream with ratios

1. 2Cooked Vanilla Pudding Mix or Custard Powder Custard

   Close match

   Use the same amount using about ¾ of the recommended milk

   A cook-and-serve pudding mix or custard powder simmered with milk until it thickens, then chilled.

   What changes

   Best for

   tarts, eclairs, mille-feuille, trifle, boston cream, doughnut filling

   Closer than the instant version because it is actually cooked, which develops the starch properly and gives a smoother, glossier set that slices cleanly. Custard powder in particular is essentially pastry cream without the eggs, and British bakers use it this way deliberately. It will be a stronger yellow than a real creme patissiere and the flavour is simpler, more one-note vanilla and less of the buttery, faintly caramelised note that cooked yolks bring. Whisking one egg yolk and a tablespoon of butter into the hot custard at the end closes most of that gap.

2. 3Quick Scratch Pastry Cream

   Close match

   Use the same amount for any recipe quantity

   The real thing in about twelve minutes: milk, sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and vanilla whisked over medium heat until it boils and thickens.

   What changes

   Best for

   fruit tarts, eclairs, mille-feuille, cream puffs, napoleons, fruit flan

   Include this because most people looking for a substitute do not realise how quick it is. For about two cups, whisk four egg yolks with a third of a cup of sugar and three tablespoons of cornstarch, pour in two cups of hot milk while whisking, return to the pan and cook, whisking constantly, until it bubbles and thickens, then whisk in two tablespoons of butter and a teaspoon of vanilla. The only real skill is not stopping whisking. It tastes incomparably better than any mix and costs pennies.

3. 4Creme Diplomate: Pastry Cream Lightened with Whipped Cream

   Different texture

   Use the same amount by volume, using 2 parts custard to 1 part whipped cream

   Any custard base, scratch or from a mix, folded with softly whipped cream.

   What changes

   Best for

   fruit tarts, layer cakes, choux buns, trifle, tart shells, crepe cake

   Not so much a substitute as an upgrade, and useful because it makes a thin or slightly lumpy custard perfectly presentable. Folding whipped cream in makes the filling paler, lighter and mousse-like rather than dense, and it mutes the eggy flavour and the sweetness. It also makes it less stable over time, so it will soften and start to weep after a day, where straight pastry cream holds for two or three. Fill tarts on the day you serve them.

4. 5Sweetened Mascarpone or Cream Cheese Filling

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount

   Mascarpone or softened cream cheese beaten with powdered sugar, vanilla and a splash of cream until smooth and pipeable.

   What changes

   Best for

   fruit tarts, cake filling, crostata, berry tarts, no-bake desserts

   Choose this when you want a filling that works rather than one that imitates. It pipes beautifully, holds fruit without collapsing, needs no cooking and does not weep. It is unmistakably different though: tangy, dense and cheesecake-like where pastry cream is mellow, eggy and custardy, and much richer on the tongue. On a berry tart the tang is arguably better than custard. In an eclair or a mille-feuille, where the whole point is a soft custard against crisp pastry, the density feels wrong.

5. 6Stabilised Whipped Cream

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount

   Heavy cream whipped with powdered sugar and either a little cream cheese, mascarpone or bloomed gelatine to keep it from deflating.

   What changes

   Best for

   fruit tarts, cream puffs, shortcake, trifle, crepes

   The lightest option and the least like pastry cream, but genuinely delicious and the easiest to make with no cooking at all. Stabilising it matters: plain whipped cream collapses into liquid within a couple of hours under fruit, so beat in two tablespoons of cream cheese per cup of cream or a teaspoon of bloomed gelatine. Expect a filling that is airy and barely sweet against pastry cream's dense, glossy, custardy body, and expect less of it to stay put when you cut a slice.