Crema Ligera Pastelera (Light Cream)

This is one of my favorite pastry creams I use during the summer months, it’s great to use as an icing with a large selection of cakes, delicious for topping pies and filling pastries.

To create this recipe, you need to combine a heavy rich custard “Crema Pastelera” (Pastry Cream-part one of the recipe) helps stabilize the light whipped cream that we fold in at the end, achieving a rich soft creamy mousse like texture delicate to taste, but also give us body that can be used to ice a cake. Recipe for Vanilla Sponge Cake.

Crema Pastelera (Custard)

Ingredients:

1/2 cups whole milk

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 tbsp AP flour

4 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cup heavy cream (To fold in at the end)

Directions:

Heat the milk in a pan to just below boiling point. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl, whisk in a small portion of the hot milk, then whisk in the flour and cornstarch.

Gradually whisk in the remaining milk. Pour into a clean pan, place over a medium heat and bring to the boil making sure not to burn and whisking constantly, until the mixture is very thick.

Cool down the custard and transfer out to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap pressing the cling film directly on to the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cold.

Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form, set aside. Get the cooled “Crema Pastelera” out of the refrigerator and whip it to soft and smooth, fold in the whipped cream, (just folding to combine both, do not over whip)

This is your finished “Crème Légèr – Crema Ligera Pastelera

Baking is Love’

Chef Martin Lopez

www.ChefMartin.net