The custard cream is a perfect match with lava cake. But you could associate it with a lot of other desserts. Any cake will go perfectly with custard cream, not only a chocolate moelleux in order to enhance your pastry recipe.
In France, we call the custard cream crème anglaise, which is the translation of English cream. Why this name?
CAUTION:
According to the Ecole Nationale de la Pâtisserie, custard first appeared at the royal court of England, where it was very fashionable in the 16th century. This origin explains its name. Any cake will go perfectly with English cream.
But in France, we change a little the recipe to make it less thick, and we serve it luck warm and not warm as at the Royal court of England.
Custard cream in France is a sweet, liquid and thick. The preparation is obtained by cooking a mixture of milk, egg yolks and sugar. It is classically flavored with vanilla, lemon or orange.
Ingredients for the custard cream
4 yolks
50g of sugar
50cl of milk
1 TBS of cornstarch
Vanilla pod
Custard cream preparation
Pour the milk into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds. Add these to the milk as well as the pod, then heat over high heat, being careful that it does not burn at the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile, beat the 4 egg yolks with the sugar (and the vanilla sugar if you don’t have vanilla beans) until the mixture whitens and becomes foamy then add the cornstarch.
When the milk is boiling, pour ¾ of the milk over the egg-sugar mixture using a fine sieve to collect the pod and any small pieces of “brown” pods, then pour 1/3 of the milk. Whisk vigorously, then add the rest of the hot milk.
Return the custard to low heat using a spatula, forming a figure 8. It is important to never stop stirring and keep the heat on low to avoid boiling the custard and coagulating the eggs
Do not let it boil because the cream will turn (the eggs coagulate). Watch the cooking carefully: when the cream is ready, it corresponds to the moment when the foam disappears; you can see that the cream thickens and “coats” the spoon. A clear sign ;-): dip the spatula in the cream then run your finger over the spatula, the finger line is clean!. With a thermometer it avoids the “stress” of letting it boil: at 83°- 85°C MAX remove it from the heat!
Bon appétit!
And don’t hesitate to take a cooking class with me:-)