This simple chocolate pastry cream is perfect for filling cakes or cream puffs. It’s made with less than 10 ingredients and skips any tricky egg tempering steps!
Chocolate Crème Pâtissière
Simple, rich, and indulgent, this chocolate pastry cream is a fabulous filling for cakes (make sure you use a dam!) or pastries. I like it in my cream puffs or eclairs for a chocolate twist, and I love it in my new chocolate choux au craquelin recipe (coming soon!).
Many of you have asked for a chocolate version of my classic pastry cream, and for good reason (after all, what can’t be improved by adding a little chocolate?). I had a note on how to do this in that recipe, but I thought a dedicated post might be more helpful. So here it is!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No egg tempering! My recipe skips this fussy step many recipes take and still yields a perfectly silky smooth texture. I do this with my classic pastry cream, and so many of you have had success with that recipe!
- Rich chocolate flavor from real melted chocolate. This provides a deep chocolatey flavor that cocoa powder alone couldn’t provide.
- So many uses; it’s the perfect filling for choux pastry, cakes (like my chocolate cake), donuts, and cupcakes (like these Boston cream cupcakes). It would also work in my fruit tart. Or keep things simple and just eat it with a spoon 😉
- Includes uses for the leftover egg whites, so you don’t have to waste them.
Ingredients
We’re using just a few high quality ingredients today for an incredible result. I’ll review a few before we dig in.
- Chocolate bar. Use a high quality semisweet chocolate baking bar and make sure it is chopped and ready to go before you even turn on your stove. I talk more about the best chocolate to use in the FAQ section below.
- Whole milk & heavy cream. Whipping cream or double cream will also work in place of heavy cream. Or, you can swap both the milk and cream for 2 cups of half and half.
- Egg yolks. Just the yolks! Don’t want to waste your egg whites? I include several recipes for using up your egg whites in the recipe notes below.
- Cornstarch. This helps thicken our pastry cream–don’t skip it! Some recipes use flour instead, but I find that can cause a gluey texture and floury flavor.
- Vanilla. While this is chocolate pastry cream, a touch of vanilla is a necessary ingredient. It complements the chocolate beautifully ✨ If you have some homemade vanilla extract, use it here!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
SAM’S TIP: Before you begin this recipe, gather and prep all of your ingredients and tools and have them all within arms reach. You will need to whisk constantly while the cream cooks, and things move fast once it starts to thicken.
How to Make Chocolate Pastry Cream
- Step 1: Combine wet and dry ingredients. Start by whisking together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in your saucepan. Grab a liquid measuring cup and add the cream, egg yolks, and milk. Whisk these together til combined, then slowly and gradually whisk them into the cornstarch mixture. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
- Step 2: Cook til thickened. Transfer your saucepan to the stovetop. Whisk the cream constantly as it cooks over medium heat. It will thicken after a bit; your whisk will start to leave a trail and it should coat the back of a spoon. Once it reaches this thickened pudding-like consistency, remove the pan from the heat.
- Step 3: Add the chocolate and butter. Pour the cream through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl. Whisk in the chocolate and butter, then add the vanilla and whisk again until the cream is smooth and silky.
- Step 4: Cool & chill. Let the cream cool for about 20 minutes, whisking occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Press a piece of wax paper against the surface before covering and chilling for several hours.
SAM’S TIP: DO NOT crank up the heat to cook your pastry cream faster! It is very important to heat the mixture slowly so the sugars have time to melt properly–this is what creates the proper final texture. Heating too high or too fast will result in a pastry cream that is runny, and it may even scramble the eggs.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are similar, but pastry cream is richer from its egg, milk, and cream base. Pudding is thinner and made with mostly just starch, sugar, and milk. My chocolate pudding (also used in my dirt pudding recipe) would be a great egg-free alternative to this chocolate pastry cream though!
A semisweet or 60% chocolate baking bar will give you the best results. The higher the quality of your chocolate, the better the flavor and consistency of your pastry cream. Make sure to chop it finely and include all the little shards of chocolate!
If your pastry cream is too thick, you probably cooked it a bit too long. You can try thinning it out with a splash of cream to see if that helps thin out the texture.
On the other hand, if your pastry cream is too thin, then you likely needed to cook it a bit longer or on a lower heat.
Related Recipes
Stay tuned for my recipe for chocolate choux au craquelin–coming soon! 💕
Enjoy!
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Chocolate Pastry Cream
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (133 g) granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup (236 ml) whole milk
- 1 cup (236 ml) heavy cream
- 5 large egg yolks
- 4 oz (113 g) semisweet or 60% chocolate baking bar finely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons (29 g) salted or unsalted butter room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Set yourself up for success by preparing all ingredients and materials before beginning – you want to have your fine mesh strainer and heatproof bowl ready before your pastry cream thickens, and your chocolate ready to go.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk together granulated sugar, cornstarch, and table salt.⅔ cup (133 g) granulated sugar, 3 Tablespoons cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon table salt
- Separately, in a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and egg yolks until mixture is uniform (make sure the egg yolks are thoroughly mixed and no longer intact).1 cup (236 ml) whole milk, 1 cup (236 ml) heavy cream, 5 large egg yolks
- Slowly, while whisking the ingredients in the saucepan, drizzle the cream/milk/egg mixture into the saucepan and whisk until evenly incorporated and no lumps remain.
- Turn stovetop heat to medium and whisk constantly until mixture begins to thicken to a pudding-like consistency that coats the back of a spoon (your whisk should just be beginning to leave trails through the mixture).
- Immediately remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof mixing bowl.
- Add chopped chocolate and butter and stir until both are completely melted and well incorporated and mixture is silky smooth and uniform.4 oz (113 g) semisweet or 60% chocolate baking bar, 2 Tablespoons (29 g) salted or unsalted butter
- Stir in vanilla extract.1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Allow pastry cream to cool for about 15-20 minutes longer, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin forming on the surface.
- Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper directly against the surface of the pastry cream (to prevent a skin from forming), cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap, and transfer to refrigerator to chill for 2-4 hours (or up to 3 days) before using.
Notes
Egg whites
Here are a few recipes that use leftover egg whites, if you have no other plans for them:- Meringue Cookies (4 egg whites)
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream (6 egg whites)
- White Cake (6 egg whites)
- Pavlova (6 egg whites)
Storing
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I do not recommend freezing.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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