Silky-smooth, perfectly creamy and loaded with real raspberry flavour this raspberry pastry cream is everything a classic crème pâtissière should be - with a vibrant, fruity twist. It's rich without being heavy, sweet with just enough tartness and naturally pink thanks to real raspberries.
Made with frozen raspberries, this recipe is reliable all-year round and very versatile. Piped inside profiteroles or eclairs or spooned into tart shells, it's adapted from my vanilla pastry cream recipe and it's always a winner.
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox!
Jump to:
❤️ Why you'll love it
- Real raspberries - no artificial colour or flavouring
- Silky-smooth, rich and perfectly balanced between sweet and tart
- Versatile: Use it in choux pastry, tarts, cakes, trifle or cup desserts
- Frozen raspberries: So you can make it year round
- A simple upgrade on traditional pastry cream with a fruity twist
- Make-ahead friendly: Will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days
Ingredients & substitutions
This raspberry pastry cream is based on my classic vanilla pastry cream recipe, with a few simple tweaks to add a raspberry flavour. If you're new to pastry cream or want a deeper understanding of the technique, I recommend starting there.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
- Whole milk: Full cream milk will give you the best flavour and body. You can use other varieties but the texture, richness and flavour will change.
- Frozen raspberries: You can use fresh raspberries as well but the frozen variety mean you can make it all year round.
- Egg yolks: You can freeze the egg whites for making pavlova another time.
- Sugar: Caster sugar (aka superfine sugar) or white granulated sugar are what you need.
- Cornflour (US cornstarch): The cornflour, known as cornstarch in some places, is a very fine starchy flour often used as a thickener.
How to make raspberry pastry cream
I've been making vanilla pastry cream for years now and it works beautifully every time. I created this raspberry crème pâtissière to fill my Raspberry Profiterole Wreath and it's just as simple with only the extra step of pureeing the raspberries.
Puree the raspberries
Thaw the raspberries fully, then add them to a food processor or blender and process until you have a puree.
Strain the puree
Strain the raspberry puree through a sieve into a bowl. Make sure to push through as much puree as possible and discard the seeds.
The egg mixture
While you have some milk heating on the stove, whisk together the egg yolks and cornflour.
Add the milk
Slowly pour hot milk into the egg mixture as you're whisking so it doesn't cook the eggs.
Add the raspberry
Add the raspberry puree and whisk together.
Save this post!
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
No spam, I promise 😊
Cook the pastry cream
Pour the raspberry custard into the saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Once big bubbles start to break the surface, cook for 90 seconds.
Melt in butter and salt
Add butter and salt and stir until fully dissolved.
Cool
Transfer the pastry cream to a container or dish and press plastic wrap to the surface to prevent a skin forming. Cool completely before using.
Using the pastry cream
Chill the pastry cream and use it within 3 days. When you take it out of the fridge, you'll need to give it a whisk to get it smooth and pipeable again.
How to use it
This vanilla pastry cream is lovely used in tarts, cakes and choux for a start. Try some of these ideas;
- Choux pastry buns, profiteroles, eclairs, paris brest - see my how to make choux pastry post.
- In tart shells as a base for fruit or chocolate.
Tips and tricks
- Temper the eggs gradually: Tempering eggs is the process of adding hot liquid to eggs in such a way that they don't scramble. Drizzle the hot milk in very slowly whilst whisking constantly and you'll end up with a perfectly smooth mixture.
- You must boil the pastry cream: To activate the cornflour (cornstarch), the raspberry custard must be boiled. If you don't, the pastry cream will become very liquid in consistency after chilling as opposed to staying thick and pipeable. In pastry cream, boiling just looks like big bubbles popping on the surface (don't attempt to bring it to a rolling boil as you would water).
- Store with plastic wrap pressed to the surface - this stops the pastry cream from forming a skin on top
- Chill before piping - raspberry pastry cream can be used once at room temperature but will pipe more easily if chilled.
New to pastry cream?
Storage
Store this berry pastry cream in the fridge in an airtight container, with plastic wrap pressed to the surface for 2-3 days.
It can be frozen though it will split on thawing. To solve that, reheat it in a pan, bring it to a bubble then let it chill before use.
Whether you're filling choux pastries, layering tarts or elevating a classic dessert, this raspberry pastry cream is a beautiful way to add flavour, colour and some extra joy.
If you made this raspberry pastry cream recipe,
be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to the newsletter.
Or, follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Raspberry Pastry Cream
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Balloon whisk
Ingredients
- 500 g frozen raspberries thawed (~1lb)
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk (310ml)
- ½ cup white granulated sugar (or caster sugar) (105g/~3 ½oz)
- ⅓ cup cornflour (US cornstarch) (38g/~1 ⅓oz)
- 4 egg yolks from large eggs
- 14 g butter (½ oz/1 tablespoon)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Once the raspberries are thawed (you can zap them in the microwave for 2 minutes or just heat them in a saucepan if you want to speed it up), place them into a food processor and process on high for 30-60 seconds until you have a puree.
- Measure out 1 ¼ cups (310ml) of puree and set aside.
- In a heavy based, medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat 1 cup (250ml) of the milk and all the sugar, stirring to dissolve until it starts steaming heavily.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add the cornflour, eggs and remaining ½ cup of milk. Whisk, using a balloon whisk until smooth and combined.
- While gently whisking, very slowly drizzle the hot milk into the egg mixture. Don't pour it too quickly or you'll cook the eggs.
- Pour in the 1 ¼ cups of pureed raspberries and whisk to combine.
- Return the custard mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat, gently stirring with a whisk the entire time until it starts to thicken and bubble.
- As soon as you see the first bubbles appear, continue cooking and stirring for a full minute to activate the starch (in the cornflour).
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and salt until the butter has melted and is fully incorporated.
- Pour the pastry cream into a clean dish and place plastic wrap over the top, pressed to the surface.
- Chill to cool completely. You will need to give it a whisk before you use it.
- Pastry cream will last for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. NOT suitable for freezing as the mixture can split on thawing.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Yield 2 ½ cups.
- Nutritional information is based on 1 cup.
Comments
No Comments