Silky, creamy and coffee-kissed, this coffee pastry cream is the pastry filling every coffee lover needs. It has a smooth, bakery-style crème pâtissière texture with a rich espresso flavour you can dial up or down to suit your tastes.
Pipe it into eclairs (like these coffee eclairs), spoon it into tart shells, layer it through cakes or sneak a spoonful straight from the bowl. It's simple, make-ahead friendly and yes, you can absolutely make it with decaf.
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❤️ Why this recipe works!
- Customisable coffee intensity - 3 teaspoons for a lighter but still unmistakeable coffee flavour or 4 or more for something more intense.
- Instant espresso powder keeps the recipe simple - no brewing, no reducing or adjusting for more liquid.
- Perfect piping texture: Using a combo of cornstarch and egg yolks results in a thick cream ideal for piping into eclairs and choux buns.
- Balanced, not bitter: Vanilla, butter and a pinch of salt round out the coffee flavour so it's creamy and aromatic, not harsh.
- Make-ahead friendly: Will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.
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What is coffee pastry cream?
A variation on classic French pastry cream, coffee pastry cream (aka crème pâtissière au café) is a rich custard made mainly from milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch and coffee. Its consistency is thick enough to hold its shape and is a rich coffee filling for eclairs, cream puffs, tarts, tartlets, cakes and even doughnuts.
You can find all the detailed ins and outs of pastry cream on my basic pastry cream post.
Ingredients & substitutions
The ingredients for this coffee custard cream are very basic and readily available.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
- Whole milk: You'll want whole milk here for the best flavour. Though this coffee pastry cream will work with lower fat milk and even some milk alternatives, the flavour, texture and body of the pastry cream will change. Whole milk gives the best body and richness.
- Egg yolks: Hold the egg whites for this recipe, in fact freeze them for making meringues or pavlova another time, because all you need are the yolks for this recipe. I use a slightly higher ratio of milk to eggs for my version and it results in the perfect texture and flavour. Too many egg yolks can result in an eggy flavour.
- Sugar: Caster sugar (aka superfine sugar) or white granulated sugar will work here.
- Cornflour (US cornstarch): The cornflour, known as cornstarch in some places, is a very fine starchy flour often used as a thickener.
- Instant espresso powder gives the best flavour. You can use any intensity you like. This recipe is designed with powder as opposed to granules. If using instant coffee granules you'll need to add more to get the same intensity of flavour.
- Vanilla extract: You'll want pure vanilla extract here, as opposed to vanilla essence which is a synthetic filling. There is no need to splash out on vanilla beans as the little seeds won't be so prominent in the finished coffee cream.
How to make coffee pastry cream
I've been making my vanilla pastry cream for years now and it's an incredible base for all flavours, including this coffee pastry cream. It's also very easy to make, just make sure to follow the steps precisely.
Eggs and cornstarch
While heating some milk, sugar, and butter on the stove top, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and some cold milk in a mixing bowl. It doesn't need to be whipped at all, just combined.
Add hot milk
You need to gradually bring the temperature of the eggs up to prevent scrambling - this is called tempering. Add the hot milk to the egg mixture slowly, while whisking.
Add coffee and heat
Return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk in the coffee powder. Gently heat it while whisking and, after a few minutes, you'll notice it beginning to thicken.
Boil 1 minute
Bring it to a boil (which, with pastry cream, just looks like big bubbles popping at the surface) and let it boil for 1 full minute. You want to slow the whisking at this point, since that adds air and cools the pastry cream but just continue to move the coffee custard around so it doesn't catch.
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Add vanilla, butter & salt
Mix in the butter, vanilla and salt until fully incorporated.
Storing the pastry cream
Tip your pastry cream through a strainer into a clean bowl, or jug, then cover it tightly with plastic wrap pressed tightly to the surface. The pastry cream can form a skin if air gets in. Chill it until cold.
Using the pastry cream
Once cold, your coffee pastry cream will be quite a firm slab of pastry cream so you'll need to add it to a bowl and give it a good whisk until smooth before you use it.
Tips and tricks
- Temper the eggs gradually: Tempering eggs is a method of adding hot liquid to eggs gradually to prevent them from scrambling. It's very easy; just make sure to drizzle the hot liquid into beaten eggs slowly as you whisk. This technique brings the temperature of the eggs up slowly so they don't scramble.
- Boiling the pastry cream: When it comes to a boil, you'll see big bubbles breaking one or two at a time on the surface. It won't come to a rolling boil like water would and if you try to get it to that point you risk overcooking the eggs and giving it an eggy flavour.
- Store with plastic wrap pressed to the surface - this stops the pastry cream from forming a skin on top
- Chill completely then re-whip before piping - pastry cream can be used once room temperature but will pipe more easily if chilled.
How to use it
- Pastries and doughnuts: This coffee pastry cream is great for piping inside pastries like choux puffs, choux au craquelin and eclairs. It can even be piped into donuts.
- Cakes and tarts: When using between cake layers or fruit tarts, you will need to add slightly more cornstarch to help it keep it's shape once sliced or it might gradually ooze out of the cake once cut. A buttercream dam is always helpful when using it in cakes as well. For tarts, I use the filling recipe from my strawberry tart (enough to fill a 9 inch pastry case) and adjust the coffee flavour to suit.
- Mini tarts: You can use it as is for mini tarts.
- Other French cream fillings. Pastry cream is the base of these French pastry fillings;
- Crème chiboust = pastry cream + meringue
- Crème légère = pastry cream + whipped cream
- Crème diplomat = pastry cream + whipped cream + gelatine
- Crème mousseline = pastry cream + whipped butter
- German buttercream= pastry cream + extra sugar + whipped butter
For all the troubleshooting and technical pastry cream tips,
Storage
Espresso pastry cream must be stored in the fridge with plastic wrap pressed to the surface. You'll need to whisk it well before using. It will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.
I don't recommend freezing it. It can be done but will thaw into a liquidy mess. If it does, you can save it but it's best to make it fresh.
FAQs
Preferably not. Whilst you could leave out a little milk to allow for the liquid you're adding, it will reduce the richness of the coffee pastry cream and possibly it's consistency and pipeability.
Yes, but since granules take up more space than powder you will need to taste test to make sure you've added enough.
Yes, you can. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated espresso powder works.
I'd say the flavour is like a latte in custard form. It's unmistakeably coffee but it's not bitter or incredibly intense. I love my coffee every day, but just one, not numerous and I don't do shots of espresso - the flavour in this pastry cream is perfect for me.
So, there's your silky bowl of coffee magic ready to turn eclairs, cream puffs and tarts into something extra special. I hope you love this coffee custard cream as much as I do and as much as my taste-testers did. It's smooth, creamy and beautifully balanced.
If you made this coffee pastry cream recipe,
be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you!
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Coffee Pastry Cream
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups whole milk 560ml
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar or caster sugar (66g)
- ⅔ cup cornflour US cornstarch (40g
- 4 egg yolks from large eggs
- 3-4 teaspoons instant espresso powder to taste (I use 4tsp)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 28 g butter 1 oz/2 tablespoons
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a heavy based, medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat 2 cups of the milk and all the sugar, stirring to dissolve until it starts steaming point.
- Add the cornflour, eggs and remaining ¼ cup of milk to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk, using a balloon whisk until smooth and combined.
- While gently whisking, very slowly drizzle the hot milk into the eggs. Don't pour it too quickly or you'll cook the eggs.
- Return the custard mixture to the pan.
- Stir in the espresso powder, then 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 cornflour.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla and salt until the butter has melted and is fully incorporated.
- Pour the coffee pastry cream into a bowl or container, then press plastic wrap to the surface - this will stop it from forming a skin.
- 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 / roughly 636g/22 ½oz.
- Can fill around 15 regular eclair shells (depends on exact size).
- Serving size is based on the amount that can fill a regular eclair shell.
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