Crème Légère is one of those magical French cream fillings that instantly makes any dessert taste like it came from a fancy bakery. It starts with classic pastry cream then is lightened with whipped cream for a luxurious, silky texture.
The result is an indulgent yet light and silky filling that's perfectly pipeable and wonderfully smooth. It's perfect for filling choux buns, eclairs and even tarts.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
- Light, airy and beautifully rich all at once
- Silky-smooth, patisserie-worthy texture
- Pipeable and perfect for profiteroles, eclairs and tarts
- Surprisingly easy to make
- Versatile and easy to flavour
What is crème légère?
Crème légère (pronounced krem lay-zhe-r) is French for "light cream" and is a lightened pastry cream used for filling pastries. Made by folding whipped cream through pastry cream, it's less dense than pastry cream but still holds it's shape nicely when piping.
Crème légère sits between pastry cream (crème pastissiere) and crème dipolmat. Like crème dipomat, it's lightened with whipped cream - but unlike crème diplomat, it doesn't contain gelatine so it's softer and more delicate.
The most classic version is flavoured with vanilla but, just like pastry cream, it can easily be flavoured with fruit or chocolate, for instance.
Crème légère vs crème diplomate vs mousseline
Crème légère (French for light cream) is just one of a number of French pastry fillings made using a base of pastry cream. There are many more with slight variations
- Crème légère: pastry cream + whipped cream.
- Crème diplomate (diplomat cream): pastry cream + gelatine + whipped cream.
- Crème mousseline: pastry cream + whipped butter.
- Crème chiboust: pastry cream + meringue.
- Frangipane: pastry cream + almond cream
Ingredients & substitutions
With just 7 simple ingredients, crème légère doesn't require anything unusual. You'll find all the ingredients at your local grocery store.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
- Milk: While it will work with other types of milk, crème légère is best made with full fat dairy milk for the best flavour and texture.
- Eggs: Large eggs are used to thicken the pastry cream base. These add richness and thickness to the pastry cream.
- Butter: Just a little butter adds richness and helps the cream to keep it's shape.
- Sugar: You'll just need white granulated sugar here though you can certainly experiment with brown sugar for a slightly different flavour.
- Cornflour / US Cornstarch: Cornflour, known in some places as cornstarch, is used to thicken the pastry cream base.
- Thickened cream / heavy cream: You must use full fat cream here with milk fat of 35% or more. Anything with less fat content will have trouble whipping up and holding it's shape.
- Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract: This adds the wonderful, classic vanilla flavour. You can use the beans from a whole vanilla pod if you prefer. Don't use vanilla essence as it's an artificial flavour and just doesn't taste as good.
How to make crème légère
There are two stages to making crème légère and both are extremely simple.
- The pastry cream is the most classic of all French creams. It's a thick custard that's smooth, pipeable and rich. It's super easy to make too.
- The cream portion of this recipe is just cream whipped to firm peaks and very gently folded through the cooled pastry cream.
Jump to the recipe card for full quantities and instructions.
Heat the milk
(4-5 minutes) Start by bringing your milk and sugar to scalding point on the stove. Don't boil it.
Make the egg mixture
(1 minute) Whisk together egg yolks and cornflour.
Temper the eggs
(1 minute) Now, you want to slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture to very gradually bring its temperature up. This is called tempering and, if done slowly, it will prevent your eggs from scrambling.
Heat the custard
(7-8 minutes) Pour the mixture into the saucepan again and, stirring regularly, let it come to a boil. Let it boil for one minute. This will activate the cornstarch so that it holds the pastry cream together.
Add vanilla, butter & salt
(1 minute) Whisk in the butter, vanilla and salt until fully incorporated.
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Chill the pastry cream
(2 hours) You want to chill the pastry cream for a few hours until cold or overnight before proceeding. Make sure to press plastic wrap to the surface to stop a skin from forming.
Whip cream
(3 minutes) Once the pastry cream is chilled and thick, whip the cream to firm peaks. Take care not to overwhip it or it will become grainy.
Fold them together
(3-4 minutes) Transfer your pastry cream to a bowl, then give it a whisk to smooth it out. Very gently, fold the cream into the pastry cream in 3 portions.
Tips and tricks
- Temper the eggs slowly - if you rush it, you may scramble the eggs.
- Don't overwhip your cream or it will become grainy. Slow down the beater when you see it getting thicker and check regularly.
- Take care to fold the mixture gently. Being too rough or "stirring" will cause the cream to deflate.
Runny crème légère - causes and solutions
If your crème légère has turned runny after adding the whipped cream, here are the most common reasons.
- The pastry cream wasn't thick enough - The cornstarch may not have cooked long enough to fully set.
- The pastry cream was still warm - Heat can melt the whipped cream and thin the mixture. Always cool completely first.
- You stirred the cream in rather than gently folding - Stirring knocks out the air, causing the cream to collapse. Fold gently.
- Too much folding - Folding too much can also deflate the cream. Fold only until the streaks have disappeared.
- It was stored too long - Without gelatine, crème légère naturally loosens as the whipped cream deflates. For best results, use it soon after making.
You can see my vanilla pastry cream post for more troubleshooting tips for that.
How to use crème légère
- Fill eclairs, choux puffs, profiteroles and choux au craquelin
- Pipe into fruit tarts
- Frost a single layer snack cake just before serving
- Layer in mille-feuille
- Serve with fresh fruit
Variations
Crème légère is very versatile. It's very easy to flavour in so many ways.
- Caramel: Make a dry caramel by heating 1 cup of sugar over low-medium heat, stirring every so often until it is all melted and amber brown in colour. Once you've heated the milk mixture, add it to the caramel (stand back as it may splatter) and stir over low-medium heat until fully incorporated. Proceed as per the recipe below.
- Berry: Start with this raspberry pastry cream.
- Chocolate: Start with this chocolate pastry cream.
- Coffee: Add 3-4 teaspoons of instant espresso powder to the egg and milk mixture once it is added back to the pan and proceed as per the recipe below.
- Pistachio: Whisk ⅓ cup of pistachio paste into the pastry cream when adding the vanilla.
Storage
Crème légère will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed to the surface to provide an extra layer of protection from the air.
Tools I use
- Medium heavy-based saucepan: I love this pan and it's by far the one I use the most. It has a good thick base meaning it will heat gently and evenly and it's such a breeze to keep clean.
- Balloon whisks: I have a few of these, some with a metal whisk and some with a silicone whisk. They all have their purpose but a regular metal one is fine for this recipe.
- Mixing bowls
- Silicone spatulas: These are the ones I use. They're long lasting and they're great for getting every last bit of mixture out of a pan or bowl.
❓FAQs
Crème légère is just pastry cream with whipped cream folded through while crème diplomate includes gelatine for more stablility.
Yes. It can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, but it will loosen over time as the cream deflates. For the best texture, use it the same day you fold in the cream.
In some instances, yes, however it has it's limitations. Having a light, mousse-like texture it is not stable enough to hold up cake layers. It also needs to remain chilled so not recommended for any cakes you will serve at room temperature. It's best to keep crème légère for filling pastries or maybe on a snack cake where you can add the lightened pastry cream to the top right before serving.
I hope you love crème légère as much as I do. If you try it, I'd love to hear how you used it.
If you made this crème légère recipe,
be sure to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you!
Crème Légère (Light Pastry Cream)
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Balloon whisk
Ingredients
- 625 ml whole milk (2 ½ cups)
- 105 g white granulated sugar or caster sugar (½ cup/~3 ½oz)
- 38 g cornflour (US cornstarch) (⅓ cup/1 ⅓oz)
- 4 egg yolks from large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 14 g butter (½ oz/1 tablespoon)
- pinch salt
- 180 ml whipping cream / heavy cream (¾ cup)
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 ½ 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 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 cornflour.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla and salt until the butter has melted and is fully incorporated.
- Pour the vanilla pastry cream into a dish or bowl and press plastic wrap to the surface to prevent a skin forming.
- Chill 2-3 hours or overnight until cold.
- Once the pastry cream is completely cool, pour the cream into a clean bowl. Whisk or beat with a handheld electric mixer to firm peak stage. Be careful not to overwhip or it will become grainy.
- In a clean bowl, give the pastry cream a whisk to smooth it out, then add ⅓ of the cream and fold it into the pastry cream. Repeat this 2 more times with the remaining cream, being very careful to just gently fold so you don't squash the air out of it.
- Transfer to a piping bag or use spoon to fill your pastries.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Crème légère will keep for up to 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Nutrition details shown are per cup.
Trang says
Ahhh so that's what it's called! I have made this before because I always thought pastry cream is too thick so I need to thin it out with whipped cream but never knew it is actually a legit creme. Thank you for such a detailed post!
Marie says
So happy to help, Trang 🙂