Bavarian Cream

By mrsmosey

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Details

Servings 10
Adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Preparation

Step 1

For the bavarian cream, place the milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring the milk to a boil over medium heat. Keeping an eye on the milk, whisk the cornstarch, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Gradually add the eggs and mix until smooth. Slowly add about one-third of the hot milk to the egg mixture while whisking rapidly (this is called tempering the eggs). Make sure to keep whisking quickly or the eggs will heat too quickly and develop lumpy spots. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining milk.

Place the mixture over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Once thickened, boil for a few seconds longer to make sure the raw starch taste has disappeared (see Note below the recipe). Stir in the vanilla extract. Stir in the butter and continue to stir until it is completely incorporated.

Pour the custard into a bowl and cover with a piece of saran wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the surface of the custard and let cool completely at room temperature. When cooled completely, whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream gently into the pastry cream. Again, press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the bavarian cream and store in the refrigerator. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Note: If the heat is too high or you are stirring too slowly at the point when the pastry cream reaches a boil, it may lump. If this happens, pass it through a strainer immediately, before it cools.