Making vanilla custard at home

Name: Making vanilla custard at home
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 90 h
Yield: 500
Cuisine: Switzerland
Ingredients: 150 g whole milk; 25 g granulated sugar; 1 pinch of vanilla seeds; 20 g vanilla cream powder; 200 g vanilla pudding | cold; 1 sheet leaf gelatine; 80 g whipping cream | whipped

Step-by-step guide to making vanilla custard

This classic vanilla custard is our absolute favourite and features in many of our recipes and courses. The cream lends itself perfectly to being flavoured with pastes and purées, as vanilla enhances and complements many flavours. To help you make our favourite cream at home, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide for you. Be sure to give the recipe a go!

Key figures

Level of difficulty:Easy

Shelf life:up to 3 days

Ingredients

Whole milk \| Part 1		125 g
Granulated sugar		25 g
Vanilla seeds		1 pinch
vanilla custard powder		20 g
Whole milk \| Part 2		25 g

After the cooling period

Vanilla custard \| chilled		200 g
Sheet gelatine		1 sheet
Double cream \| whipped		80 g

Manufacture

Weigh out the milk (part 1) together with the sugar and thevanilla seedsin a saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil briefly.

In astainless-steel bowl, mix thevanilla custard powderand the milk (part 2) with awhisk. You should end up with a smooth liquid. As soon as the vanilla-milk mixture starts to boil, add a small sip of the warm mixture to the vanilla custard powder mixture and stir briefly with the whisk (to temper it).

Pour the mixed powder back into the pan containing the hot vanilla and milk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. It’s really very important that you stay with it and keep stirring the whole time, otherwise the cream may burn on the bottom.

Stir until the liquid has evaporated and the cream has thickened nicely. The vanilla cream is only ready when it has set into a firm custard, as you can see in the photo.

Now transfer the finished vanilla custard to a clean bowl. Place a sheet of cling film directly onto the still-hot mixture and press it down firmly. Make sure you press it down well around the edge of the bowl too.

Leave the mixture to cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours. However, you can also prepare the custard the day before and leave it to cool in the fridge overnight.

Once the chilling time is up, you can start preparing the next ingredients. Whisk the cold vanilla custard with a hand mixer or food processor until the mixture is nice and smooth and creamy.

In the meantime, soak the gelatine in cold water and whip the double cream in a separate bowl.

Squeeze the soaked gelatine well and place it in a small pan. You now need to dissolve the gelatine over a low heat. If the gelatine gets too hot or starts to boil, it will lose its thickening properties.

As soon as the gelatine has melted, add a generous amount of the cold vanilla custard and stir well straight away. Once the custard has combined well with the gelatine and you have a smooth mixture, pour this mixture back into the bowl containing the remaining vanilla custard, stirring constantly, and mix thoroughly once more.

Finally, you need to add the whipped double cream in about three batches. Do not stir the cream too vigorously each time; simply fold it in gently. Nevertheless, you should end up with a smooth mixture. Before using the vanilla cream, you should place it in the fridge for about 5 minutes to allow it to firm up slightly.

You can now use the finished vanilla cream to make various treats:

A classicSwedish cakeor deliciouscream slices.

Vanilla cones,strawberry tarts,fruit basesand various patisserie items.

You can alsoenhancethe vanilla cream very well withfruit puréesorflavouring pastes. This allows you to create many different variations using a single base cream. This is particularly handy if you have a pastry that’s easy to fill. Profiteroles and éclairs, for example, are ideal for filling with different types of cream.

Storage & Shelf life

The finished vanilla cream will keep for up to three days in the fridge. Once used in cakes, the cream can be frozen for up to two months without any problems.