Must know basics: Pastry Cream and Ganache

July 23, 2:48 PMBirmingham Baking ExaminerAnne-Harris Jones

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There are not many desserts out there that cannot be improved by the addition of a pastry cream, lemon curd or chocolate filling. Luckily there are an abundance of these types of sweets available and once you master the basic pastry cream, everything else follows easily.

Being able to make a perfect pastry cream does more than just fill your éclairs with luscious sweetness. Pastry cream is a component to many more elaborate desserts and can also be added to tarts and pies for a quick dessert. The key to making a successful pastry cream is to watch it very carefully. Once it curdles, no amount of straining will get rid of those lumps. Pastry cream is used in tons of different recipes. One classic example is éclairs. It is piped into the pate a choux after cooling and dipped in ganache to create the famously delicious éclair.

Pastry Cream Recipe

1 pint whole milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce cornstarch
2 eggs
2 ounces unsalted butter
4 ounces granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.
2. Mix together the sugar, salt and cornstarch and mix in the eggs gradually until smooth.
3. Temper the egg mixture with the hot milk mixture. (To temper something, you add a small amount of the hot liquid to an egg mixture to allow the egg mixture to raise its temperature slowly without cooking the eggs. Then you rapidly whisk this mixture while slowly adding the rest of the hot liquid.)
4. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook over medium heat. Make sure to stir the mixture constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens. Stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until completely mixed with the custard.
6. Cool rapidly over an ice bath and the keep chilled in the refrigerator until used in your dessert.
Yield: About 24 ounces

Chocolate ganache is just as important to learn and master as pastry cream. In simple terms it is equal parts chocolate and heavy cream. The recipe can be altered, however, to account for extra ingredients and for different uses. A thick ganache can be used as a decadent frosting or used to make truffles. A thinner ganache can be used for dipping and as a sauce. As always, the higher the quality of chocolate, the better the ganache will taste.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

1 cup heavy cream
1 pound dark chocolate (milk or semi sweet chocolate can be used as well)

1. Bring the cream to a boil and remove from heat.
2. Add the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) to the cream and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
3. After about 5-10 minutes, remove the plastic and stir the chocolate with a whisk.
Note: For thicker ganache, as used for a frosting, increase the chocolate by ½ a pound. Allow the ganache to sit for a few hours to thicken before use.

Lemon curd is also a must know basic. Check out my article Meringue cups with lemon curd for the recipe.