Vegan Pastry Cream
This vegan pastry cream is easy to make in under 10 minutes with just 6 ingredients and no eggs, dairy or coconut.
Servings 700 g
Ingredients
- 60 g (½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)
- 250 ml (1 cup) unsweetened soy milk
- 250 ml (1 cup) vegan single cream (I use Alpro soya cream)*
- 100 g (½ cup) caster or granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla bean paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
- 60 g (¼ cup) vegan block butter
Instructions
- Place the cornstarch in a pan and gradually whisk in the cold milk, making sure that there are no lumps. Whisk in the cream, sugar and vanilla.
- Place the pan over a low-medium heat and stir constantly until it comes up to the boil and thickens. Once it starts to thicken, whisk it vigorously for about a minute, making sure that you get right into the edges of the pan. When you stop for a few seconds, a few big bubbles should rise to the surface and pop.
- Remove from the heat, add the butter and stir until melted and fully combined.
- Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl and cover with baking paper or clingfilm directly on the surface of the pastry cream, this will prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours until cold.
- Once the pastry cream is cold it will have thickened further and may seem a bit rubbery. Give it a good whisk with a balloon whisk, electric mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and it will become smooth and creamy again. It is now ready to use.
Notes
- *You can use more soya milk instead of the cream, though the pastry cream won't be quite as rich and creamy and may have a slightly thinner consistency.
- If the pastry cream seems lumpy once it is cooked, use a spatula to press it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl while it is still hot.
- I strongly suggest making this recipe by weight, if you use the cup conversions I can’t guarantee that you’ll get the same results.
- This pastry cream is perfect for filling things like tarts and doughnuts. If you want a firmer set pastry cream that could be used in between cake layers then increase both the cornstarch and butter to 70g.