Subtle & Delicious Salted Honey Custard

Y’all, I feel so fancy.  After a billion hours of watching Great British Bake-Off, I actually undertook the omnipresent pastry cream or “creme patissiere” myself with this absolutely delish salted honey custard.  

And here’s the thing—IT’S SHOCKINGLY EASY.  (Side note, why don’t American desserts have more pastry cream?? Missed opportunities…)

Now granted, this recipe uses cornstarch (or “corn flour”, as the Brits call it), which Mary Berry seems to consider a cheat for the skill levels of GBBO contestants. 

But it’s normal in most pastry cream recipes, and is definitely our friend here in achieving a thick, pipe-able pastry cream that is great for filling cakes, cream puffs, and more (you can see it trying to spill out of the cream puffs below).

And let’s talk about this flavor, which is so DREAMMMMMY.  It’s sweet enough, but the salt balances it out nicely.  Quite subtle.  I’m not a caramel person and so have never really understood the appeal of salted caramel.  Now I know that *this* is my own personal salted caramel.

I discovered this salted honey custard as a component in the cake I initially made for my birthday…”salted honey orange cake” sounded right up my alley.  But I ended up finding that neither the cake nor the frosting really did anything for me. 

This custard on the other hand was my everything, and so I did a birthday cake re-do recently—“Elvis” peanut butter, banana, & honey cream puffs with this as the filling.

A couple minutes of prep make this all go super smoothly.  First, place the butter in heat-safe medium or large bowl. Set a fine-mesh sieve over the top of the bowl and set aside.  You’ll also need a *different* medium or large heat-safe bowl, and then a medium saucepan.

In your medium saucepan, heat the milk and 2 tablespoons of the sugar over medium heat.  Bring it slowly to a simmer (not a boil!!), then remove from the heat.

Separately, in your other mixing bowl (the one without the butter), whisk together the remaining sugar, honey, and cornstarch.  Then whisk in the eggs yolks until smooth.

Get your whisking hand ready…take your hot milk mixture and whisk a SMALL amount into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to help incorporate it and keep the hot liquid from too much contact (you don’t want to cook the eggs). 

Continue whisking small amounts of the milk mixture into the egg mixture to slowly raise temperature of the eggs.  Once all the milk is incorporated, transfer the milk/egg mixture back to your saucepan. 

Place the saucepan back on the stove and cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. 

Heat the custard and keep stirring until it thickens (enough to really coat the back of a spoon).  Don’t be tempted to turn the heat up, just be patient and keep whisking until slow, large bubbles start to pop on the surface. 

Whisk continuously for one more minute, then remove from the heat.

Pour the hot pastry cream through the mesh sieve into the bowl with the butter, and add the vanilla and salt (start light with the salt, then add more).

Stir until smooth and then cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly onto to the surface of the pastry cream (to prevent a skin forming).  Refrigerate until it’s cool and thick, at least 2 hours or overnight.

I kept sneaking giant spoonfuls of this custard from the fridge as it cooled…I’m truly obsessed.  And already dreaming of sandwiching it between a fluffy banana cake with my uber peanut buttery frosting…

Check out how awesome this made my “Elvis” peanut butter, honey, & banana cream puffs!

Other honey-flavored goodies you’ll love:

• One-Bowl Yogurt and Honey Olive Oil Cake
• Peanut Butter & Honey Ice Cream with Sea Salt
• Honey Apple Tart
• Fresh Apple Cake with Honey Glaze
• Russian Burnt Honey Cake

This recipe comes from The Cake Blog

Delicious Salted Honey Custard (Pastry Cream)

Yield: ~2 cups

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 23 minutes

The dreamy, creamy salted honey custard (or pastry cream) is super easy and makes an amazing filling for cakes, cream puffs, cupcakes, and more...or just to sneak spoonfuls of straight out of the fridge!

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, diced
• 1 1/3 cup of milk
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup of honey
• 4 tablespoons + 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch (see notes)
• 4 eggs yolks
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of salt (TO TASTE); start light, then add a bit at a time

Instructions

1. Place the butter in heat-safe medium or large bowl. Set a fine-mesh sieve over the top of the bowl and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and 2 tablespoons of the sugar over medium heat.  Bring it slowly to a simmer, then remove from the heat.
3. Separately, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, honey, and cornstarch.  Whisk in the eggs yolks until smooth.
4. Get your whisking hand ready...start whisking a SMALL amount of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously to help incorporate it (you don't want to cook the eggs).  Continue whisking small amounts of the milk mixture into the egg mixture to slowly raise temperature of the eggs. 
5. Once all the milk is incorporated, transfer the milk/egg mixture back to your saucepan. 
6. Place the saucepan back on the stove and cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously.  Heat the custard and keep stirring until it thickens (enough to really coat the back of a spoon).  Don't be tempted to turn the heat up, just be patient and keep whisking until slow, large bubbles start to pop on the surface.  Whisk continuously for one more minute, then remove from the heat.
7. Pour the hot pastry cream through the mesh sieve into the bowl with the butter, and add the vanilla and salt (start light with the salt, then add more).
8. Stir until smooth and then cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly onto to the surface of the pastry cream (to prevent a skin forming).  Refrigerate until it's cool and thick, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Notes

• I haven't tried this, but feel like the cornstarch could be backed off just a tiny bit, as it felt just a bit "cornstarchy"
• Start light with the salt, and then add and keep tasting to get the right balance. Personally I like it a bit salty, but it also HIGHLY depends on the brand and type of salt you're using.

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  Set of 3 Stainless Steel Fine Mesh Strainers