Hard Lumps in Pastry Cream

• Lumps ruin the creamy texture of pastry cream and can happen for several reasons. If you add cold chopped chocolate to a pastry cream, the temperature difference can cause the chocolate to seize. If you see lumps of flour or cornstarch, the starch has not been properly cooked out. If the egg yolks were not tempered or cooked on too high heat, your pastry cream can also have small, hardened pieces of cooked egg in it.

Other Causes

• Pastry cream needs to cool to firm up properly. As it cools, the cream is exposed to the air. The mixture will develop a hard skin on top, while the cream underneath remains soft. To prevent air from reaching your cream, cover hot pastry cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly on to the cream. When you need to use your pastry cream, remove the plastic wrap to find smooth, soft cream.

Fixing Hard Pastry Cream

• First determine why your pastry cream is hard. If it developed a skin, simply remove the top, hard layer and use the rest. If you have lumps of chocolate, gently reheat and stir the cream to melt the chocolate. If you have only a few hard bits of flour, cornstarch or overcooked egg, you may be able to remove the hard bits by passing the cream through a fine mesh strainer. Use a spatula or small ladle to press the cream through the strainer. Taste the strained cream. If it is smooth, use it. If it still has lumps, consider making a fresh batch.

Cooking Tips

• To avoid introducing lumps, treat your pastry cream gently. Heat the milk or cream mixture over medium-high heat. Whisk the eggs together with sugar because the sugar helps protect the eggs from the heat. Temper the mixture by slowly pouring approximately one-third of the hot dairy over the egg yolks while whisking. This warms the eggs slowly so they do not curdle. To prevent starch lumps, cook the pastry cream over medium-low heat until it begins to boil, whisking constantly.