German buttercream (Crème Mousseline)
With a rich and silky smooth custard-like character, this easy German Buttercream recipe (Crème Mousseline) is absolutely divine, my favorite buttercream frosting. It's composed of a simple pastry cream base that is enriched with butter, which is what makes it stand apart from more traditional sugar-heavy buttercreams.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- Not listed
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 500 g Whole milk
- 100 g Granulated sugar
- 80 g Egg yolk (approx. yolk of 4-5 eggs)
- 25 g Corn starch
- 25 g All-purpose flour
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
- 50 g Unsalted butter (soft - will be mixed into pastry cream straight after it is cooked)
- 150 g Unsalted butter (soft - will be whipped into the pastry cream to make the mousseline cream)
Instructions
- 1
Start with the pastry cream
- 2
In a large enough bowl with the help of a Hand whisk, whisk together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes
- 3
Mix in corn starch, flour, and vanilla until throughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
- 4
Bring milk to simmer in a saucepan on medium heat then remove it from the stove.
- 5
Pour the warm milk over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a Hand whisk.
- 6
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens. Concretely it is approximately 1 min after the first boil. It might get lumpy first, don't worry just keep whisking and the cream will get smooth and glossy
- 7
If in doubt, strain the pastry cream for a lump free, creamy end result.
- 8
Add in room temperature soft butter and mix with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. It is worth to add the butter in 3 stages and mix well after each addition.
- 9
Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Let it come to room temperature
- 10
Make the mousseline cream
- 11
Crème mousseline can be made with room temp pastry cream and room temp butter. Make sure everything is at room temp otherwise the mixture might curdle
- 12
Once pastry cream cooled to room temp, prepare the mousseline cream by whipping room temp butter first for 1-2 minutes. Start adding in the room temp pastry cream in 4 stages until cream reaches a stable yet fluffy texture.
- 13
Do not over whip the mixture as it can become runny or can curdle. The cream mgiht be on the soft side at this point due to the room temp butter used so place it back into the fridge for an hour to chill before using it.
- 14
Store refrigerated for 2-3 days.