Crème Diplomate
Lightened pastry cream — the filling for choux, mille-feuille, and fraisier
CAP version (standard)
- 500 g whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 80 g egg yolks
- 90 g caster sugar
- 30 g plain flour
- 30 g cornstarch
- 40 g unsalted butter
- 4 gelatine leaves (2 g each)
- 400 g whipping cream (35%)
Big Choux version (×1.5)
- 750 g whole milk
- 1 vanilla pod
- 120 g egg yolks
- 135 g caster sugar
- 45 g plain flour
- 45 g cornstarch
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 6 gelatine leaves (2 g each)
- 600 g whipping cream (35%)
Chocolate variant
- 225 g dark chocolate 70% (into half the hot crème pâtissière)
Crème diplomate is crème pâtissière lightened with gelatine-set whipped cream. It is stable enough to fill éclairs, layer mille-feuilles, and structure entremets, yet light enough to eat by the spoonful. The gelatine serves a structural role: it holds the cream in shape at room temperature and prevents it from weeping. The key is timing — the pastry cream must be warm enough to dissolve the gelatine and absorb the butter, but cool enough not to deflate the whipped cream when the two are combined.
Method
Crème pâtissière
- Split and scrape the vanilla pod into the milk. Bring to a simmer. Cover and infuse 10 minutes.
- Whisk yolks with sugar until pale. Add flour and cornstarch, whisk smooth.
- Reheat the milk, pour half over the yolk mixture while whisking, then return everything to the pan.
- Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the cream thickens and boils for 1 full minute to cook out the starch.
- Off the heat, add the butter and gelatine (pre-bloomed and squeezed). Stir until fully dissolved and incorporated. Pass through a sieve into a clean bowl.
- Press cling film directly onto the surface. Cool immediately — ideally in an ice bath.
Resting & tempering
- Refrigerate the crème pâtissière for at least 1 hour until set.
- Remove from the fridge and let it come up slightly towards room temperature — it should not be ice-cold. If the pastry cream is too cold when the whipped cream is added, the gelatine will set prematurely and cause the mixture to grain.
- Loosen the pastry cream by whisking it until smooth.
Whipped cream & assembly
- Whip the cream to soft-medium peaks. Do not over-whip — stop while it still looks slightly glossy. Overwhipped cream is grainy and cannot be incorporated smoothly.
- Make the whipped cream immediately before incorporating it, while it is at its freshest, to avoid it deflating.
- Fold the whipped cream into the loosened pastry cream in two additions: first a third to loosen and lighten, then the rest in broad strokes.
- Rest at least 2 hours in the fridge before using. The cream will firm up as the gelatine sets fully.
Background
The name "diplomate" comes from the Bavarian cream tradition — a lightened, gelatine-set cream that bridges pastry cream and mousse. Unlike crème mousseline (which gets its body from butter), diplomate is airy and cold-temperature stable without the richness of a high-fat cream.
The gelatine quantity is calibrated to hold the cream set at fridge temperature without making it rubbery. At 4 gelatine leaves per 500 g milk it is firm enough to pipe cleanly into éclairs and hold its shape when sliced. For lighter applications where texture matters more than structure (e.g. as a tart topping), the gelatine can be reduced to 3 leaves.
The chocolate variant is simple: melt dark chocolate and stir it into half the hot crème pâtissière before adding the butter and gelatine. The cocoa butter in the chocolate provides additional setting power, so slightly less gelatine may be used.
For the British equivalent using double cream: use 300 g double cream in place of 400 g whipping cream (the higher fat content means less volume is needed to achieve the same body). Scale the pastry cream base by a factor of 0.66.
Mistakes I've Made
- Grainy diplomate. Added the whipped cream to pastry cream straight from the fridge. The cold gelatine sets in clumps the moment it contacts cool cream. Let the pastry cream warm slightly and whisk it smooth first.
- Cream weeping after a few hours. Under-dissolved gelatine — it had not fully melted into the hot pastry cream. Make sure it is completely liquid before chilling.
- Deflated texture, no lightness. Over-whipped cream before folding. The fat crystals had set and the emulsion broke. Stop just before it looks fully whipped.
- Pastry cream too stiff to fold into smoothly. Had chilled it too long and not let it come back to temperature. A brief rest at room temperature and a firm whisk is all it takes to loosen it.
Sources
- Crème Diplomate —
- Crème Diplomate Vanille —