Custard Recipe

A spoon with custard dripping off it into a jar of vanilla custard.

Make thick and creamy vanilla custard at home with my traditional stove-top recipe that's delicious poured over crumbles, pies and tarts.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French, western

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 30

Servings: serves

Calories: 130kcal

Author: Lucy - Bake Play Smile

Equipment

Stove-top

Ingredients

1 vanilla bean
600 ml full cream milk not skim or light milk
4 egg yolks approximately 55g each
2 tbs (30g) caster sugar superfine sugar
1 tbs (10g) cornflour

Instructions

Using a small sharp knife, cut a slit down the middle of the vanilla bean and then scrape out seeds.
Add both the bean and the seeds to a saucepan over a medium-low heat, pour in the full cream milk and bring only just to the boil.
Take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour through a sieve and discard any of the remaining vanilla bean. Set the milk aside.
In a large bowl, add the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour and whisk until smooth and pale.
Very slowly add the reserved warm milk, half a cup at a time, whisking well each time.
Once all of the milk has been added and whisked, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook very gently on low heat for 15-20 minutes while whisking constantly. The custard is ready once it coats the back of a spoon and has thickened considerably.

Video

Notes

RECIPE NOTES & TIPS

Ingredients Info:

Vanilla beans – also known as vanilla pods. Vanilla beans can be bought from the baking section of any supermarket. They are quite expensive (approximately $5-6 dollars for a two pack), but are needed to give the custard a beautiful rich vanilla flavour. If you’re unable to source vanilla beans, you can use 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract. Vanilla essence is not suitable for this recipe as it doesn’t give the same rich vanilla flavour as vanilla beans, vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.
Milk – use full cream milk for this recipe. Do not use skim or light milk as it will not thicken as well as full cream milk.
Egg yolks – use large eggs (approximately 55g each). Discard the egg whites as they are not needed for this recipe.
Caster sugar – also known as superfine sugar. This type of sugar is perfect for custard as it dissolves when heated.
Cornflour – also known as cornstarch. This works with the egg yolks to thicken the mixture.

More Recipe Tips:

If using vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract - follow the step for heating the milk with the paste/extract exactly as you would with a vanilla bean pod. However, omit the step of straining the milk (as you wont have a pod to strain).

Whisking – the secret to perfectly smooth and thick custard is patience and lots of whisking. Cook the custard over a very low heat while continually whisking. Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat as your custard will start to scramble and go lumpy. Be prepared to stand at the stove-top for 15-20 minutes whisking the mixture continuously.

Removing any lumps - If you notice that your eggs are starting to scramble while cooking, remove the saucepan from the stove-top, pour the custard into a bowl, allow to cool and then strain through a sieve to remove any lumpy parts.

Storing – Custard can be stored for 3 days in the fridge. Note: it will continue to thicken.

Freezing – Custard is not suitable for freezing.

Nutrition