Vanilla Crémeux
Vanilla Crémeux
This vanilla crémeux is like a classic vanilla custard, but stabilised and then whipped to give it an incredible texture. It is so quick to pull together and packs so much vanilla flavour.
The only thing to be careful of, is not overcooking the mixture – otherwise you risk scrambling it! Keep a close eye on it and whisk constantly to make sure nothing scrambles.
The crémeux would be perfect to pipe into eclairs or paired with this Mille-Feuille! If you want a chocolate version – then you have to try my chocolate cremeux too!
Ingredients
Method
Into a small ramkein, add the powdered gelatin along with the cold water. Stir to combine and allow it to sit for 5-10 minutes to bloom.
Add the egg yolks and sugar to a bowl and whisk together to combine for about 30 seconds (once you add the sugar whisk it straight away or the sugar will 'burn' the yolks and create little lumps)
Scrape the beans from a fresh vanilla pod and add these to a medium saucepan along with the cream. Place it over a medium heat and stir occasionally to disperse the vanilla.
Once the cream is steaming, remove it from the heat, and while whisking, slowly pour it over the egg yolk mixture.
Add the mixture back into the pan, and set the heat to medium low. Whisk constantly, until it reaches around 80-82C (176-179F) on a digital thermometer. This is pretty tiring on your arms (!) but it's important to whisk so that the mixture doesn't scramble.
Once at temperature, immediately remove it from the heat and pass it through a sieve, placed over a bowl. This will catch any little bits that might have possibly scrambled.
Add in the bloomed gelatin and whisk to combine. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours or ideally overnight.
The next day, add it to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use a hand whisk) and whisk it for 1-2 minutes until it is thicker and smooth. Initially it might look slightly lumpy, but it will smooth as you whisk. The cremeux is ready to use, and can be used to fill eclairs or as part of a layer cake. It is stabilised from the gelatin so will hold its shape well even in slightly warmer conditions.
If you have a different strength of gelatin powder, you can use the table below to convert it. For example, you may have 200 bloom gelatin, but this recipe calls for 250 bloom. In which case you would need to convert the amount of gelatin by 1.27x to create the gelatin mass.
1.27 x 5 = 6.5g (Gelatin Powder)
6.5 x 6 = 39g (Water)
*A general rule of thumb is to multiply the amount of gelatin powder by 6 to give you the required water amount.
So to make the gelatin mass you would need 6.5g Powdered Gelatin (200 Bloom) + 39g Cold Water
Hi Matt! I love your recipes <3
Do you think the cremeux from this recipe is stable and thick enough to pipe into flowers?
I think so but it is quite thick so not as ‘light’ as buttercream!
Hi matt, tried yoyr recipe last night cause i was looking for something that could be frozen, gotta say i’m a professionnal baker so i its realy weird because i realy don’t what went wrong, anyway it turned grainy, defintelly not smooth and not stable enough, i was wondering what you think could of go wrong. Btw love your recipes
Oh no! Did you scramble the mixture or not dissolve the gelatin properly?
Hi! I unfortunately don’t have a thermometer (won’t get one in time) – about how long does it take for the eggs to reach the right temp?
Really hard to say without knowing how high your hob temp is etc. The mixture should be slightly thicker in consistency like an anglaise custard.