Crème Anglaise vs Pastry Cream: What Is the Difference?

Crème anglaise and pastry cream are both classic custard-based preparations, but they are designed for different jobs. The simplest distinction is this: crème anglaise is a pourable egg-thickened sauce, while pastry cream is a much thicker filling usually stabilised with starch as well as egg.

Crème anglaise is made from milk or cream, egg yolks, sugar and flavouring such as vanilla. Its texture comes mainly from the controlled coagulation of egg proteins. It should remain fluid enough to pour.

Because there is no significant starch system protecting the custard, temperature control matters. Excessive heat can cause the egg proteins to tighten too far and produce a grainy or curdled sauce.

Typical uses include plated desserts, sauces, ice-cream bases and as a component in other preparations.

Pastry cream—crème pâtissière—contains a dairy base, eggs or yolks, sugar and starch, commonly corn starch or flour depending on the formula. The starch gelatinises during cooking and gives the cream much more body than crème anglaise.

That thicker structure allows pastry cream to hold inside tarts, choux, mille-feuille, brioche and other filled pastries.

The presence of starch changes the process. Pastry cream is normally cooked sufficiently to gelatinise the starch and develop the required viscosity. The exact method depends on the starch, proportions and recipe.

Crème anglaise, by contrast, is normally stopped while still fluid. Cooking it as though it were pastry cream would overcook the egg system.

Usually not directly. A sauce that is meant to flow cannot simply replace a structural filling, and a starch-thickened pastry cream will not behave like a delicate custard sauce.

Choose by function. If I need a fluid custard sauce or base, I think in terms of crème anglaise. If I need a filling that must hold shape inside pastry, I use pastry cream or a derivative designed for that purpose.

The two preparations share a custard family resemblance, but their structure is fundamentally different. Understanding what thickens each one explains why their texture, cooking method and applications are not interchangeable.