Crème Diplomate (en. Diplomat cream) is one of the many delicious French classic cream fillings, made by combining the vanilla pastry cream with heavy whipped cream. It's an incredibly versatile, scrumptious, light cream that serves as a great filling for various desserts.

Jump to:

• Why you'll love this recipe
• Ingredient notes
• How to make creme diplomate (step-by-step)
• 💡Tips and tricks
• Flavor variations
• Substitutions
• Storing
• FAQs and troubleshooting
• 📖 Recipe

Diplomat cream is one of my favorite fillings because of its delicious flavor, lightness and versatility. I use it as filling for Bavarian cream doughnuts which are a family favorite, choux a la crème (cream puffs), cakes, tarts and more!

Why you'll love this recipe

• So versatile. Not only in terms of adding different flavors, but its usage as well. You want a doughnut filling, choux filling, cake filling, waffle or pancake topping, a stand alone dessert in a glass with some ground biscuits and fruit? You name it!
• Absolutely delicious. I do not kid when I say that my dad and my brothers eat it by the spoonful. 👀
• Simple. It takes just a few regular baking ingredients to make this masterpiece that will have everyone think you're a french pastry chef 🙂

Ingredient notes

• Milk: always choose full-fat, whole milk. It gives the best flavor!
• Eggs: I use large eggs (between 63-73g) in this recipe. Recently I've switched to using local, free range, organic eggs that differ in size, so I weigh them to have approx. the same quantity. Organic eggs also tend to make your pastry cream a deep yellow color.
• Sugar: caster or regular white granulated sugar, both work great in this recipe. I add more sugar than some traditional recipes because I'd always found it to be too bland and not sweet enough (unless eaten alone). But don't worry, this recipe is well balanced and not too sweet at all.
• Salt: fine sea salt is my best friend in the kitchen, whether for cooking or baking. In this recipe, the salt cuts through the sweetness and accentuates the delicious milky, vanilla-ry flavor.
• Vanilla: being the second most expensive spice in the world, it can be hard to find and use fresh vanilla seeds. I like to make my own extract or buy good quality vanilla pastes. Essences won't work very well because they have weak, artificial flavor.
• Butter: I like to add some unsalted butter (min. 82% fat) to my pastry cream, because it helps with the more silky texture.
• Heavy cream: I use the one with min. 36% milk fat. More fat = more stability = more flavor.
• Gelatine*: Traditionally, diplomat cream is often made with gelatine to help with stabilizing. Personally, I don't like using gelatine in my baking ventures because I am not a fan of its texture. So, I've found a way to accommodate the ingredient ratios and avoid using gelatine, while still keeping creme diplomate stable and pipe-able.

Since I've decided not to use gelatine, the more appropriate French name for this type of cream would be Crème Légère. However, the two terms are often used interchangeably because both are a synonym of pastry cream that's been lightened with the addition of whipped cream.

How to make creme diplomate (step-by-step)

Note: You have the fully written recipe with measurements and detailed instructions at the end of the post. However, I advise you to read all the helpful tips and FAQs.

1.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine the egg yolks, egg, corn starch, sugar and salt using a whisk. 
2. Pour the milk in a small saucepan and bring to almost boiling point over medium-high heat.
3. Once the milk has reached scalding point, pour some of it to the egg mixture, in a slow and steady stream, whisking continuously so you don't cook the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan with the remaining milk.

4. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until it thickens.
5. Cook for another 1-2 minutes to make sure there isn't any cornstarch aftertaste.
6. When it's done, add in the vanilla and butter and whisk until everything is combined, silky and smooth.
7. Strain the pastry cream to a clean bowl through a sieve, to get rid of any cooked egg bits and lumps. Cover with cling film (plastic wrap) touching the surface to prevent skin forming. Let it cool at room temperature for about an hour, then place it in the fridge to cool completely.

8. Transfer the cold pastry cream to a mixing bowl (it will be stiff, gelatinous-like) and give it a mix with an electric hand mixer to make it creamy again. In a separate bowl, whisk the cold heavy cream to stiff peaks and add it to the pastry cream. Mix everything together at medium-high speed until fully combined and smooth.

💡Tips and tricks

• Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve. Lumps or small cooked egg bits are possible if you're not experienced at tempering the eggs and cooking pastry cream. Nothing to worry about! Just make sure to strain the pastry cream through a sieve and you'll have a silky cream in no time!
• Place the pastry cream in a shallow plate so it cools down more quickly.
• Steep vanilla pod in milk. If you're using a fresh vanilla pod, scrape the seeds and add them with the cut pod in the hot milk. Cover with a lid or a plate and leave to steep for at least 20-30 minutes. Take the vanilla pod out, bring the milk almost to a boil again and continue with the next steps.
• Whip the cold pastry cream. You'll notice the pastry cream becomes very stiff and gelatinous-like when cold. I like to transfer it to a mixing bowl and whip it with an electric mixer to make it creamy again. This will prevent any possible lumps to occur when combining with whipped cream.

Flavor variations

This simple vanilla creme diplomate works great as a base for other filling flavors. From the easy ones like lemon and orange —where you only need to add fresh zest to the warm pastry cream— or adding extracts, infusing the milk with coffee, tea, lavender etc.

Substitutions

If you want to make a dairy-free creme diplomate, you can use plant-based milk instead. However, keep in mind 2 things:

• some plant-based drinks tend to have a very punchy flavor which is going to affect the end flavor of your diplomat cream
• the density of the plant-based milk varies depending on the flavor you choose. Using watery ones might result in a softer pastry cream

Unsweetened soy milk is probably your best bet. Rice milk has a great, naturally lighly sweet flavor, but it tends to be on the watery side, so be careful.

Instead of butter you can use vegan butter or margarine, or you can just omit it altogether.

Storing

You can make pastry cream in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, covered tightly with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming. Then when you're ready to use it, whip the heavy cream and combine it with pastry cream.

If you want to keep the already assembled creme diplomate in the fridge for a few days, then I advise you to add some gelatine to make it stable.

FAQs and troubleshooting

If you have any other questions that I didn't cover, please let me know in the comments section down below - I'd love to help you out!

And if you make creme diplomate, tag me on Instagram @anasbakingchronicles so I can see it or feel free to e-mail me your pictures and thoughts! I love seeing your bakes!

Happy baking,

Ana

📖 Recipe