Orange Pastry Cream
The citrus version of the classic pastry cream: orange juice goes in instead of milk. The result is silky, fragrant and noticeably lighter than the original — and the perfect filling for tarts, roulades and trifles. Ready in minutes.
It is made in the microwave, in two 2-minute rounds with a good whisking in between. That is not a compromise against the pan: heated from below, a starch-thickened cream catches quickly, while in the microwave it warms evenly. The classic version is the vanilla pastry cream.
Ingredients
- 500 ml orange juice (freshly squeezed or from a carton)
- 120 g sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 50 g cornstarch (cornflour)
- 25 g cold butter
- Orange zest (optional)
Method
- 1
In a glass bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the cold juice. Cold matters: in hot liquid it goes lumpy instantly.
- 2
Add the egg yolks and the sugar. Mix until smooth.
- 3
Microwave for 2 minutes at full power. Take it out and whisk hard.
- 4
Microwave for another 2 minutes at full power, until it thickens.
- 5
Stir in the cold butter until it emulsifies: it gives the cream shine and smoothness. Only then, out of the microwave, fold in the orange zest if you are using it — zest that gets cooked loses precisely the aroma you added it for. Cover with cling film pressed onto the surface so it does not form a skin, and let it cool.