Homemade custard is a delicious creamy sauce often served with baked desserts like South African malva pudding.
It's quick and easy to make, velvety smooth, and luxuriously creamy.
This homemade custard recipe only takes 5 minutes to make and can easily be adjusted from a vanilla custard to a chocolate custard or adjusted to fit your dietary needs.
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Ingredients
- Milk — Any milk you have. Full fat is more luxurious, but you can even use lactose-free or dairy-free.
- Cream — Double cream for extra richness, or leave it out and replace it with your choice of milk.
- Eggs — Only the yolks. Keep the whites in the freezer for something else.
- Cornstarch — Not to be confused with cornflour in the USA. In the UK, cornstarch is referred to as cornflour. It's a white powder form of pure starch derived from corn.
- Vanilla — Vanilla extract in powder or liquid form. If you can find them, use fresh vanilla beans for the best flavor. You can also use vanilla bean paste, often sold in small jars in the confectionary section in supermarkets.
- Sugar — Regular granulated sugar. I use powdered or confectioner sugar for easy mixing.
- Butter (optional) — Butter makes it even more luxurious and creamy. Leave it out for a lighter version.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients apart from the butter until homogenous. Whisk continuously while cooking over low heat until thickened and starting to boil. Whisk in the butter until fully incorporated.
- Step 2: Chill down in the fridge immediately, covered with a piece of parchment or food-safe plastic to prevent skin from forming.
Substitutions
- Lactose-free — Use lactose-free milk and cream.
- Dairy-free — Replace the milk and cream with coconut milk or nut milk.
- Sugar-free — Use a small amount of stevia or artificial sweetener.
Variations
- Dessert spices — Cinnamon and nutmeg added last minute are delicious when served with Christmas pudding over the holidays.
- Cocoa — You can add pure cocoa powder at the start with all the other ingredients, or add cooking chocolate of your choice at the end for a delicious chocolate custard.
- Alcohol — Add a splash of whisky, rum, or brandy at the end, Delicious with baked toffee-like puddings such as malva pudding or sticky toffee.
Storage
Homemade custard should be stored in the fridge. It will only last for 3 days. It's not suitable for freezing.
Make sure to place a piece of parchment or food-safe plastic directly in contact with the custard to prevent a crust or skin from forming on the surface.
Top Tips
- Mix your ingredients well to ensure even cooking.
- Continuously whisk to avoid it catching on the bottom of the pan and uneven cooking.
FAQ
Yes, replace it with milk
Yes, but you must strain the mix through a sieve because the egg white might make it grainy or lumpy.
Not quite, custard is more fluid, velvety in texture, and made with egg yolk, while pudding is thicker and includes flour.
What to serve custard with
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Recipe
Homemade Custard
Ingredients
- 380 grams (1 ½ cups) milk - 2-4% fat
- 100 grams (½ cup) cream - double cream
- 4 (4) egg yolks
- 4 grams (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract - powdered or liquid form/ Or ½ fresh vanilla pod
- 30 grams (¼ cup) cornstarch - or potato starch
- 100 grams (½ cup) sugar - confectioners/ powdered or granulated
- 2 grams (⅓ teaspoon) salt
- 30 grams (2 tablespoon) butter
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients apart from the butter until homogenous. Whisk continuously while cooking over low heat until thickened and starting to boil. Whisk in the butter until fully incorporated.
- Chill down in the fridge immediately, covered with a piece of parchment or food safe plastic to avoid a skin from forming.
Notes
- Lactose-free — Use lactose-free milk and cream.
- Dairy-free — Replace the milk and cream with coconut milk or nut milk.
- Sugar-free — Use a small amount of stevia or artificial sweetener.
- Mix your ingredients well to ensure even cooking.
- Continuously whisk to avoid it catching on the bottom of the pan and uneven cooking.
- Homemade custard should be stored in the fridge. It will only last for 3 days. It's not suitable for freezing.
- Make sure to place a piece of parchment or food-safe plastic directly in contact with the custard to prevent a crust or skin from forming on the surface.
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