Praline Mousseline Cream

This Praline Mousseline Cream (Crème Mousseline au Praliné in French) is an incredibly decadent cream that can be used as a filling or frosting inside cakes and pastries such as Paris-Brest or Success Cake.

This Praline Cream is an incredibly decadent cream that can be used to fill any of your favourite pastries like choux, tarts and cakes. The praline paste brings a deliciously nutty flavour to the rich and fluffy mousseline cream.

It is traditionally used to fill Paris-Brest cakes or to make a Success Cake (gâteau succès).

Ingredients

Scroll down to recipe card below for all quantities

What is praline filling made of:

• Milk: use full cream milk (whole milk) for the best result. I don't recommend using fat-free or skim milk here - you need that extra fat.

• Egg Yolks: from large eggs and at room temperature.

• Sugar: caster sugar / fine white granulated sugar.

• Cornstarch: to thicken the cream. You can substitute it with plain, all-purpose flour but I find that cornstarch gives you a lighter texture. Make sure to sift the cornstarch before using it.

• Butter: use a good quality, european-style butter (82% fat) for the best, flavourful result. The temperature of the butter is extremely important here - if it is too cold or too hot, it won't whip into the pastry cream.

• Praline Paste: a paste made from blending caramelised nuts, usually hazelnut or almonds. You can buy pre-made praline paste from specialty shops or make your own praline at home! I've used hazelnut praline here but you can use any nuts or even seeds to make praline.

Optional: vanilla - either vanilla paste / vanilla extract (added to the milk) or a fresh vanilla bean infused into the warm milk.

How to make Praline Crème Mousseline step-by-step

1. Make the Pastry Cream

• Place the milk in a medium-size saucepan. Turn on medium low heat and bring to a simmer.

• Photo 1: in a large heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.

• Photo 2: add the cornstarch and whisk until no lumps remain.

• Photo 3: slowly pour the hot milk over the egg yolk mixture while whisking. Mix well until completely smooth.

• Photo 4: pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and place back over the stove on a low heat.

• Cook for 5 to 8 minutes while continuously stirring. Once you notice large bubbles starting to puff on top of the cream, vigorously whisk for about 30 seconds to a minute then directly remove from the stove. 

Ideally, use a kitchen thermometer to check the exact temperature of your crème pâtissière. It is cooked once it reaches 82 to 84 degrees Celsius (180 to 183 degrees Farhenheit). 

• Away from the stove, slowly add the first part of the butter a little bit at a time, whisking well until fully incorporated before adding more.

• Transfer the cream into a wide shallow dish (such as a muffin pan for example) or a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream and place in the fridge to set for at least an hour - or up to 24 hours.

2. Incorporate the butter and praline paste

• Take the pastry cream out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to allow it to get back to room temperature.

If you've chilled the pastry cream for more than an hour, you will need to take it out of the fridge for at least an hour to let it come back to room temperature.

• Photo 5: place the soft butter in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium to medium high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until light, fluffy and slightly lighter in colour.

The exact time will depend on the temperature of your butter. Stop and scrape the bowl with a spatula when required to get an homogeneous paste.

• Photo 6 & 7: Add the room temperature pastry cream to the butter a little bit at a time. Whip until fully combined before adding more until all the pastry cream has been added.

• Photo 8: when all the butter has been incorporated, add the praline paste.

• Increase the speed to high and whip for a couple more minutes. You should get a light and fluffy praline cream.

If the cream gets soft, place the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes then continue to whip. If you see chunks of butter that are not mixing in (the cream looks like it is splitting), leave at room temperature to warm up a bit.

Note: There is a second method to incorporate the butter, where the pastry cream is whipped first and the butter incorporated second. That is the method shown in the video; both methods will give you the same result. You can read more about this technique in my Mousseline Cream post.

Recipe FAQs

Tips & Troubleshooting

• The pastry cream is lumpy or grainy: usually happens when the cream was cooked at a temperature too high and the egg yolks curdled, creating lumps. Make sure to cook the cream at low temperature, preferably using a kitchen thermometer for the perfect results. Pastry Cream is cooked at 82 to 84 degrees Celsius (180 to 184 degrees Fahrenheit).

How to fix it: pour the custard through a thin mesh sieve. If the cream remains grainy after that, you can very lightly blend it with an immersion blender, but be careful as over-blending it might make the cream go loose and liquid.

• The mousseline cream split: If the temperature of the butter and/or the pastry cream is too cold or too hot, the two will not combine properly. I personally like to use a kitchen thermometer to make sure both components have the same temperature before combining them.

How to fix it:

- Too warm: the mousseline will appear flat and slightly shiny or greasy. Place the bowl back in the fridge to allow for the butter to harden slightly down the before whipping again.

- Too cold: you will see lumps or grains of butter that will not combine into the custard. Leave at room temperature to slightly warm up and whip on high speed. You can also carefully (and only very lightly) heat up the bowl (if it is heatproof) using a kitchen torch.

How to use Praline Crème Mousseline

• For Entremets and Layer Cakes, like a Success Cake that is made with layers of Dacquoise Sponge and Praline Cream for example.

• To fill Choux Pastry desserts: most traditionally to make Paris-Brest. But you can also use it to fill other choux pastries like Choux à la Crème or Choux au Craquelin.

• To make tarts.

• As a frosting / filling for cakes and cupcakes.

Storing & Freezing

This Praline Mousseline Cream should be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Store it in an airtight container or mixing bowl, with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream.

Once used inside cakes or pastries, they need to be kept refrigerated as well until ready to serve. It will be ok at room temperature for a few hours when serving, unless it is very hot (the butter will start to melt).

I do not recommend freezing this cream as it will loose its fluffy texture once thawed.

Recipe

Made this recipe?
Let us know if you liked it by leaving a comment below, and tag us on Instagram @a.baking.journey with a photo of your creation!