Crème Légère (light cream) is a mix of Creme Patissiere (cream pastry) and freshly whipped cream. It’s the perfect luxurious filling for any cake or dessert.
What you need to make Creme Legere
- Caster Sugar – If you only have Granulated sugar. Try blitzing it in a food processor to break it down into finer granules.
- Eggs – For this recipe, I used large eggs. Medium is fine if that’s all you have.
- Plain Flour – This helps with the thickening. Corn Flour is also fine
- Double Cream – Whipping Cream will be fine. But not reduced fat.
- Vanilla Seeds – Vanilla Paste will be fine.
- Unsalted Butter – This gives the custard a good rich buttery flavour.
Scroll down to the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities for this Creme Legere Recipe.
What is Creme Legere? (crème légère)
Crème Légère or Creme Legere (light cream) is a mix of Creme Patissiere (cream pastry) and freshly whipped cream. A wonderful luxurious filling for any cake.
Choux buns are often filled with Pastry Cream or thick vanilla custard. Don’t forget to drizzle the choux bins with an easy chocolate glaze. Or chocolate ganache.
Recipes using Creme Patissiere
You can use the Crème Pâtissière in all forms of baking including Trifles and Tarts. Such as this Raspberry and Blueberry Custard Tart.
Or this Boston Cream Pie. Which is not a pie at all, But a light sponge cake filled with Crème Pâtissière and topped with a delicious Chocolate Frosting that is so easy to slice when it hardens.
For something really special like a multilayered sponge cake such as this Opera Cake, where a million bubbles of whisked Egg Whites elevate a cake to new heights. Add some Creme Legere between the layers to complete the taste and texture.
If you want to take your cake one step further, try making this Chocolate Ganache and cover your cake on the outside. The flavours will balance very nicely.
This recipe for a Chocolate Fudge Cake is sublime and so easy to make.
What is the difference between Creme Patissiere and Cream Anglaise?
Creme Anglaise (English Cream) is a thinner pouring (custard) version of pastry cream. It is very popular when serving a British pudding such as Apple Sponge Eves Pudding.
Creme Anglaise is delicious when served hot or cold with sliced Bananas.
Creme Patissiere is a thicker custard compared to Creme Anglaise. It is used to fill Choux buns, cakes, and desserts. Or spread over the base of a pastry tart. Which is then topped with fresh berries such as Strawberry or raspberries.
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Crème Légère
Ingredients – Imperial /oz are approx weights which are calculated by a 3rd party app
- 60 g Caster Sugar
- 2 Large Whole Eggs
- 30 g Plain Flour or Corn Flour
- 300 ml Double Cream
- 1 Vanilla Pod Seeded
- 60 g Unsalted Butter
Instructions
- In a heat proof bowl, beat together the Sugar, Eggs and Flour until well combined.
- Heat 200ml of the cream with the Vanilla Pod and Seeds until bubbles form, sieve then add to the Egg mixture. Mix until well combined.
- Return the mixture to a clean pan and gently heat the Crème mixture beating all the time as it thickens to avoid lumps forming.
- As soon as the mixture thickens take off the heat and add the butter, beating until all the butter has melted and incorporated in the creme mixture.
- Place the Crème Pâtissière into a separate bowl and cover the top of the creme with cling film to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool completely, in the fridge if needed.
- When completely cooled soften the Crème Pâtissière a little by giving it a quick whisk.
- In a separate bowl whip the remaining (100g) cream until ribbons are formed then add to the smooth Crème Pâtissière, mix until well combined.
- Leave in the fridge until required. Crème Pâtissière now becomes Crème Légère ~ Light Creme
How much is one vanilla pod? If I’m buying the paste ??
I don’t have a jar of vanilla paste on me to check the label for comparison. After doing a bit on research, there seem to be varying degrees between 3 x teaspoons and 1 x tablespoon of vanilla paste to one vanilla pod for strength.
is this cream pipeable? i want to make a letter cookie cake and use this cream.
Sheila
I’ve never actually piped with this. So I can’t say with certainty that it will retain the firmness for fine lettering. I would describe the consistency as similar to custard. However, if you are using a large nozzle to pipe the creme as a filling, then I’m sure it would work.
This sounds great and will give it a go but I am wondering if there are any alternatives to buttercream that do not involve cream or cream cheese? I would prefer to keep my fillings as low risk as possible and I personally dislike buttercream so any suggestions would be very welcome!
Sarah. If this is for health reasons, is it possible to spread the layer quite thinly. There are cream alternatives on the market, but not too sure how well they work in butter creams and creme patisserie. Maybe a reader has tried some and can comment.
Going to give this one a go as I find buttercream often fights against the lovely light cake flavours. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I use a lemon in used version that originally came from an Italian cookbook. Bellissimo!
I dislike buttercream and am always looking for lighter less sweet filings. I usually use chocolate ganache( though can’t use on all cakes), whipped cream with vanilla & berries ( which has a short shelf life) or cream cheese frosting ( though that can be a tad heavy).
This sounds wonderful! I will certainly give it a go. What would be the shelf life of this cream? Would it stay a couple of days in the fridge?
Keeping with the trend of simpler cakes, without sugar paste and fondant(naked cakes), this one seems a good option and should work quite well with fruit.
Hi Reema. I think this cream will keep well in the fridge for a few days. Cakes in our house never last longer than that, they are usually eaten by then. It can also be used as a dessert topping. Not sure what it would be like to freeze though.
Crème Legere is also called a Crème Chibouste or Crème a St Honoree.