Cakes can be filled with pastry cream, custard, curd, buttercream, Diplomat cream, Bavarian cream, and more to add a rich, creamy, soft filling in between layers of cake.
You can make a ton of different pastry cream flavors including vanilla, caramel, coffee, chocolate, or lemon for filling cakes with.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Vanilla pastry cream has a lovely vanilla aroma, and is thick, creamy custard for cakes.
Milk is heated in a saucepan over medium heat with vanilla paste or a vanilla pod (sliced in half and seeds placed into the saucepan).
In a separate bowl, egg yolks and granulated sugar are whisked together with cornstarch.
Just before the milk begins to boil, slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper the eggs.
Whisk milk vigorously so the eggs do not cook!!
After the milk has been completely mixed into the eggs, place the entire mixture back into the saucepan and heat on medium heat.
Whisk vanilla pastry cream as it begins to thicken.
Remove it from the heat source and let it cool. Place it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours prior to using it in between your cake layers.
Espresso Mousse
Espresso mousse is a rich, coffee flavored cake filling.
Espresso mousse has a base of melted white chocolate infused into heavy cream.
Freshly brewed espresso is whipped into white chocolate mousse, giving it a light coffee flavor.
Espresso mousse is pipeable, and will create delicate designs using the star tip as shown below.
Orange Whipped Cream
Orange cream is a refreshing, citrusy cream filling for chocolate cake, orange cake, or vanilla cake.
Softened cream cheese and heavy cream are beaten together to form the base of the cake filling.
Freshly squeezed orange juice, and orange zest are added to the whipped cream to infuse the invigorating orange flavor for the cake filling.
Orange whipped cream is a thick, creamy, citrusy filling for cakes.
Irish Cream Filling
Irish cream cake filling has a hint of whiskey flavor infused into whipped cream.
Whipped cream is beaten until soft peaks form. Powdered sugar is added and beaten into the whipped cream for a sweetened cake filling.
Irish cream is slowly added to the whipped cream. Taste test to see how you like the flavor before adding more.
When the Irish cream filling becomes a frosting consistency, you can use it to fill in between cake layers, and frost the outside of your cake.
Dulce de Leche Cream
Dulce de leche cream is a caramel flavored whipped cream.
Dulce de leche is added to whipped butter to make the base of the cream.
Whipped cream is whipped until soft peaks form, and then is folded into the dulce de leche butter mixture.
Dulce de leche cream is a caramel cream filling you can use on chocolate cake, vanilla cake, or cinnamon cake.
Strawberry Cream Filling
Strawberry cream filling is a tangy, and fruity cream filling for cakes.
Softened cream cheese is beaten together with icing sugar, strawberry puree and strawberry extract to infuse a burst of strawberry flavoring into the cake filling.
Heavy cream is beaten into the filling to make it light and fluffy.
Strawberry cream filling goes well with vanilla cake, or lemon cake.
Coffee Pastry Cream
Coffee pastry cream is a delicious espresso flavored cake filling that you can use in between chocolate cake, vanilla cake, or mocha cake.
Half and half is heated in a saucepan with espresso powder to infuse the coffee flavor.
In a separate bowl, egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch are whisked together.
Temper the eggs by added the hot half and half to the eggs slowly, and whisking vigorously.
Once all of the half and half is added to the eggs, place the entire mixture back in the saucepan and heat on medium heat.
Thicken the mixture until it becomes custard consistency. You’ll feel the resistance when the cornstarch becomes activated.
After the custard has thickened, it is removed from the heat source. Cubes of butter and vanilla bean paste are whisked in to finish off the coffee pastry cream cake filling.
Chill the pastry cream, and then it’ll be ready for you to assemble your cake.
Chocolate Pastry Cream
Chocolate pastry cream is a rich, chocolate filling for cakes. You can use chocolate pastry cream in between layers of chocolate cake or vanilla cake.
Chocolate pastry cream is made heating milk with vanilla paste in a saucepan on low heat.
In a separate bowl, egg yolks are whisked together with sugar and cornstarch.
Temper the eggs by pouring the hot milk into the eggs slowly, and whisking vigorously. You do not want to cook the eggs!
Once all of the milk has been added to the eggs, place the entire mixture back in the saucepan, and heat on low heat to thicken the custard.
After the custard has thickened, add chopped dark chocolate to the custard.
Whisk until the chocolate completely melts into the pastry cream. Let the custard cool, and then chill in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble your cake.
Lemon Pastry Cream
Lemon pastry cream is a thick, citrusy, creamy cake filling you can use with lemon cake or vanilla cake.
Lemon pastry cream is made by heating milk and lemon peel in a medium saucepan until just before it begins to boil.
The milk is removed from the heat source, and let to sit and infuse the lemon flavor into the milk.
An egg is whisked together with a couple of egg yolks and sugar, along with cornstarch and salt.
Lemon peel is removed from the warm milk, and then the eggs are tempered with the lemon infused milk.
After the milk has been added to the eggs, the entire mixture is placed back in the saucepan and heated on medium heat.
Lemon pastry cream will thicken, and then then it can be removed from the heat source. Add a couple of cubes of butter, and whisk in until they have completely melted.
Chill lemon pastry cream in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble your cake.
Mascarpone Filling
Mascarpone filling is a thick, tangy filling for cakes.
Mascarpone filling pairs well with lemon curd, compote, strawberry puree for a double cake filling in between layers of vanilla cake.
Heavy cream is whipped together with icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft peaks form.
Mascarpone cheese is added into the cake filling, and whipped until stiff peaks form.
Mascarpone filling is ready to use to assemble your cake, or you can chill it until you’re ready to use it.
Banana Cream Filling
Banana pastry cream can be used to make banana cream cake, or you can use it in between layers of vanilla cake.
Milk is heated in a saucepan over medium heat until just before it begins to boil. Granulated sugar is added to the saucepan and set to low heat.
In another bowl, granulated sugar is whisked together with cornstarch and egg yolks.
Temper the eggs by slowly adding the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture and whisk vigorously.
Once all of the milk has been added to the eggs, it’s placed back into the saucepan and heated until the custard begins to thicken.
Banana cream is removed from the heat source, and then cubes of butter are melted into the custard.
Vanilla extract and mashed banana are whisked into the banana pastry cream and then it is set to cool.
Chill banana pastry cream in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble you cake.
Vanilla Diplomat Cream
Vanilla diplomat cream is a rich, creamy layer for cakes.
Diplomat cream is custard infused into whipped cream, making it easily spreadable in between layers of vanilla cake.
Gelatin is bloomed with a bit of water, and then microwaved.
Whipped cream is added to the gelatin to cool it down.
Heavy cream is whipped with granulated sugar until soft peaks form. Gelatin is added to the bowl, and then whipped until stiff peaks form.
Vanilla pastry cream is whipped for a couple of minutes, and then the freshly made stabilized whipped cream is added to the pastry cream to create vanilla diplomat cream.
Lemon Bavarian Cream
Lemon Bavarian cream is a citrusy and thick creamy custard.
Gelatin is bloomed with fresh lemon juice and set aside for later.
Heavy cream is heated in a saucepan with sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
Heavy cream is slowly added to whisked egg yolks to temper the eggs. Once the heavy cream has been fully added to the eggs, the entire mixture is heated again in the saucepan to thicken the custard.
Gelatin is added at the end of the cooking process, and then the mixture can cool to room temperature.
Additional heavy cream is beaten together with icing sugar until stiff peaks form, and then the whipped cream is added to the custard by gently folding in the cream.
Lemon Bavarian cream is a thick, and creamy filling for vanilla cake, or lemon cake.
Mint Whipped Cream
Mint whipped cream pairs well in between layers of chocolate cake.
Heavy cream is whipped until soft peaks form. Powdered sugar is added and whipped together until stiff peaks form.
Peppermint extract and green food coloring is added at the end to flavor this minty, creamy cake filling. You could even added chocolate chips and fold them into the cream if desired.
Caramel Pastry Cream
Caramel pastry cream is a sweet, creamy cake filling you use for vanilla cake, chocolate cake, or pumpkin cake.
Caramel is made by cooking sugar in a saucepan until it turns a golden amber color.
Caramel sauce is then infused into pastry cream to create this luscious custard filling for cakes.
Whipped Cream
Whipped cream is a thick, creamy filling for cakes. Typically whipped cream is one of cake fillings, and is paired with a syrup or fruity filling as well.
For example, black forest cake has a whipped cream filling, and a cherry filling in between the cake layers.
Hazelnut Praline Cream
Hazelnut praline cream is a nutty, creamy filling for chocolate cake or vanilla cake.
Milk is heated in a saucepan over medium heat.
In a separate bowl, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and flour are whisked together.
Just before the milk begins to boil, temper the eggs by whisking the hot milk vigorously so as to not cook the eggs!!
After all of the milk has been added to the eggs, place the entire mixture back into the saucepan, and whisk until the custard has thickened.
Remove the custard from the heat source, and place a couple of cubes of butter in. Whisk until the butter has completely mixed into the custard. Cool the custard to room temperature.
Using a hand mixture, beat butter in a large bowl. Add hazelnut praline paste and beat together. Add in pastry cream slowly and beat into the butter hazelnut mixture.
Chill hazelnut praline cream prior to using it to assemble your cake.
