I was watching an episode of the of the Great British Bake Off recently and one of the challenges was to make a Fraisier Cake chock full of crème pâtissière, or pastry cream as it can be known as.  Not long before I saw this episode, I came across a recipe for crème pâtissière on The Little French Bakery so all signs were pointing to me making some.

Crème pâtissière is obviously French and features in a number of pastries such as profiteroles, Napoleons, éclairs and tarts and although it is usually vanilla in flavour, you can mix it up with addition of liquors, infusing the milk whilst it is heating with ingredients such as cinnamon, dried (culinary) lavender or coffee beans.  If you are interested in a chocolate version, you can add some chocolate near the end of the cooking whisking until it is all melted.

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