Dessert creams Quickly prepared, variously flavoured and served cold (either set or liquid), dessert creams form the basis of a large number of desserts in family cooking; they are also the basic ingredient Bavarian creams, charlottes and many puddings. the food industry has developed a variety of powder mixtures which are made up simply by adding milk: these "instant" custards and desserts, which are usually flavoured with vanilla, chocolate, carmel, or fruit, usually contain gelling agents or starch, rather than eggs.

• Set (moulded) creams: the basic type is egg or caramel custard (crème renversée), which is set in a mould and turned out. Other set breams include blancmanger and moulded custards. Velouté creams contain startch or flour instead of eggs. If egg yolks are used instead of whole eggs, the cream is thicker and has finer texture but it can not be turned out. A set cream must be thoroughly cooled before turning it out. When moulded in a ring mould, fruit or whipped cream make an excellent decoration.
• Custards: the basic recipe is that for custard cream (crère anglaise), which has many uses in pâtisserie. In France and Britian it can be bought in the form of custard powder. Zabaglione also belongs to this category.

  The smoothness of custard cream depends on whether the egg yolks coagulate with the milk: this binds the preparation and should be done carefully. the consistency depends on the proportion of eggs and milk: more egg yolks make it thicker and richer (up to 18 egg yolks per quart of milk can be used). The texture is improved by adding fresh cream when cool: use 7 ounces cream for 4 1/4 cups custard. Adding egg whites make it lighter; in this case the mixture is cooked in ramekins in a bain-marie. Custard cream is a classic accompaniment for eggs agrave; la meige, or "floating islands" (made using egg whites left over from the custard) and it is also served with sponges, Genoese cakes, brioches, charlottes, puddings, etc.

FLAVOURS - Although there are few basic recipes for dessert creams, many flavours, sometimes in combinations, can be added:

• Citrus fruits: finely grated zests of lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, or citron are infused in hot milk.
• Spirits and liqueurs: two liqueur glasses of rum, Curaçao, Kirsch, Maraschino, etc. per quart of milk are added when the cream or custards has cooled.
• Almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, coconut: ground or finely grated, they are infused like the zest.
• Coffee: coffee beans are heated, crushed and infused in boiling milk; instant coffe is mixed with water or coffee essence.
• Cinnamon: ground orin sticks, is infused in milk.
• Caramel: heated until it caramelizes the dissolved in a little water to form liquid caramel and added to the cream.
• Chocolate: melted solid chocolate or dissolved chocolate powder. Since chocolate is sweeter, the proportions of sugar in the cream are ruduced. Reduce the quantity by half if cocoa is used.
• Fruit: purée of fresh or tinned fruit; finely chopped dried or crystallized (candied) fruit.
• Praline: crushed pralines or praline mixture.
• Vanilla: pod (bean) is slpit and infused in boiling milk; vanilla flavoured sugar or vanilla essence in powder or liquid form are also used.
• Other flavours: in the past, desserts, especially nulle, jellies, creams and blancmangers, were flavoured with flowers (such as violet, rose, orange blossom and marjoram) and with amber and musk. orange flower water is still used. In some countries poppy or lotus seeds are used.

Pastry creams A number of creams are not served alone as desserts but are used as ingredients, fillings, or decorations for pastries, cakes and desserts. They can be divided into four main groups: Chantilly cream and its derivatives (e.g. Chiboust and Saint-Honoré creams); confectioner's custard (French pastry cream) and frangipane, butter creams (mocha, nougatine, ganache, praline, etc.); and almond cream.

• Chantilly or whipped cream: whipped fresh cream sweetened with sugar and flavoured with vanilla. It accompanies fruit desserts, fresh fruit, waffles, etc. It is used as a filling (for cream puffs, Saint-Honoré cake, savarins, charlottes, meringues, etc.) and often for decoration, especially for iced desserts. Finally, it is an ingredient for parfaits, iced soufflés and iced Bavarian creams and charlottes. It can also be flavoured with coffee, chocolate, or liqueurs. Aerosol cans of whipped cream can be bought and kept in the refrigerator.
• Confectioner's custard (French pastry cream): made with eggs, sugar, milk and flour, it can keep for 24 hours in the refigerator. The proportions vary according to its use: with egg yolks onlt it has a finer texture; egg whites added make it lighter. It can be flavoured in different ways (in particular with almond flavouring for frangipane cream) and can be enriched with butter. It is used for filling (éclairs, cream horns, cream puffs, mille-feuilles, croissants, etc.), as a garnish (for tarts and flans) and for some hot desserts (soufflés, charlottes) and cold desserts (diplomats).
• French butter creams (crèmes au beurre): made with butter, sugar, eggs and flavouring, they can be prepared in various ways but always using high quality butter and very fresh eggs. Butter cream au sirop cuit (made with cooked syrup) is the most common and provides a fine, light and smooth preparation. Butter cream à l'anglaise is made by beating small pieces of butter into lukewarm custard cream.

  Butter creams (flavoured with coffee, chocolate, praline mixture, or vanilla) keep well in the refrigerator. They are used to fill and decorate Genoese and sponge cakes, Paris-Brest, sponge rolls, yule logs, etc.

• Almond creamm: a mixture of sugar, butter, ground almonds and eggs, sometimes flavoured with rum. It is an essential ingredient of many brioches and pastries, including pithiviers gâteau, galette des Rois (Twelfth-Night cake), conversations, jalousies, filled brioches and almond tartlets.