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Home Recipes All Dessert Recipes
Posted:5/12/2015
Updated:7/18/2018

How To Make Caramelized White Chocolate Pastry Cream

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Disclaimer: The Flavor Bender is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. There are links on this site that can be defined as “affiliate links”. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases (at no cost to you) that will help support this website.

This is a deliciously awesome trick to have up your sleeve. This is, How to make Caramelized White chocolate, and then how to make custard and Caramelized White Chocolate Cream Patisserie from it! (This glorious beauty was stuffed inside a Glazed Coffee Doughnut for which you can get the recipe here too!)

How to caramelize White Chocolate and to make White Chocolate Pastry Cream or Creme Patisserie
Perfectly sweet, creamy and light, Pastry cream filling

If you want to take that white chocolate flavour and kick it up a notch, then you have to caramelize it. It turns regular, creamy, sweet white chocolate into a glorious, caramel coloured sauce with an incredible caramel-fudge flavour! As someone who doesn’t really like white chocolate (I find it simply too sweet), this completely transforms my opinion of it every time, without fail!

How to make luscious Caramelized White Chocolate!

I learnt how to do this from David Lebovitz. I haven’t changed anything about the way he does it, but I’ll outline it here for you!

How to make caramelized white chocolate.

⇒You need to find good quality white chocolate made with cocoa butter (not the other kind). Chop the white chocolate into smaller pieces.

Chopped White Chocolate

⇒Spread this on a tray that’s lined with a silpat (or non stick silicone baking mat).
Place the chocolate in an oven on its lowest setting (the lowest setting on my oven is “keep warm”, which is less than 200°F / 90°C.

⇒Check every 10 minutes, and using an offset spatula, mix and re-spread the chocolate as it melts and starts to change colour.

How to caramelize White Chocolate Step by Step

How to caramelize White Chocolate Step by Step

⇒Keep checking every 10 minutes, until the white chocolate has turned (light) golden in colour and is smooth. The chocolate may change texture and become a little chalky, which is why its important to mix and spread while it heats, and after it comes out of the oven too.

How to caramelize White Chocolate Step by Step
Caramelized White Chocolate is almost the colour of peanut butter. That’s a spoonful of peanut butter for comparison

The smallest amount of chocolate I have used is 4 oz (113g) (about 30 minutes) and the largest amount I have used is 12 oz/ 340g (45 – 60 min). The more chocolate you use, it obviously takes longer to caramelize. The yield is 1:1 too.

To make a sauce you can thin it out with some cream. OR you can use it as a base for custard and/or cream patisserie (pastry cream).

White Chocolate Pastry Cream or Creme Patisserie
Ingredients for Caramelized White Chocolate Pastry Cream

 

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5 from 3 votes

Caramelized White Chocolate Pastry Cream

Print Rate

Ingredients:

  • 4 oz / 113g caramelized white chocolate or substitute with regular melted white chocolate
  • 2 1/2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
  • 1 whole egg
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp of sugar optional, if making pastry cream with whipped cream
  • 1/2 tsp salt OR 2 tsp salt if you want a salty-sweet combination
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract/ vanilla bean paste
  • 2 tbsp bourbon optional
  • 1 ½ cups full-fat milk or half and half
  • ⅓ cup whipping cream whipped to stiff peaks, optional

Instructions:

  • Place the caramelized white chocolate, milk, vanilla bean paste, bourbon and salt, and heat on medium heat. Stir to ensure that the chocolate and white sugar melt properly.
  • In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, cornstarch and sugar (if using) with a whisk until smooth and the eggs are pale in colour.
  • When the milk starts to steam, drizzle the hot milk into the eggs slowly, while whisking the egg mix (tempering the eggs to prevent them from curdling). After drizzling in about 3/4 cup of the milk and the eggs are warm, pour it back into the milk saucepan and stir to combine.
  • If using vanilla extract - add this at this stage. Keep stirring or whisking consistently to prevent the custard from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan, or curdling. Heat the custard (lower the heat if needed) until it thickens to a pudding-like consistency (when the first bubbles break the surface of the custard).
  • Pour the custard into a bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap over the custard (touching the surface of the custard) to prevent a skin from forming on top. Let it cool down to room temperature and chill for a few hours.
  • When the custard is chilled, use as is, OR, fold the whipped cream through the custard until just mixed. Cover and leave it in the fridge until ready to use.

Tips & Tricks

Note 1 -  I like this custard without the addition of extra sugar. The custard is sweetened just with the white chocolate, which I find to be sweet enough. However, when I use whipped cream, I prefer some extra sweetness, which is why I would add an extra 2 tbsp of sugar IF I was adding whipped cream. 
Note 2 - Some recipes call for the milk or cream to be scalded. I did not scald the milk for this particular custard (because I melted the white chocolate in the milk). I didn't find a noticeable difference between scalding and not scalding the milk. If you prefer to scald the milk, please feel free to do so!
Note 3 - As noted, the custard should have a pudding-like consistency. You will know it's reaching this consistency when you see the first bubbles breaking the surface of the custard. 
Did you make this?Tag me on Instagram!I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @TheFlavorBender or leave me a comment & rating below.

This is so, so versatile! I just cannot tell you enough about how much we love this. We have actually piped this straight into glasses, let it set and then just had it as a pudding!

We have filled mini chocolate tarts with this delicious pastry cream (non-salty version) in these Mini Chocolate tarts with Caramelized White Chocolate pastry cream with a boozy raspberry center.

Caramelized White Chocolate tarts with boozy Raspberry filling

And used the salty-sweet pastry cream to fill these delicious Coffee glazed Coffee Doughnuts!

Glazed Coffee Doughnuts with Caramelized White Chocolate Pastry Cream Filling

The choices are truly endless. And you’re welcome! 🙂

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  1. Ian Krassner says

    August 29, 2019 at 22:40

    5 stars
    I made this once with regular store white chocolate chips and it was great. The second time I made it, I used a specialty chocolate store’s 36% cocoa butter white chocolate bar that they make in house. It didn’t caramelize smoothly at all but even in its grainy state I tried it in the pastry cream.
    When I made the pastry cream somehow it never really thickened up when cooking on the stove after tempering and re-combining. Is it possible the specialty white chocolate with the high cocoa butter percentage was to blame? Also it came out a bit too salty. Any tricks for cutting the salt flavor? Perhaps adding more whipped cream?

    Reply
  2. Nesrin Degirmenci says

    March 9, 2019 at 19:15

    Can i put this pastry cream on a meringue nest? And eat it right away ofcourse.

    Reply
    • Dini says

      March 9, 2019 at 21:16

      Hi Nesrin!
      Yes you can 🙂 It might be quite sweet though (meringue topped with caramelized white chocolate).

      Reply
      • Nesrin Degirmenci says

        March 10, 2019 at 11:38

        Thank you very much for the reply. I did it today with Milka white chocolate (although you told not to use other kind 🙂 ). I failed after 1 hour passed for 150 grams of chocolate. I am going to buy Callebaut white chocolate which has 28% Cocoa tomorrow.

        Reply
        • Nesrin Degirmenci says

          March 15, 2019 at 05:45

          Hello again. I bought Callebaut white chocolate and tried again. After 1.5 hour passed it didn’t change in color. I re-read and re-read the recipe and the comments as well . So ,i looked at David Lebovitz recipe and it says 120 degree celsius not the lowest setting! Now i have non-liquid caramelized white chocolate. I didnt understand how it worked for you .

          Reply
          • Dini says

            March 15, 2019 at 13:50

            Hi Nesrin!
            Thank you for letting me know. I will have to reword my recipe as I’ve realized from your comment that ovens do vary greatly. In my oven, the lowest setting is about 200°F (which is 90°C), and that’s why it worked for me, it likely doesn’t work at lower temperatures than that. I went lower than David Lebovitz’s temperature, because it caused the chocolate to burn if you’re not careful. But I am glad that you were finally able to get the chocolate caramelized for your recipe! But thank you again for letting me know, I will retest this recipe as soon as I get a chance.
            Cheers,
            Dini

            Reply
  3. Henry says

    May 20, 2016 at 05:56

    Hi. I want to make a caramelised white chocolate tart with this recipe. Any tips on how to do it would be helpful. Plus I’ve noticed a spelling mistake, it’s Creme patisserie instead of cream patisserie.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 20, 2016 at 22:35

      Thank you Henry!
      The creme patissiere here, is probably not stiff enough to fill a tart, but adding a little extra cornflour when cooking the custard might make it stiff enough to be pipeable into a tart! The tart I made had Pastry Cream that was fairly fluid.
      Instead of 40g of cornflour to maybe add about 50g would be a good place to start, but I haven’t tried this before. I will try to find another recipe online for a White Chocolate tart for you.

      Reply
  4. Selma | Selma's Table says

    May 17, 2015 at 16:53

    A couple of years ago, I was visiting friends in Cape Town and one of them was in the middle of a catering course. They had learned how to caramelise white chocolate and that weekend we made the most incredible topping for a sky high cake. I seem to remember stirring it on the hob rather than putting it in the oven though! Thanks for the reminder and also for the wonderful recipe for creme pat too – and those doughnuts – oh my!!

    Reply
  5. Kaila (GF Life 24/7) says

    May 16, 2015 at 17:30

    Your pictures and videos make me soooooo hungry! These look absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for sharing at FF, and have a wonderful weekend. 😀

    Reply
  6. Loretta says

    May 16, 2015 at 14:26

    Oh my Dini – you are one amazing cooker of all things sweet :))

    Reply
  7. Dini says

    May 16, 2015 at 08:55

    Thank you Tentimestea! I was the same… I saw the post and it was in my saved links for a long time until the beginning of this year and now I can’t stop!! 🙂

    Reply
  8. tentimestea says

    May 15, 2015 at 21:50

    I’ve seen the caramelized white chocolate from David Lebovitz too but never tried it, and now wonder why I never did–this really looks incredible! The photos speak for themselves, and your description of just eating the pastry cream straight as pudding is so very very winning 😀

    Reply
  9. Julie is HostessAtHeart says

    May 15, 2015 at 16:29

    Oh Dini, this is amazing! I can really use this technique. The little chocolate tarts are adorable and the stuffed donut just has my mind leaping ahead!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:53

      Thank you Julie! 🙂 I hope you do check out the doughnuts too! I did a tutorial on what to look for to get perfect doughnuts in it too!

      Reply
      • Julie is HostessAtHeart says

        May 16, 2015 at 08:55

        Absolutely Dini!

        Reply
  10. Julianna says

    May 15, 2015 at 15:56

    OMG Dini! This is totally to die for! I can just imagine the flavour…..I am going to dream about this for a long while! 😀

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:52

      Thank you so much Julianna!!! I hope you have “Sweet” dreams!! 😀 (That was WAY too cheesy Dini!, I’m so sorry!!!)

      Reply
  11. Jhuls | The Not So Creative Cook says

    May 15, 2015 at 14:17

    Caramelized what? I only know caramelized onions. 😛 Because I am not a fan of caramel, I better take Caramel 101 class. 😀 Dini, you are so very creative and this looks fabulously delish! Thanks for sharing! Enjoy FF! 🙂 xx

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:51

      Thank you Jhuls! 🙂 I love caramel ONLY if it has been used properly!! 😀 I’ve made caramel so many times and some of them have had to been thrown out 🙁 But this?? This is actually easier than making sugar caramel! 🙂

      Reply
      • Jhuls | The Not So Creative Cook says

        May 17, 2015 at 03:26

        I may start loving caramel from now on. 😀 Thanks, Dini. I will be sure to remember this. Hmm, I guess this should be perfect with cheesecake, too. You know, instead of the oldie salted caramel. 😀

        Reply
  12. Amanda @ The Chunky Chef says

    May 15, 2015 at 13:44

    I’m just going to move next door to you so I can come over and eat, okay? LOL… seriously though, that looks so decadent and incredible!!!!!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:49

      Amanda, we should just move closer so we can eat each others goodies!! 😀 I know I need more taste testers!! You in?? 😀

      Reply
  13. Justine says

    May 15, 2015 at 09:20

    You know I just hit my head as i fainted after watching that video. Seriously that should be labelled dangerous, oh my and the creation at the end that is dangerous too! Wow those look good, do you ship to the UK? please haha….Thank you for coming to FF #68, Justine x

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:47

      I did love that video! 😀 There were out takes too 😉 hahaha!! Thank you so much Justine and thank you for co-hosting too!

      Reply
  14. Christie says

    May 14, 2015 at 05:41

    5 stars
    Oh.my.word. Dini!! Killing me! I can’t look at your blog in the mornings. It makes me want to cheat on my cereal. PINNIN!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:46

      Thank you so much Christie!!! 😀 I try to avoid looking at blogs in the morning too!! Especially if I haven’t had breakfast!

      Reply
  15. Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says

    May 13, 2015 at 17:07

    5 stars
    Oh my goodness, Dini…I need this recipe in my life! Serious yum! Pinning!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:39

      Thank you so much Michelle! 🙂

      Reply
  16. Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says

    May 13, 2015 at 16:26

    I’ve been wanting to try caramelising white chocolate since I saw your boozy raspberry tarts and I still haven’t done it!! I’m bookmarking this how to though and it’s going to the top of my list as soon as I decide what I want to use it for!!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:39

      Michelle there are SO many things! 😀 One thing I forgot to add into the post was that I even made a small batch of Ice cream with this Chocolate! It. Was. AMAZING!! 😀

      Reply
      • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says

        May 16, 2015 at 08:53

        Funny you should say that because ice cream is exactly my plan! Silly question probably, but can let the chocolate harden and re melt it over a double boiler? Or do you need to use it straight away?

        Reply
        • Dini says

          May 16, 2015 at 08:57

          I’ve left it to harden (there will be some blooming) and re melted it to use it for things too 😀
          Let me know when you plan to post it, because I have a post for it too! hahahaha!!! 😀 Great minds definitely do think alike Michelle!

          Reply
          • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says

            May 16, 2015 at 09:19

            Ah cool thank you!
            Hahahaha will do! Not too sure when it’ll be up, I’m hoping to make it tonight but no idea when I’ll get the post up yet! Although unless you put macadamias in yours they will at least be a little different! Can’t wait to see yours!

            Reply
            • Dini says

              May 16, 2015 at 09:23

              ooh I already like your version better!! 😀 Can’t WAIT!

              Reply
  17. Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom says

    May 13, 2015 at 12:41

    It may be dangerous with me having this recipe–looks incredible!

    Reply
    • Dini says

      May 16, 2015 at 08:38

      hahaha!! 😀 It has been dangerous in our house too! I usually don’t like White Chocolate either!

      Reply

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