Vanilla Custard Sauce
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This vanilla custard sauce (aka creme anglaise) is rich, velvety smooth, and full of vanilla flavor. I love pouring this over a fresh fruit, tender apple cake, or bread pudding for the perfect dessert finish.
I have a confession to make. I’m a dip girl. Love me some dips, and sauces with all my foods. French fries? I want some honey mustard. Chicken wings. Give me the bleu cheese! Even my steaks I want a sauce to slather that meat in. So would it be any suprise I want my desserts to be the same?
Give me a good sauce. And I’m a happy girl. So today we’re making a vanilla custard sauce. Or creme anglaise if you’re fancy. However you slice it, sauce it.
Now if making a fancy dessert sauce like a custard has you cowering in the corner let me pull you out from behind the curtains and show you the simplicity that is the sauce. The vanilla custard sauce.
And tell you my own funny story to make you feel better. The first time I tried making this sauce I enrolled in a baking bootcamp class at a culinary school. I was so in my element. And so proud of all my creations. Until I got to the sauce. Oh the sauce! All was going well until I got to the straining part. I had cooked the custard and was ready to strain it, but forgot one crucial element. A bowl. Yes, a bowl. Underneath the custard to catch it all as it strained through the mesh-sieve, so it went straight through to the ice bath underneath. Luckily, the pastry chef nearby saw it happening and saved it in time.
All was well. Custard sauce was saved. My ego? Well, ok a little bruised. But I learned my lesson. A great vanilla custard sauce is all about the prep work. Don’t worry I got you. I’m going to walk you through it all. Before you know it, you’re going to be saucing with the best of them.
Tempering eggs is key for smooth desserts! Learn the best technique in this guide on how to temper eggs for your next sweet treat.
What is a creme anglaise? Or custard sauce?
Basically it’s a velvety, rich vanilla sauce that you can use to pour over anything you can dream up. It’s a matter of cooking warm milk mixture with eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Then straining and cooling the custard sauce before serving.
Ingredients For This Vanilla Custard Sauce
- Granulated sugar – You will mix this with the egg yolks and salt, and it will sweeten the sauce.
- Egg yolks – This creates a thick, beautiful sauce. For help on separate your eggs cleanly, read how to separate eggs (6 ways!). You want to add the milk mixture gradually to the egg mixture, which is called “tempering”, so as not to cook the egg but to bring them up to temperature slowly.
- Salt – Kosher salt is best for a pure salt taste without additives.
- Milk – I used whole milk for this recipe. I haven’t tried it with low-fat milk or plant-based milks.
- Heavy cream – I love the richness of making this with part milk and part heavy cream.
- Vanilla – I loved using vanilla bean paste because you get the real flecks of vanilla bean in the sauce!
Let’s Make Some Custard Sauce…
Prepare your bowls. You want to place a fine-mesh sieve over a medium metal bowl. And then fill a large bowl with ice water. Get those ready now!
Combine your wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, and salt. This will be yellow, ribbony, and pretty.
Heat milk and cream. You want to heat the milk and cream over medium heat until steaming. Do NOT boil. Let me repeat that, do NOT boil. Ok, good no boiling. Moving on.
Add heated milk/cream to egg mixture. You want to add the heated milk/cream to the egg mixture gradually, so as not to scramble the eggs. Scrambled eggs are great. But not here. Let’s save those for breakfast. And then return the mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickened and coats the back of a spoon and holds a trail when you drag your finger through it, about 10 to 20 minutes.
Strain the custard. Ok remember those bowls you set up earlier? Time to use them. First strain the custard through the sieve. And the place that bowl of strained custard into the bowl of ice water and whisk until the mixture is about 70F. And don’t forget your vanilla! You want to then loosely cover it and refrigerate the custard until it’s chilled (about 3 to 4 hours).
Heather’s Baking Tips
- Add your milk mixture slowly. This is so you don’t own end up with scrambled eggs! Nobody wants those…well not for dessert anyway.
- Prep your bowls for the custard. You read my story above, right? So I think this one is obvious! You want to make sure you have your mesh sieve set up over a bowl, and have an ice bath ready as well. This will make for an easy end to making the custard.
- Chill completely. You want to chill your custard sauce completely before you serve it, about 3 to 4 hours.
What can I serve this vanilla custard sauce with?
I love serving it over so many desserts! Here are a few ideas:
- Pumpkin bread pudding,
- Bowl of fresh fruit
- Irish apple cake.
- Caramel Apple Crisp,
- Mixed Berry Crisp
How long does this vanilla custard sauce last? Can I make it ahead of time?
Yes and yes! Abs0lutely you can! This sauce will last in the fridge covered for about 3-4 days.
Can I flavor this custard sauce?
Yes when heating the milk and cream, you can steep in other spices, herbs, and nuts. I would steep whatever I’m “steeping” aka lavender buds for an hour in the hot milk mixture then strain it. Make sure it’s steeping off the stove.
If you’re adding a flavoring or extract, I would add it at the end once the custard is strained and cooled.
Can I fix a curdled custard sauce?
What if I curdled the creme anglaise?!? Ahh! It’s ok. Breathe. You can fix it still! Just throw it in your blender and it will come back together.
Do I serve creme anglaise hot or cold?
This vanilla custard sauce can be served hot or cold. If you want to serve it hot, then reheat it over a double boiler, or over very low heat while stirring so as to ensure it’s not curdled.
More Dessert Sauces And Finishes
To Make This Creme Anglaise Recipe You Will Need:
If you want to become a better baker, then enroll in my Ultimate Baking Bootcamp class! Enroll here!
Vanilla Custard Sauce
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (33 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (180 mL) milk
- ¾ cup (180 mL) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Prepare your bowls. You want to place a fine-mesh sieve over a medium metal bowl. And then fill a large bowl with ice water. Set them aside.
- Combine your wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, and salt.
- Heat milk and cream. You want to heat the milk and cream over medium heat until steaming. Do not let it boil.
- Add heated milk/cream to egg mixture. Add the heated milk/cream to the egg mixture gradually, so as not to scramble the eggs. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon and holds a trail when you drag your finger through it, about 10 to 20 minutes.
- Strain the custard. Strain the custard through the sieve. And place that bowl of strained custard into the bowl of ice water and whisk until the mixture is about 70F. Add vanilla. Loosely cover it and refrigerate the custard until it's chilled (about 3 to 4 hours).
Notes
- Storage/Make Ahead: This sauce will last in the fridge covered for about 3-4 days.
- Flavoring: When heating the milk and cream, you can steep in other spices, herbs, and nuts. Steep for an hour in the hot milk mixture then strain it. Make sure it’s steeping off the stove. If you’re adding a flavoring or extract, I would add it at the end once the custard is strained and cooled.
- Fix a curdled sauce: Add the sauce into a blender, blend it and it will come back together.
- Serving: This vanilla custard sauce can be served hot or cold. If you want to serve it hot, then reheat it over a double boiler, or over very low heat while stirring so as to ensure it’s not curdled.
I tried this sauce over my sister’s bread pudding recipe and it was outstanding and easy to make it. I am going to make it this weekend and serve it over my favorite apple cake.
Sounds fabulous ! I hope that you enjoy it again.