This Bavarian cream recipe is very versatile and you can use it in many dessert recipes. Bavarian cream takes a little work to make, but once you do it a few times it will be a go cake filling to for you!
Once you have how to make Bavarian cream mastered, you can make it easier and will love making it for your desserts!
Bavarian cream Recipe
If you are wanting the perfect bavarian cream recipe to use for your cakes, donuts, and desserts then this is the Bavarian cream Recipe for you.
I love Boston Cream pie and really any recipe that has bavarian cream and make it as often as I can. It is my favorite dessert, and while it sounds complicated to make it isn’t at all.
This easy bavarian cream recipe can also be enjoyed as a dessert all on its own. Which is totally delicious on its own also!
Easy Dessert Recipes
- New York Cheesecake
- Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
- S’Mores Cupcakes
- Mocha Cupcakes
- Chocolate Frosted Baked Donuts
What is Bavarian Cream?
Bavarian Cream would be considered a traditional custard, that is similar to a pastry cream, but thickened up with gelatin. The best part is that it is only 7 ingredients total that are needed to make this amazing dessert filling recipe!
I also do know some people that refer to this as Vanilla custard filling, I personally think it sounds so much better calling it Bavarian cream. It just sounds so much fancier!
How to use Bavarian Cream
One of my favorite uses for Bavarian cream is as a cake fillings! You can use it for other desserts like cream puffs or in a banana pudding. You can also use this Bavarian cream recipe to fill homemade donuts too! It is a totally tasty filling that I love using in my Boston Cream pie and my Boston Cream Cupcakes.
I do suggest using a piping bag to pipe the Bavarian cream if you are going to be using it to fill pastries, donuts or cupcakes. It is much easier to pip into something then try to scoop it.
If you are baking a cake and filling it with this Bavarian cream, then use a spatula and put it on the cake. Be sure your cake is totally cooled before you fill any cake that you are filling with it.
You can also have a really tasty dessert cake by you can add a layer of strawberries or raspberries on top of the Bavarian cream between the layers of cake. I have used the chocolate cake from my turtle cake that is amazing and put Bavarian cream cake as a filling and skipped all the turtle cake toppings and it tasted amazing!
How to Serve Bavarian Cream as a Dessert
You can use it as a party filling or as a stand alone dessert. If you are serving bavarian cream as a stand alone dessert I love serving it with fresh fruit and some whipped cream. My favorite fruits to put on top are blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries.
Perfect Cupcake Filling!
This filling is also amazing in cupcakes, there are so many cupcakes that I love to use it with, but my favorites are chocolate cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes, Chocolate chip cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes.
My favorite frosting to use if I am filling cupcakes is either chocolate buttercream frosting, strawberry buttercream frosting or vanilla buttercream. Of course if I am making cupcakes, I always make sure to have an icing swirl because they look so much prettier with it.
This Bavarian Cream recipe makes enough Bavarian Cream for filling 12 cupcakes or for filling a 9 inch round cake. You can easily double or triple the recipe.
Tips for Making Bavarian Cream
Fold the whipped cream into the cream mixture. Do not whisk the two together, this will leave you with runny bavarian cream.
Ice Bath. Prep the ice bath before hand, you will want 2 cups of water and 2 cups of ice in a large bowl. Then you will place the bowl with the gelitin and cream mixture while still in the bowl on top of that bowl. This step is important because you need to bring the temperature down before adding in the whipped cream.
The color will vary. Depending on the color of your egg yokes bavarian cream will range in color from a light white to a darker yellow.
Use Homemade Vanilla extract. I prefer to use homemade vanilla extract, I find that it gives a much better flavor.
Read the directions for blooming gelatin. Some brands have different directions on how to bloom the gelatin, so be sure you read the package directions for the one you are using.
Cool Cream mixture before adding in whipped cream. It is very important that you let the cream mixture cool enough in the ice bath before you add the whipped cream to it.
What does it mean to Bloom Gelatin?
For this Bavarian Cream recipe you are going to need to bloom gelatin. If you have never done this before it may sound difficult in the instructions but it is really, really easy.
To bloom powdered gelatin, just put a small amount of cold water in a shallow bowl and then sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the top of the water. It will begin to absorb the water and swell in size over the course of a few minutes. It takes roughly 5 minutes for gelatin to bloom.
Bavarian Cream Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold
How to Make Bavarian Cream
In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin on top of the cold water and set the bowl aside.
In a sauce pan over medium heat heat the half and half to a boil. Make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over.
While the half and half is heating up whisk the egg yokes and sugar together in a medium bowl.
Once the half and half has come up to a boil slowly add about a 1/2 cup of the half and half into the egg mixture while whisking the whole time.
Add the remainder of the half and half to the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook this mixture over medium heat till it reaches 195 degrees. If there is any lumps you can strain it at this point.
Add your bloomed gelatin to this mixture and stir it till it melts. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place it on top of a larger bowl that has 2 cups of water and ice.
Place the cold heavy cream and vanilla into the bowl of your mixer and whip until medium peeks.
Take the custard off the water bath and scrape down the sides.
Stir in 1/6th of the whip cream to the egg yolk mixture to lighten it.
Carefully fold the whip cream into the custard till it is incorporated.
Desserts to make with Bavarian Cream
Bavarian cream recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons gelatin
- 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream cold
Instructions
- In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin on top of the cold water and set the bowl aside.
- In a sauce pan over medium heat heat the half and half to a boil. Make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over.
- While the half and half is heating up whisk the egg yokes and sugar together in a medium bowl.
- Once the half and half has come up to a boil slowly add about a 1/2 cup of the half and half into the egg mixture while whisking the whole time.
- Add the remainder of the half and half to the egg mixture.
- Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook this mixture over medium heat till it reaches 195 degrees. If there is any lumps you can strain it at this point.
- Add your bloomed gelatin to this mixture and stir it till it melts. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place it on top of a larger bowl that has 2 cups of water and ice.
- Place the cold cream and vanilla into the bowl of your mixer and whip until medium peeks.
- Take the custard off the water bath and scrape down the sides.
- Stir in 1/6th of the whip cream to the egg yolk mixture to lighten it.
- Carefully fold the whip cream into the custard till it is incorporated.
Video
79 Weight Watchers SmartPoints for the entire recipe. 6 weight watchers points per serving if using to fill 12 cupcakes.
Looking for more awesome desserts? Check these out!
- Homemade Apple Pie
- Spiderman Cake
- Easy Peanut butter fudge
- Chocolate buttercream Frosting
- Caramel Frappuccino Starbucks Copycat
- Unicorn Drink
Comments & Reviews
Heather says
I want to make an eggnog filling for doughnuts. Do you think it would work if I replaced the half and half with eggnog and reduced the sugar slightly?
debbie says
How would make this bavarian cream into a bavarian cream cheese filling
Shannon says
How would you make it into a cream cheese filling? I’m trying to make a Bavarian cream cheese cake for my sister and birthday.
Stephanie says
Im sorry but i have never made that before.
torey says
How long will this keep in the fridge/freezer?
MidgetMomma says
freezer 4-6 months, fridge a few days 🙂
Rebecca Hayes says
Is this recipe enough for a 2 tier birthday cake or would I need to double it? I’m using a 10″ and 6″ cake.
Stephanie says
It will be enough for a two tier cake.
LAUREN says
This had the potential to be a good recipe, however there are so many spelling and grammatical errors it is almost impossible to follow . It might be wise to proofread your posts first.
Lisa says
Lauren, was your comment really necessary? If you found it “almost impossible” to follow this recipe, well, perhaps you shouldn’t be attempting to cook! It might be wise for you to stay out of the kitchen, Miss Grammar Nazi!
Chelsea says
Unnecessary rudeness. I had no issues following recipe.
Thx midgetmomma..
Mol says
Good one!?I have a cafe & every now & then some people just HAVE to be mean & overly picky ! Sure ruins my day!! Apprecciate your sharing of recipes & also guidance! Keep up the GREAT work! Mollies from oregon coast!
Shelley says
This recipe could be great, but where you typed “eggg” instead of “egg” I lost the thread of just what you where trying to explain. I ended up with Chicken Kiev!
Susan says
Really? As I get older, I don’t always hit the right keys.
Even when I wasn’t 70, I made mistakes. Human error.
Be good to yourself, Shelly. This way you can be nice to others also.
Sindy says
She was nice enough to share this recipie, why do feel you have to insult her?
Lynn says
Lauren what are you angry about? This recipe was not impossible to follow. It’s a wonderful recipe and should not have caused you to be rude.
Sue says
So do you add 1/6 of the whip cream, or do you add it all at 1/6 at a time? I enjoyed the site and the pictures.
Delores says
Hi Lauren. Thank you for your recipe, I just pinned. Beware of haters, they are EVERYWHERE…. like your pintrest page..I’m following u 🙂 GOOD LUCK WITH ALL YOU DO…
Stephanie says
Thank you so much!
Terri says
Will this work as a filling in my King Cake? I fill my dough and then bake it. I wasn’t sure the whipped cream would hold up or make it runny when it gets hot. I make a similar custard for pies and puddings but they don’t have the whipped cream added.
Stephanie says
I would not bake this kind of a filling. It will get runny. If you would like you can just fill the cake with it after it’s cooked by slicing it open or using a pastry bag with a large tip to fill it like a doughnut.
Melissa says
This looks so yummy! If I wanted to use this as a frosting, would you think I could add more gelatin or maybe use more whipped cream to lighten it more? A local bakery uses a “light white whipped bavarian frosting” on their cakes and it tastes amazing. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Stephanie says
I’m sorry, I have never tried to use this as a frosting. I would say gelatin would just make it even heavier so maybe half the bavarian cream to half whipped cream, gently folded together.
Melissa says
I will try that! Thank you!
Stacey says
I have been searching for the perfect bavarian cream recipe, and this one is IT! Very easy to understand, so thank you so much for the post!! I can’t wait to whip some up! From some of the earlier comments…I think some people should stay OUT of the kitchen! :))
Telma says
I like this recipe, I never tried cook a filling for my cakes ,but this I will try ,thanks for sharing ? ….
Bea Ingram says
I got an order for a Bavarian Pie from my boss (word got around quick that I love to bake) after searching I came across this one… seems easy, to the point, and yummy goodness… only wish you had a print button to print the recipe. 🙂 I tape the recipes to my cupboards to follow them. Going to make it today… with a graham cracker crust. (He doesn’t want chocolate on it but I so want to drizzle some Ghirardelli chocolate over the top) Thank you for this and the step by step pictures to follow along. Peacefull blessings!
Tammie Stovall says
Bea Ingram, I so agree with u on the print. Every time I try to print something without the print button on it, the only part that prints is everything showing on the screen. Then I have to move it down and print that part, and so on. Then cut and tape it all together. If anyone knows how to print off exactly what u want to, please let me know. Thanks!
Heather says
You can copy just the recipe part of it and paste in into your printer settings. 🙂 You can also use the mouse to highlight what you want printed then right click again to print that area.
Sharon Okine says
What is the replacement for half and half we don’t have stock if it in my country, thanks for the recipe
Stephanie says
Ive never tried sorry
Erica says
half and half is equal parts whole milk and ‘light’ or ‘single’ cream.
Susan says
Recipe came out all runny and did not hold any shape. I think this one was a dud
Stephanie says
Im sorry it didnt work for you but its not a dud I am a pastry chef who uses this recipe all the time.
Marianne Wagner says
I followed everything just thin how now can I thicken it
Stephanie says
Are you allowing your gelatin to bloom? Because if it doesn’t reconstitute it won’t back in the mixture. You can try to place some more gelatin in some cold water allow that to bloom and mix it in to some boiling milk and stir it into the mixture. Are you also letting it refrigerate? It will thicken once it’s cool
Sue says
Yummy midget mummy! Love the recipe and your generosity. Big thank you from my household.
Karina Castro says
Thank you for the recipe! My bavarian cream turned out amazing!