Belonging to the family of custards, the pastry cream is one of the most widely used for dessert fillings. The difference with the custard is that there's the addition of corn starch to stabilise it.  It's quite easy to prepare and excellent to layer a sponge cake, as the base of fruit tarts and even as a croissants filling. You can also always also flavour with vanilla, lemon or why not some cocoa powder.  The only thing is that the recipe uses a lot of eggs. 

In the Thermomix recipe book, I've found an excellent alternative which uses less eggs and I find it really delicious. 

Ingredients

• 500ml of milk

• 60g of sugar

• 30g of corn starch

• 2 eggs

• vanilla extract 

• (optional) the grated zest of a lemon

Preparation

1. In a small saucepan on low heat, heat the milk with the sugar, vanilla extract and if you wish the lemon zest 

2. stir in the eggs 

3. very slowly - one spoon at a time - stir in with a whisk the corn starch to prevent lumps from forming

4. keep cooking the cream while stirring it regularly to simmering point - without letting it ever reach boiling point - for about 7-8 minutes until the cream will start thickening

5. pour the sauce in a bowl to cool down and cover it film - it's important for the film to touch the cream as it will allow for the humidity to keep the cream smooth

6. let it cool and use as you prefer