Velvety Cream Mousseline – Home Baker’s Guide
Crème or cream mousseline—also known as German buttercream—is a luxurious blend of pastry cream and butter, resulting in a silky, decadent texture. Its smooth and balanced consistency allows it to shine without being overly buttery or heavy. Perfectly attuned between sweet and rich, it’s ideal for any dessert.
Thanks to its stability and elegant finish, it’s often used to fill layer cakes such as bird’s milk cake, fruit tarts, and cream puffs, and it pipes beautifully into choux pastry or even between cookies like walnut-shaped waffle. Once you master this recipe, it becomes a go-to filling for everything from birthday cakes to everyday treats.
Today, I’m sharing everything you need to know about mousseline cream—the light, silky-smooth classic that’s buttery without being heavy, and sweet or ever being cloying.
Table of Contents
Reasons to Love This Cream Recipe
Grocery and Pantry List
Time Required:
Special Tools to Use:
Recipe Steps at a Glance
This German butter cream recipe can be broken down into the following steps:
Step-by-step: How to Make Cream Mousseline
Step 1: Make the Pastry Cream
Heat the Milk: In a thick bottom saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat. I like to add the vanilla paste or extract to infuse the milk. Bring it to a steaming while frequently whisking. This will prevent film from forming on the top.
Whisk the Egg Mixture: In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or ballon whisk, whip together egg yolks and sugar until smooth and pale ribbon consistency.
Lower the speed to incorporate the sifted cornstarch. Alternatively, you can fold in the sifted cornstarch.
Slowly pour half of the warm milk into the egg mixture while whisking continuously. This will prevent the eggs from scrambling.
Pass the pastry cream through a sieve into a bowl to make sure there are no lump and particles.
Cook Until Thickened: When the milk and egg mixture is completely incorporated, pour it back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat. At this stage, I like to use a wooden spoon stirring constantly, making sure to scrape the corners and the bottom of the pan until it thickens into a smooth custard.
Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to prevent skin from forming. Let it cool completely before using it.
If you are making the pastry cream ahead of time, you need to store it in the fridge once cool enough; but make sure you take it out (and allow it to come to room temperature) before moving on to the next step.
Step 2: Whip the Butter and Combine
Beat the softened butter on high speed until it becomes pale and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Whip the softened butter on high speed until very pale and creamy. I highly recommend you use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment for this. You could use a handheld electric mixer but it will take a while for the butter to be whipped enough, so it could become tiring. I whipped my butter on high speed for about 3 minutes. It should look like slightly yellow whipped cream.
Add Pastry Cream: Bring the pastry cream to room temperature. Loosen the pastry cream with a whisk. Gradually add the pastry cream to the butter, one spoonful at a time, while beating on medium speed.
Whip Until Smooth: Continue mixing until fully incorporated and the texture is smooth and airy.
Variations and Flavor Ideas
Praline Mousseline: Hazelnut or almond praline paste
Chocolate Mousseline: Melt dark chocolate
Berry and Fruit Mousseline: Raspberry or mango puree for a fruity twist.
Coffee Mousseline: Small amount of instant espresso or coffee.
Citrusy Mousseline: Orange zest, lemon zest.
Vanilla: Additional vanilla paste or extract.
Liquor: Cognac, Amaretto, Kirsch, rum.
Best Uses for Mousseline Cream
Best Uses: Fillings for cakes, éclairs, cream puffs, fruit tarts, or even as a spread for pastries.
Tips and Wisdom from Cafe Osharak
More Recipes to Try from Cafe Osharak
I hope you enjoyed making this as much as I did! For more inspiration, don’t forget to check out Zuccotto Fiorentino Cake, Potato-Au-Gratin, and Stuffed Peppers—they’re the perfect addition to your recipe collection!
Zuccotto Fiorentino Cake
Potato-Au-Gratin
Stuffed Peppers
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Cream Mousseline
Ingredients
For the Pastry Cream:
- 500 ml whole milk
- 4 large egg yolks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter for pastry cream
For the Mousseline Buttercream:
- 200 g butter unsalted softened
Instructions
Making Pastry Cream
- In a thick bottom saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat. I like to add the vanilla paste or extract to infuse the milk. Bring it to a steaming while frequently whisking. This will prevent film from forming on the top.
- In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or bollon whisk, whip together egg yolks and sugar until smooth and pale ribbon consistency.
- Incorporate the cornstarch: Lower the speed to incorporate the sifted cornstarch. Alternatively, you can fold in the sifted cornstarch.
- Slowly pour half of the warm milk into the egg mixture while whisking continuously. This will prevent the eggs from scrambling.
- When the milk and egg mixture is completely incorporated, pour it back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat. At this stage, I like to use a wooden spoon stirring constantly, making sure to scrape the corners and the bottom of the pan until it thickens into a smooth custard.
- Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to prevent skin from forming. Let it cool completely before using it.
- If you are making the pastry cream ahead of time, you need to store it in the fridge once it is cool enough, but just make sure you take it out to come to room temperature before moving on to the next step.
Making Crème Mousseline
- In a stand mixer, beat the softened butter on high speed until it becomes pale and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Whip the softened butter on high speed until very pale and creamy.
- Bring the pastry cream to room temperature. Loosen the pastry cream with a whisk. Gradually add the pastry cream to the butter, one spoonful at a time, while beating on medium speed. Continue mixing until fully incorporated and the texture is smooth and airy.
