Freezing pastry cream?

[dag556]

Can you freeze leftover pastry cream? I often find myself with a bit left over, but unless I'm using it right away, it often ends up in the trash. Advice?

[Kelli2006]

I have never had a problem refrigerating pastry cream for 1 week. Put it in a Rubbermaid/similar container that has as little dead air space as possible and place a sheet of saran over the top to prevent a skin from forming, and then seal with the lid. store in the coldest part of the fridge, and it should keep just fine.

[rabaja]

Although I've never done it, I have heard on good authority that it is fine to freeze pastry cream. I would defrost it in the fridge and give it a go. Next time I have to make some, I'll freeze a bit as an experiment.

[curiousbaker]

We used to freeze pastry cream all the time at the bakery where I worked. No problem, as long it's real pastry cream, not from a mix. Interestingly, baked custard doesn't hold up, so there must be something going on with the binding provided by the starch. I'm no chemist, so I have no idea what.

[Ida Red]

I have frozen it before. It was still nice, but I can't recall exactly what it was like because I encorporated it into icing for a cake which turned out delicious.
So go ahead and experiment with it if you want, but Candy is probably right in that it won't be exactly "pastry cream" anymore.

[Candy]

No, it will be ruined if you freeze it. Not a good idea at all.

[dag556]

Okay, thanks. That's what I thought -- and why I've never done it in all the years I've been baking. But I just hate having to pitch the leftovers, so I thought I'd ask :).