Ahh yes — Hungarian Custard Slice (often called Krémes or Krémes szelet) 🇭🇺🍰
Light, creamy vanilla custard between crisp pastry layers. Classic café dessert.
Hungarian Custard Slice (Krémes)
Ingredients
Pastry
- 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
Custard Filling
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 packet (or 2¼ tsp) vanilla sugar or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 large eggs, separated
- ½ cup cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
Topping
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
1. Bake the Pastry
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Roll puff pastry slightly thinner.
- Bake each sheet between parchment-lined trays (to keep flat) for 12–15 minutes until golden.
- Cool completely.
- Cut one sheet to fit your pan (this is the base). Cut the other into squares (for easy slicing later).
2. Make the Custard
- Heat milk with half the sugar and vanilla until steaming.
- Whisk egg yolks with remaining sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
- Slowly whisk hot milk into yolk mixture.
- Return to pot and cook over medium, stirring constantly, until very thick.
- Remove from heat.
3. Fold in Egg Whites (Traditional Hungarian Style)
- Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
- Gently fold into hot custard — this creates the signature light texture.
4. Assemble
- Place uncut pastry sheet in the bottom of a baking dish.
- Spread warm custard evenly on top.
- Lay pastry squares on top.
- Chill at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
5. Serve
- Dust generously with powdered sugar.
- Slice along the pre-cut pastry squares.
Tips (Very Important)
- Custard should be sliceable but soft, not runny.
- Folding egg whites while custard is warm keeps it airy.
- Cutting the top pastry first prevents custard squish disasters.
Variations
- Austrian-style: Add whipped cream layer instead of egg whites.
- Chocolate krémes: Add cocoa to the custard.
- Modern shortcut: Use vanilla pudding + whipped cream (less traditional, still tasty).
If you want, I can give you:
- the bakery-style ultra-tall version
- a no-raw-egg modern method
- or the grandma-authentic Hungarian café method
Just tell me 🇭🇺✨
