Creme Diplomate and Creme Madame are both Patisserie Creme based on the basic Creme Pat but with whipped cream added to create a light and fluffy mixture.  They are basically the same thing but with one time difference:

• Creme Diplomate has gelatine added to it to give it extra stability and firmness.
• Creme Madame has no gelatine added which makes it quite loose and so needs to be contained

You can control the fluffiness by decreasing or increasing the cream content, and the firmness of Diplomate by increasing or decreasing the gelatine.  Keep your cream cold and make sure you put your comestible into the fridge to set or else you could end with a sloppy mess

Diplomate is used in the Bienenstich, and Madame is often as a topping to cup cakes and a filling for fruit tarts where it is lighter than pure Creme Pat, and the tart case provides the support for the Creme while it sets.

The Ingredients

• 500ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• 100g caster sugar
• 4 medium egg yolks
• 40g cornflour
• 40g butter
• 6g of gelatine sheets
• 200ml double cream

The Method

• soak the gelatine sheets in water
• separate the eggs
• weigh out the sugar and cornflour and set to one side
• put the milk into a saucepan
• split the vanilla pod in half, scrape the seeds of the vanilla pod into the milk and then put the  remaining pod in the milk
• bring the milk just to the boil and then take off the heat
• whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until the colour lightens to a pale yellow
• add a little of the milk
• whisk in the cornflour until smooth
• add half the milk and whisk until smooth and then pour the mixture back into the pan of milk
• take the pods out
• heat the mixture stirring all the time to prevent lumps forming
• once thick and gloopy take off the heat and stir in the butter  until it is melted
• squeeze the the excess water off the gelatine sheets and whisk into the creme
• press the mixture through a sieve
• cover with clingfilm with the clingfilm touching the surface to stop a skin forming
• put in fridge to cool
• whisk the cream until stiff (reserve a few spoonfulls for later)
• whisk the creme patissiere until smooth
• fold in the cream

Creme Diplomate and Madame