Pastry cream is a component in many Italian desserts. It can be used for tarts, sandwich filling for cakes, served with poached fruit, served with pandoro or panettone, or with cookies. This recipe uses rice flour and cornstarch instead of flour since they begin to thicken at 86°C whereas flour thickens at 95°C. The lower the temperature used to cook the eggs, ultimately the egg flavour will be softer. Chocolate custard pairs well with strawberries, peaches, raspberries and pears and is successfully used as a filling incakes and tarts.