If you’ve been to a bakery in Denmark, you’ve most likely seen one of these featured in the display case. This pastry is called a “cremestang,” literally meaning “cream stick.” An unfortunate translation, so we’ve instead called it a “vanilla cream Danish pastry”! It can best be described as multiple spandauer pastries (minus the marzipan filling) added together to create one long pastry! It’s super delicious, and if you love pastries, we promise that this will become one of your favorite recipes.
Each slice of a cremestang is absolutely delicious, because it has that lovely crisp exterior while still being soft and fluffy inside. The vanilla cream is smooth, sweet, and delicious, creating the perfect balance with the yeasted, cardamom-flavored dough. It’s also so much easier to make than a bunch of small pastries! Have a slice with your afternoon coffee, and your day will certainly look a bit brighter!
Follow the recipe below to make a cremestang at home! You start by making the yeasted dough, letting it rise until doubled in size. Then you roll it into two rectangles, fold in the sides, and fill the middle channel with vanilla cream. You can use our recipe for kagecreme, or use storebought if that’s more convenient for you! Then, let these rise again for about 45 minutes, brush with egg wash, top with pearl sugar and almonds, and bake! We hope you try this recipe 🙂
Cremestang (Vanilla Cream Danish Pastry)
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 150 ml (2/3 cup) milk
- 2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or vaniljesukker, if you happen to have it!)
- 1/2 tsp cardamom (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 375 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 57 grams (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg for egg wash
TOPPING
- 1 portion kagecreme
- Chopped or slivered almonds (optional)
- Pearl sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Make your kagecreme by following the recipe here. This ensures that it has time to cool down before you make the cremestang.
- To make the dough: heat up the milk, either in the microwave or in a saucepan, until it is “fingervarm” (finger warm), meaning it should feel warm to the touch but not hot. You don’t want to kill the yeast! Add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Let it rest 5-10 minutes until it begins to froth and bubble a little bit. (If your yeast doesn’t do anything, it may be expired. Check the expiration date on the package and start over with new yeast!)
- Combine the egg, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla extract, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
- Slowly add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the dough starts to come together, you can start kneading.
- Add the softened butter and knead until smooth and elastic, probably around 5-10 minutes. Add a bit of flour if the dough sticks to your hands or the surface. If you prefer not to get your hands messy and covered in butter, feel free to use a stand mixer for this step. The texture of your dough before its first rise should be soft and smooth, not sticky and not too dry.
- Cover and let your dough rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
- Once your dough has risen, divide the dough in half and roll out into a rectangle.
- Fold over the two long edges to create a channel down the center.
- Press down the edges of the dough to seal it so it doesn’t unfold. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
- Add the cooled pastry cream to the channel down the center.
- Let the loaves rise for another 45 minutes until about doubled in height. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
- Once it has risen, brush the dough with a beaten egg and top with sliced almonds and some pearl sugar.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and baked all the way through. Enjoy!
This looks gorgeous… I was wondering, do you think it would work to make it the night before, and let it stay in the fridge overnight at step 12?
I’m looking for brunch pastries which won’t require me to get up early 😛
I have not tried that, so cannot promise that it will work, but I think it would be fine!! The fridge should slow down the rise so that it won’t be overproofed in the morning. We do often put this type of dough in the fridge for its first rise overnight, so you can always do that (but then you would have to get up a little bit early to shape the pastry and let it rise again, unfortunately 😂 ). Hope this helps!