What Is Custard Powder?

What is custard? It’s basically a sweet gooey thing that tastes good. But what about custard powder? If you’ve been to the U.K. or Australia or tried to make a recipe from a U.K. or Australian cookbook, you may have encountered it in an ingredients list. What is custard powder? What is in custard powder? How do you use custard powder? Grab a spoon and let’s get into it. 

What is custard powder?

Before we even think about touching custard powder, let’s dive into plain old custard. Custard is a culinary preparation, usually involving mixing eggs with milk or cream. It can be thin or thick and is usually sweet. Think of the creamy part of a creme brulee. So, what is custard powder? 

Custard powder is a powder mix that is used to make an imitation custard. Custard powder is not just an instant custard; it is a way to make custard without using eggs. That’s right, custard powder is eggless. 

Custard powder just looks like a yellowish powder, but turns to custard when you add milk and sugar while heating it. You can make it thick or runny or anywhere in between. It’s pretty close to Jello Instant Pudding mix, except Jello already includes sugar.

What is in custard powder?

Custard powder is mostly made of thickeners (usually cornflour), salt, flour, vanilla flavoring, and some yellow food coloring to imitate the egg yolks in traditional custard. Way back in 1837, in Birmingham (England, not Alabama) Alfred Bird invented powdered custard for his wife, who was allergic to eggs. Wow, they must have really loved custard. The story goes that one time the Birds accidentally served some dinner guests their powdered custard instead of the real stuff. It was a hit and the powdered custard recipe was put into production. To this day, the most popular brand of powdered custard is Bird’s. In some places, people just call all powdered custard Bird’s Custard. It’s become like Kleenex, Jacuzzi or Xerox. 

How to use custard powder?

Throw some custard powder into a pot with some milk and sugar, then stir it into a pudding consistency. What do you do with it then? Well, eat it fool! 

But you don’t just need to eat plain old powdered custard. There’s a ton of stuff you can make with it. If you’re allergic to eggs, or just don’t like an eggy taste or smell in your food, use custard powder anywhere you’d use plain old custard. You can put in cakes or fill up cream puffs. Add some to your hot chocolate to get a smooth and silky texture. Or silken up your whipped cream with some custard. Custard cornbread is like regular cornbread but fluffier. You can use custard powder for just about anything. Just don’t dump a ton of it in your swimming pool thinking you can swim in custard. It really messes up the drain. My aunt is going to kill me.