Mama’s Custard Sauce

This homemade custard sauce is creamy, velvety, and tastes so good poured over your favorite dessert.

In my household, it isn’t Thanksgiving or Christmas without a thick slice of Aunt Sue’s famous pound cake drizzled with this delicious custard sauce. The combination of the sweet custard and the cake is absolutely sublime and I just can’t imagine a holiday without it. 

Fortunately, I bet you have the six ingredients needed to make this custard sauce sitting in your kitchen right now: milk, salt, sugar, flour, eggs, and vanilla. Now, it’s pretty quick and easy to make, you just have to be patient. But believe me, this creamy and velvety custard is totally worth it!

While I adore serving this with my Aunt Sue’s pound cake, this homemade custard sauce can accompany a host of desserts, whether that’s chocolate cake, apple crumble, or pumpkin pie. You can also serve your vanilla custard sauce with a bowl of fresh fruit or fresh berries, poached pears, or even pancakes. Basically, enjoy it when you’d usually use whipped cream or ice cream and you have a winning dessert. Similar to crème anglaise, this is definitely a versatile sauce that I know you’ll make again and again!

Recipe Ingredients

• Milk
• Salt
• Sugar
• Flour
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract

 

Place flour, sugar, and salt into a medium saucepan and whisk together to blend.

Add in milk and whisk well.

Place over medium heat, stirring constantly.

BUT if you hurry, you can do this next step before that heats up…

Okay, so while that is heating up, crack your eggs real quick and pour off the whites so you are left with the yolks (the orange part).

How to separate your eggs

I just crack my eggs and pour the yolk into one half and tilt it gently until the white falls off into a cup or bowl below. They actually sell gadgets that separate whites from eggs but this way works perfectly for me. You can also just hold out your hand, palm side up, and spread your fingers apart slightly and pour your egg on top of them. The whites will fall through your fingers and you’ll be left with the egg yolk.

However you do it, get you some egg yolks and put them in a cup or bowl.

Beat them a bit. 

Now go back to your custard sauce and stir, stir, stir, until it gets hot.

Take out a small bit (about 1/2 a cup) and pour it into your eggs while stirring them vigorously to incorporate the hot milk mixture without letting it cook up the eggs.

Now pour this egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan while stirring rapidly.

Cook a few more minutes until the custard thickens.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Oh, have mercy!

After straining or if you’re not straining, pour this into a gravy boat and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, pushing down a little so that it touches the surface to prevent a film from being formed.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, pour over individual pieces of pound cake.

You can also serve this warm if you like, it doesn’t have to be cold. We have always made it ahead of time so we don’t have to do it last minute.

I hope you get to add this wonderful old-fashioned vanilla custard sauce to your holiday fixings!

Storage

Custard sauce leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Recipe Notes

• This recipe calls for all-purpose flour but honestly, you can use self-rising if that is what you have on hand. I’d just cut the salt in half if you do. I generally use whatever I grab first.
• Now, mine is smooth and creamy with no lumps but this may not always be the case depending on several factors. So Mama told me to make sure you know that she sometimes pours hers through a strainer when she is done with it to get out any lumps that might have formed. Feel free to do that and no one will know any different.
• If a film does form on your custard, just stir it down into there – it will still taste good.
• You can easily flavor your custard with a tablespoon or two of chocolate chips, coconut, chopped nuts, or dried fruit. You could also add a teaspoon of your favorite spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg.
• For those who like lemon, stir in the juice of 3 lemons and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest before refrigerating for a refreshing lemon-flavored custard.
• On the other hand, chocolate fans will love the addition of 1/2 cup of chocolate hazelnut spread.
• I don’t recommend using non-dairy milk in this recipe, as it doesn’t have the same fat content as whole milk, so it won’t have the desired consistency.

Recipe FAQs

Can I make my custard in advance?

Yes, this vanilla custard sauce will last up to 5 days in the fridge, so you can definitely make it ahead of time. Serve cold or warm it in the microwave.

Here are more delicious cakes to bake:

Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

Aunt Sue’s Orange Juice Cake

Flamingo Cake

Super Easy King Cake Recipe (WOW GOOD!)

Easy Birthday Cake Recipe From Scratch

Yellow Cake with Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Icing

 

“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.”

~Lois McMaster Bujold

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