Emily's comment about using pastry cream to frost a cake reminded me of something I read on the Joe Pastry website (now sadly discontinued, but still up and available for reference) about German buttercream or creme mousseline (you can go to the site and search for either of those terms). Says to use 1 part butter to 2 parts pastry cream (instructions on the site). I never tried it myself but it looks good and I always thought I might use it someday if I wanted to be extra fancy with a real buttercream (i.e. no powdered sugar) because the whole hot sugar syrup process for the French or Italian kind always sounded so fussy.

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