Crème anglaise (French for "English cream") is a light pouring custard used as a dessert cream, or sauce. It is a mix of sugar, egg yolks and hot milk.
The cream is made by whipping egg yolks and sugar together until the yolk is almost white; adding hot milk little by little; and cooking in a double boiler. The sauce is stirred with a spoon until it coats the back of a spoon, and then must be withdrawn from fire. If the sauce reaches too high a temperature, it will curdle. Cooking temperature should be between 69°C and 85°C; the higher the temperature, the thicker the resulting cream.
It can be poured as a sauce over cakes, fruits, etc. Alternately, it can be eaten as a dessert on its own, often in the presentation of Île flottante ("floating island"): the cream is poured into a bowl with a piece of cooked foamy egg whites (blancs en neige) on top.
Larousse Gastronomique calls it 'crème à l'anglaise' and 'crème française'.