Boston Cream Pie

By carmen-2

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• Makes one two-layered 8-inch cake
• From Joy of Baking
• For the Pastry Cream:
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• For the Sponge Cake:
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• For the Chocolate Glaze:
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• (I omitted the butter because I got lazy)

Details

Servings 16
Adapted from gracefulleats.wordpress.com

Preparation

Step 1

For the Pastry Cream:
In a medium heatproof bowl, mix together the sugar and egg yolks. Sift the flour and cornstarch into the egg mixture and mix until you get a smooth paste. In a small saucepan, bring the milk just to a boil over medium heat. Whisk the milk slowly into the egg mixture; whisk constantly to prevent curdling; strain if necessary. Place the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it boils, whisking constantly. When it boils, continue to whisk constantly for about a minute until it becomes thick. Remove from heat; whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour it into a bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Let the pastry cream cool in the fridge for a few hours before using.
For the Sponge Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter and line the bottoms of two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
When the eggs are still cold, separate three of the eggs; add the two remaining eggs to the yolks. Cover both bowls with plastic wrap; allow to come to room temperature.
In a bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Place the milk and butter in a small saucepan and warm until the buter melts (I used the microwave instead).
In a large bowl, beat the whole eggs and yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until they are thick and fluffy (the batter should fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon). Beat in the vanilla extract. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar and beat until soft, moist peaks form. Fold some of the whites into the other batter, then add the rest of the whites and fold just until incorporated. Sift half of the flour mixture over the top of the folded batter, and gently fold through with a rubber spatula. Sift the rest of the flour and fold in.
Make a well in the center of the batter; pour in the butter and milk mixture into the bowl and gently fold in. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until light brown and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Invert the cakes onto a wire rack; remove parchment paper and re-invert. Let it cool completely.
For the Chocolate Glaze:
Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the cream and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and let sit for about 2 minutes. Gently stir the cream and chocolate together until the chocolate has melted, and set aside until it is thick enough to pour.

For Assembly:
Place one cake layer on the serving plate; bottom side up. Spoon the pastry cream onto the cake and spread evenly. Place another cake layer onto the filling, top side up. Pour the glaze onto the center of the cake. Spread the glaze to the edges of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.

(There will be a lot of chocolate! I used a little less than what I actually made.) Let the cake sit until the glaze sets (otherwise, if you do what I did and don’t wait, you’ll have a very hard time cutting slices. Hence, no pictures of the cut cake in this post). Refrigerate any leftovers!