Historical Goodness: Boston Cream Pie Bundt-lets

Charles Dickens (English author of classics such as Great Expectations) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (the American poet who penned Paul Revere’s Ride) were just a few of the celebrities who strolled into the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston the 1850s. Probably to savor the hotel’s famed Boston Cream Pie. Maybe they connected with their muses whilst biting into a deep chocolate coating a yellow cake filled with pastry cream.

The Ninja Baker's Boston Cream Pie Bundt-let 

Whether the dessert stirred Dickens or Longfellow to create classical works of literature are unknown. However, the famed cake called the Boston Cream Pie inspired somebody. It is now the official state dessert of Massachusetts. And October 23rd is National Boston Cream Pie Day in the USA.

The luxurious dessert was also the pick of the Cake Slice Baker’s group. (Spearheaded by the sweet as pie – and talented – Paloma King of the Coffee House, every month a group of bakers all bake the same recipe from the same cookbook.) This time the majority chose Boston Cream Pie Tart-lets from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.

The Vintage Cakes recipe refers to the filling as vanilla pudding whereas the original recipe calls the center a pastry cream. The ingredients and the how-to are basically the same. Although I just found out the hotel adds rum…Mmm next time…In the meantime, I’m happy with my Mini Boston Cream Pie Bundt-lets and Cupcakes. Here’s the how-to.

Boston Cream Pie Bundt-lets
Adapted from Vintage Cakes

Ingredients:
Cake:

• 2 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups (cold) heavy cream
• 1 ¼ cup sugar
• 3 (room temperature) eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pudding:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Ganache:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate chips

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. With a stand mixer whip up the heavy cream at high speed until sleepy looking waves appear. Pour in the sugar and keep beating until you see stiff peaks.
4. Reduce the mixer speed and add the eggs, one at a time.
5. Sprinkle in the vanilla extract.
6. Pour in one-third of the whisked flour mixture. When fully incorporated, pour another third. Turn off the mixer and hand stir the remaining flour with a spatula.
7. Divide the batter into mini Bundt pans and/or cupcake tins.
8. Bake for about 32 minutes or until the middle springs back when lightly touched.
9. Cool.

Vanilla Pudding Directions:

1. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean into a saucepan. Add the shell as well with the 4 cups of milk. Add 1/3 cup of sugar and stir over a medium flame. Keep stirring until the mixture is simmering. (Hot, not boiling.)
2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, the remaining sugar and salt. Add the cornstarch.
3. Whisk 1/3 of the hot milk mixture from the saucepan into the bowl with eggs. When well combined, pour the contents of the bowl into the saucepan. Keep whisking until the ingredients in the saucepan thicken. Over medium-low heat, the process can take up to 5 minutes. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl. Whisk in the butter until thoroughly melted and combined.

Chocolate Ganache:

1. Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium flame. As little bubbles appear, take the pan off the stove.
2. Pour the cream over the chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl. Cover with a tight lid for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the lid and slowly whisk the mixture in circles from the center out. Let the ganache firm up at room temperature. (Stir occasionally for the next 2 or 3 hours.) If the ganache is too liquid, refrigerate for 10 minutes and stir the frosting.

Assemble mini Bundts and/or cupcakes by placing pudding in the centers and frosting with ganache. Mini melon ballers are useful tools for scooping out cake middles.

Wishing you a historically happy week.