Boston Cream Pie
Despite its name, this is a soft cake split in two, filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with a chocolate glaze. The pastry pride of Boston.
Despite its name, this is a soft cake split in two, filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with a chocolate glaze. The pastry pride of Boston.
They call it a pie, who knows why, for it is a cake, and the most Bostonian there is! Born, they say, in the kitchens of a great hotel in our city, it graced our reception tables. I made sure the cream was well set but not stiff, and that the glaze fell in a shiny sheet down the sides. Served at the end of a dinner, with coffee, it pleased everyone, and they asked for more — something I confess I was not displeased about.
- •Eggs — four (cake structure)
- •Sugar — one cup (sweetness)
- •Flour — one and a half cups (cake base)
- •Milk — one pint (pastry cream)
- •Vanilla — a few drops (flavor)
- •Chocolate — one square (glaze)
- •Butter — a knob (moistness and glaze)
Boston Cream Pie
Despite its name, this is a soft cake split in two, filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with a chocolate glaze. The pastry pride of Boston.
Why this dish? Born in the kitchens of the Parker House in Boston in the mid-19th century, this cake had become, during Amy Beach's lifetime, the emblematic dessert of her city — the one that closed the dinners and receptions of Boston society, of which she was a part.
They call it a pie, who knows why, for it is a cake, and the most Bostonian there is! Born, they say, in the kitchens of a great hotel in our city, it graced our reception tables. I made sure the cream was well set but not stiff, and that the glaze fell in a shiny sheet down the sides. Served at the end of a dinner, with coffee, it pleased everyone, and they asked for more — something I confess I was not displeased about.
Ingredients (period version)
- Eggs — four (cake structure)
- Sugar — one cup (sweetness)
- Flour — one and a half cups (cake base)
- Milk — one pint (pastry cream)
- Vanilla — a few drops (flavor)
- Chocolate — one square (glaze)
- Butter — a knob (moistness and glaze)
Ingredients
- Eggs — 4 (cake structure)
- Sugar — 200 g (cake) + 80 g (cream) (sweetness)
- Flour — 200 g (cake) + 30 g (cream) (base and binder)
- Baking powder — 1.5 tsp (leavening)
- Milk — 50 cl (cream) + 5 cl (cake) (pastry cream and binder)
- Butter — 60 g (cake) + 20 g (glaze) (moistness and shine)
- Vanilla extract — 2 tsp (flavor)
- Dark chocolate — 120 g (glaze)
Method
- Pastry cream: heat milk with vanilla; beat 3 yolks with sugar and flour, pour in hot milk, return to heat and cook until thickened. Cover with plastic wrap and cool.
- Cake: beat remaining whole eggs with sugar until pale, fold in sifted flour with baking powder, then warm milk and melted butter.
- Pour into a buttered round pan and bake 25 minutes at 180°C. Let cool.
- Split the cake into two horizontal disks.
- Spread the cold pastry cream generously on the bottom disk, top with the second disk.
- Glaze: melt chocolate with butter and a little milk, pour over the top, letting it drip down the sides.
- Chill for one hour before serving.
How it was made : Originally, this cake was sometimes topped with powdered sugar rather than chocolate; it was the chocolate version from the Parker House that prevailed. In Amy Beach's time, 'pie' still broadly referred to any cake baked in a pie tin, hence this misleading name preserved by tradition.
The contemporary twist : Assemble in individual entremet-style portions, with a tempered chocolate disc and a pinch of fleur de sel on the glaze.
Sources : Fannie Merritt Farmer, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1896
Amy Beach · Charactorium