Food Friday ~ Boston Creme Pie

Friday, February 24, 2012

Happy Friday everyone!  This is Kim here to share one of my favorite sweet treats with you.  This one has some history for me.  My grandmother was quite the baker and made and decorated wedding cakes.  She was the one who made all the birthday cakes growing up.  Somewhere along the way she made a Boston Creme Pie and I fell in love!  It has been my birthday treat all these years now, and recently I finally made one myself with her recipe.  Now, it’s not exactly a “quick and easy” treat, but it’s well worth it for a special occasion!

So what is Boston Creme Pie?  It’s actually not a pie, it’s a cake.  I got interested in where the idea came from, so I found out that it dates back to 1856 when a French chef working at a Boston hotel started playing around with a recipe.  It probably was called a pie because at that time, most people would have had pie tins instead of cake pans.  They were probably baked in the pie tins and cut like a slice of pie.

 Now here comes the yummy part… how to make a Boston Creme Pie.  There are a number of different versions out there.  I am going to share my grandma’s recipe, as I think it is absolutely the best (and I am not biased at all – LOL!)

OK, let’s get started!  You will need to prepare 3 different parts to the cake before you can put it all together. 

1. Yellow Cake:

Different recipes call for different kinds of cake as the base of this dessert.  What I grew up with was a yellow butter cake.  You can either do a box mix to keep it simple or find a from scratch yellow cake recipe.  I baked mine as one layer in a 9×13 inch pan. 

 After the cake is completely cool, split it into two layers.  In case you haven’t heard this trick for splitting a cake, here is what I did.  I took a small knife and ran it around the edge of the cake, making a groove on all sides where I wanted the cake to split in two.  Then I put a piece of thread (you could use dental floss for this too) all the way around the cake in the groove made by the knife.  I brought the ends of the threads together, then crossed them and pulled the thread through the cake so it made the split.  This is a good way to get a clean and even split. 

 Once you have the two layers, place a piece of waxed paper between them and freeze.

2. Creme Filling:

• 10 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 slightly beaten eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 4 cups scalded milk

Mix the first five ingredients in a separate bowl.  Heat the milk in a pot on the stove until it is scalded, which means just below the boiling point.  Then add the other ingredients and continue heating on medium heat.  While it’s heating, mix with a hand mixer the entire time, until the mixture thickens and comes to a slight boil.  At that point, remove the filling from the heat and cool in refrigerator until cold.

3. Richmond Chocolate Frosting:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup boiling water

 Mix the sugar, cornstarch and cocoa in a separate bowl.  Boil the water in a pot on the stove and then add the premixed ingredients, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick.  Remove from heat and mix in butter and vanilla.  There you have it… yummy chocolate frosting!  As a side note, this is where I think a lot of Boston Creme Pie recipes vary.  Some of them have more of a ganache frosting, made from melting chocolate.  This one will be more of a glaze, but I really love the way it works with the cake and creme filling.  Give it a try!

Now to finish the cake:

 You’ve probably noticed that each of these three parts to the cake has their own requirements.  It’s best to freeze the cake, the creme needs to be well cooled in the refrigerator, and the frosting is actually easiest to spread on the cake when it’s still slightly warm.  Because of this, I recommend making the cake and filling ahead of time, then make the frosting right before you’re ready to put the cake together.  Once you have everything prepared, spread the creme filling in between the layers of cake, then pour the frosting over the cake, spreading evenly.  You will need to store the cake in the refrigerator if you are not eating it right away. 

 And of course, the last step is the best… Eat and enjoy!! 

Finally, we also have a FREE download of a 4×6 recipe card.  I used a template from the Shabby Shoppe’s Made From Scratch recipe templates, the Clementine kit, and the olive dot paper I love from the Gracie kit.  (For more info on fonts, etc, see the TOU in the download.)  Just click HERE…or on the image, to download!

Thanks for joining me for this sweet treat today!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you back at the blog on Monday as Kylie announces our Layout of the Week!

KimFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 4 Comments