Boston Cream Pie Recipe

The name might be deceiving, but Boston Cream Pie isn’t a pie at all, it’s a cake! Two layers of moist yellow cake with homemade pastry cream and rich chocolate ganache. Whether you make it in cake form, or as cupcakes, this classic dessert makes a delicious treat for any special occasion.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Chill Time 6

Total Time 7

Servings cups

Calories 837kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Equipment

1 Stand mixer or electric mixer
2 8" cake pans
1 8” cake ring or pan
1 Acetate roll or sheets
1 Wire rack
1 Seive or immersion blender optional

Ingredients

Pastry Cream

16 ounces whole milk
2.5 ounces granulated sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
2 ounces unsalted butter

Yellow Cake

14 ounces cake flour
12 ounces granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature
3 large egg yolks room temperature
8 ounces whole milk room temperature
2 ounces vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
4 ounces heavy whipping cream

Makes: 8inch round, 2inch height

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making the Pastry Cream

Place the first measurement of your sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, and the egg in a medium bowl and whisk together until homogeneous.
Add the milk, second measurement of sugar, and vanilla into a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Pro-tip: Adding sugar to the milk helps stop it from burning on the bottom of the pot.
Temper the yolk mixture by adding about ⅓ of the hot milk to the eggs while whisking constantly. Bringing the eggs and milk to the same temperature helps to prevent lumps and curdling.
Pour the entire mixture back into the pot and cook it on medium heat while whisking constantly until it's thickened. Don’t worry if it starts to get lumpy, you want to have extra thick pastry cream so that it sets in between your cake layers.
Remove the pot from the heat and strain everything through a sieve into a large bowl to get rid of the lumps. You can also use an immersion blender. Just be sure to strain it while it's warm so that it doesn’t break the cornstarch molecules and become loose and liquid.
Add in the butter and whisk it until it's homogeneous.
Place plastic wrap over the pastry cream so that it's touching the surface of the cream. This will help avoid skin developing on the top. Place it in the fridge to cool completely while you make your cake.

Making the Yellow Cake

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare two, 8-inch cake pans with cake goop or your preferred cake release. Don’t worry if it starts to get lumpy, you want to have extra thick pastry cream so that it sets in between your cake layers.
Weigh out all of the ingredients with a food scale and bring the milk, eggs, and butter to room temperature or slightly warm. I like to microwave my milk, place my eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, and chop up my butter (microwave a little if needed). This will create a better emulsion and texture for your cake.
Place about ⅔ of the milk, vanilla, and oil into a small bowl and set it aside.
Add the eggs, yolks, and the rest of the milk into a separate bowl. Whisk together and set it aside.
Add the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse sand. I'm using my Bosch mixer, but you can use a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl if you prefer.
Stream your oil mixture into the dry ingredients while mixing on low speed. Bump the speed up to medium (speed 4 on kitchen aid) and mix for 2 full minutes. Set a timer for this step, this mixing will develop the structure of the cake.
Now, stream in the egg mixture and mix on low speed until the batter becomes homogeneous. Don’t forget to scrape the bowl!
Divide the batter into two 8" cake pans. If you are making cupcakes, place 1-2 tablespoons into each cupcake liner. Pro-Tip: Use a scale to weigh the amounts of batter in each cake pan, this will result in more even layers.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (For cupcakes bake for 15-20 minutes.) Your oven temperature may vary, so make sure the center of your cake is set before removing it from the oven.
Cool the cakes for 10 minutes while still in the pans, then flip them out onto a wire rack to cool. Flash freeze them for about an hour if you want to decorate right away, or wrap them in plastic wrap (while still warm) and freeze them overnight. Pro-tip: Wrapping your cakes while they’re still warm seals in the moisture of the cake, making it safe to freeze.

Assembling the Boston Cream Pie

Prepare an 8-inch cake ring with an 8” cake board and wrap the inside of the ring with acetate. Make sure the acetate stretches about 6 inches above your ring and tape it closed. If you don’t have a cake ring or acetate, I recommend making this recipe into cupcakes or just doing it freeform. Be warned that some of the pastry cream might squish out the sides.
Once your cakes are chilled, trim off the domes so that the layers are even.
Place the first cake at the bottom of the ring.
Pour the pastry cream into a piping bag and pipe all of the pastry cream on top of your first cake layer. It should be about ½-inch thick.
Place your second cake layer on top.
Place the entire cake in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight. Pro-tip: Cover the top of the cake in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out in the fridge.

Making Chocolate Ganache

Add the chocolate into a glass container that is easy to pour from, and microwave for one minute. You can also heat these in a small saucepan if you prefer.
Pour the cream into a medium bowl and microwave for one minute.
Pour the cream over the chocolate and rest for about 5 minutes.
Whisk together the chocolate and cream until the ganache is smooth and shiny.
Set the ganache aside for a few minutes while you unmold the cake.

Unmolding and Decorating

Once the cake has cooled and set up, remove the metal ring and the acetate from the Boston cream pie.
Pour the ganache on top, allowing some of the chocolate to drip down the sides of the cake.
Smooth out the top with a spatula and serve! This cake will last for about 4 days in the refrigerator, I recommend covering the entire cake in plastic wrap so that it doesn't dry out.

Video

Notes

Important Things To Note Before You Start

The best investment you can make when you’re getting started with baking is a digital kitchen scale! Weighing your ingredients will help you avoid cake failure. Using a kitchen scale for baking is super easy and gives you the best results every single time.
Practice Mise en Place (everything in its place). Measure out your ingredients ahead of time and have them ready before you start mixing to reduce the chances of accidentally leaving something out.
Need more help with making your first cake? Check out my how to decorate your first cake blog post.
Make sure all of your cold ingredients (e.g. butter, eggs, milk) are at room temperature or a little warm. Why? Because we want to create an emulsion and allow the ingredients to fully mix together.
Make your own pan release (cake goop!) The best pan release ever!
Chill your cakes before frosting and filling. You can cover a frosted and chilled cake in fondant if you wish. This cake is also great for stacking!
You can substitute milk with almond milk, soy, coconut, oat etc for the pastry cream.
If you don't have acetate or a cake ring you can just stack and layer rustic style.

Nutrition