Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes 

This recipe is a bit time consuming, but it's worth it. It's a cream filled cupcake with chocolate on top, celebrating the proud heritage of a great city. What more could you want?

The first time I ate a slice of Boston Cream pie, I didn't actually know what I was eating.  I told the person next to me that this cake I had picked up from the buffet was really good.  She gave me a look of surprise and said, "it's Boston Cream Pie". I had heard of it but I didn't know what it was!  That was April of 2014.  

Later that year, a friend moved back to D.C. from Boston and held a Boston-themed party so I made these cupcakes.  After tasting the first one, I declared the cupcakes them the best I'd ever made. I stand by that. Because they do take some time, I recommend baking the cupcakes, waiting for them to cool and placing them in an airtight container.  The day you want to serve them, make the cream and ganache and assemble. 

Recipe

Makes 24 Cupcakes

Cupcakes 

12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
2 Cups of sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups of all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, line a two 12 cavity muffin/cupcake pans with cupcake liners
Mix flour, baking powder, salt into a small bowl, set aside.
Mix butter and sugar with a mixer in a medium bowl until well combined.
Add eggs, one a time and vanilla, mix well.
Alternate pouring flour mixture and milk into medium bowl with butter, ending with flour.
Portion out batter into muffin pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes

Allow muffins to cool to room temperature.

Cream Filling – Adapted from Six Sisters Stuff

1 (3.4 oz) box Vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, with an electric mixer mix all ingredients for 5-10 minutes on the lowest setting, until mixture becomes stiff. If using a stand mixer, use whisk attachment.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes

Chocolate Ganache
½ Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
6 ounces of dark chocolate, in chips or broken into pieces.

Heat heavy whipping cream in small saucepan. Allow bubbles to form on the outside edge. Remove from heat and slowly stir in chocolate until smooth. 

Assembly 

Two tools make assembly easier, but aren't required.  

Using a  Cupcake Corer or the method outlined at Baking Bites cut a center of the cupcake out. The Cupcake corer comes in two sizes, for this recipe I use the larger cutter to make a bigger space for more cream. 

This also allows a perfect-sized scoop of filling, using my small scooper to place in the center.

Using a serrated knife, slice the top layer of the cake you withdrew and place it on top of the cream filling.

You'll end up with a bowl of cake innards. 

Spread ganache on top.  It will take 30 mins to an hour after you make he ganache to be come stiff enough to not run if you put it on top of the cake.  

Refrigerate cupcakes for up to three days before serving.