the girl with the baked goods: Boston Cream Pie

On my "top 5 things I love about Boston", one of them is definitely the Boston cream pie. Prior to moving here, I have never heard nor tasted this yummy yummy cake (yes it is actually a cake and not a pie). And I always said I must master baking this sweet good during my stay here, so here I am, my first attempt!

But first, let's find out how Boston cream pie came about. Firstly, it's called a pie and not a cake because back in the day, people bake in pie tins as they didn't have cake pans. And why it's called Boston? It seems it is because Harvey Parker, owner of Parker House Restaurant in Boston, had a very similar cake and somehow it became famous and was published in papers and soon got its official name as Boston cream pie.

The Boston cream pie consists of 2 layers of white sponge or butter cake sandwiching a layer of pastry cream topped with a thick chocolate glaze. And it is a yummylicious cake....one of my best baked goods!

It is a slightly more complicated recipe for lil ol' me but it's not that difficult, if I can bake this, anyone can! Here's what you'll need.

Pastry cream:

- 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

- 3 tablespoons cornstarch

- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar

- 3 egg yolks

- 1 1/4 cups milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sponge cake:

- 5 eggs

- 1/2 cup cake flour

- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 3 tablespoons milk

- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar

Chocolate glaze:

- 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

- 1 teaspoon unsalted butter

I suggest making the pastry cream about 3-4 hours before you start on the sponge cake as it needs to be refridgerated for a couple of hours prior to spreading. So let's start!

1. Sift the all-purpose flour and cornstarch together and set aside.

2. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together. Then add the flour mixture until it's a smooth mixture. (Don't let this sit for too long.)

3. Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan. Once it starts to foam, pour it into the egg mixture and whisk constantly. (If it curdles a little, pour through a strainer.)

4. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook the mixture, still whisking constantly. When it starts to boil, you will see that the mixture starts to thicken. Continue to whisk until the texture is consistent.

5. Then remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into another bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the fridge for a few hours.

6. Sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. (I used a 9 inch cake pan instead, this resulted in a slightly thinner sponge cake but it works fine as well.)

7. While the eggs are cold, separate 3 of the eggs having 3 egg yolks in a bowl and the 3 egg whites in another bowl. In the bowl of the yolks, add the other 2 eggs as a whole. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it come to room temperature which will take about 30 mins.

8. Same for the bowl of egg whites, cover and plastic wrap it, let it come to room temperature.

9. Whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt, set it aside. (If you can't find cake flour, you can make your own cake flour - for 1/2 cup cake flour, mix together half a 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.)

10. Melt the butter with the milk in a bowl in a microwave, or you can do this over low heat in a saucepan. Once the butter melts, remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

11. Once the egg yolks come to room temperature, beat them with 6 tablespoons sugar (from the 3/4 cup) on high speed for 5 mins. Then beat in the vanilla extract.

12. Then whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed until it foams.

13. Add the remaining sugar (3/4 cup minus 6 tablespoons) and beat at medium speed until soft peaks appear.

14. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in a lil of the egg whites mixture into the yolk mixture. Then add in the rest, folding until corporated.

15. Then sift half of the flour mixture into the batter and fold in. Followed by the remaining half. (Do not over mix the batter.)

16. Pour in the melted butter mixture and fold in gently.

17. Divide the batter between both cake pans.

18. Bake for 18-20 mins, until the cake browns or when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

19. Let it cool for 10 mins in the cake pans on a wire rack, then run a sharp knife around the sides and invert onto the wire rack to cool completely.

20. Chocolate glaze: Place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.

21. Pour the heavy whipping cream and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it boils, pour over the chocolate and let it stand for 3 mins.