Boston Cream Cupcakes

My family loves Boston cream - donuts & cakes - you name it, we love them.  So when I stumbled across a recipe for Boston cream cupcakes I couldn't resist!

This recipe specifically calls for cake and pastry flour, which I don't typically have on hand.  At a certain point, there gets to be too many ingredients and, well, space is limited.  It had been awhile since I had last made my own batch of cake and pastry flour, and couldn't for the life of me find my notes from cooking school.  So thank you to Joy the Baker for the quick refresher on how to make your own cake & pastry flour!

The tricky part of this recipe is most definitely the pastry cream.  Pastry cream has a very narrow window to get right.  If you under cook it, it will not set properly, but if you over cook it, well then it just turns into a curdled mess.  So the best tip here it to go slow, leave the heat on medium and if you feel the need, take it off the heat and give it a good whisk.  

I always have both a wooden spoon and a whisk at hand when making this recipe.  If the wooden spoon starts to collect some custard on the tips, that is when I take it off the heat and whisk away until all the lumps have disappeared.  I keep using this technique until the desired consistency is achieved.  You will know you are there by coating the back of the spoon with the custard and running your finger down the center.  If you can clearly see your finger mark and no custard oozes into the center - you’re done! 

Enjoy!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

Yields 18 Cupcakes

Based on recipe by Food & Drink posted on Graces Sweet Life

Cupcake Ingredients

§ 2 eggs

§  ½ cup (125 ml) butter, softened

§  1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar

§  1 tsp. (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

§  2 cups (500 ml) sifted before measured cake & pastry flour

§  2 tsp. (10 ml) baking powder

§  ¼ tsp. (1 ml) salt

§  ¾ cup (175 ml) milk

Pastry Cream Ingredients

§  ½ cup (125 ml) granulated sugar

§  ¼ cup (50 ml) all-purpose flour

§  ¼ tsp. (1 ml) salt

§  2 eggs

§  1 ½ cups (375 ml) whole or 2% milk

§  1 tsp. (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache Icing Ingredients

§  ½ cup (125 ml) semi-sweet chocolate chips

§  ¼ cup (50 ml) 35% cream

§  ¼ tsp. (1 ml) pure vanilla extract

Cupcake Preparation

1.       Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

2.       Line 12 muffin cups with paper or silicone cups. 

3.       Place eggs in small bowl and cover with hot tap water to temper.  Set aside.

4.       Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time; then vanilla.

5.       Thoroughly mix sifted flour with baking powder and salt.  Then sift again.  Add the flour and then the milk in two batches before filling muffin cups. 

6.       Bake in the center of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes (depending on the size of your muffins) until lightly golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean.  Cool in pan on cooling rack.  Remove paper or silicone liners.

Pastry Cream Preparation

1.       Stir together sugar, flour and salt. 

2.       Lightly whisk eggs in a large saucepan; stir in sugar mixture until thoroughly combined.  Slowly stir in milk, making sure to incorporate any mixture caught in the bottom edges of the saucepan.  Place over medium heat and stirring constantly, bring to just under a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

3.       Cover with plastic wrap directly on top of custard to prevent a film from developing. 

4.       Chill to room temperature.

Chocolate Ganache Preparation

1.       In a bain-marie (bowl set over a pot of simmering water), combine the chocolate chips and cream and stir until combined.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

2.       Cool to room temperature.

Assembling the Cupcakes

1.       Re-line the muffin tins with paper or silicone cups.  Cut each cupcake in half and place the bottom half in the lined muffin tin.

2.       Add a heaping teaspoon of pastry cream to each muffin tin and spread to the edges in an even layer.

3.       Ice the tops of each cupcake with the chocolate ganache and then place on top of each filled muffin tin.

4.       Refrigerate until icing is set, about an hour.

* Notes

 v  The recipe I followed indicated that it yields 18 cupcakes; however, I ended up with 12 cupcakes and a little extra batter.  Since my muffin tins were likely a little larger, I increased the total cooking time by approximately 2 minutes.  Be sure to keep an eye on them, as you really don’t want to over bake them.