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
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.
