ABC Bakers; a recap of long lost pictures. Boston Cream Pie

 

Happens to me far too many times lately; make the challenge recipe, make pictures while and after and never write the post to go with it. Or in this case, falling in love with son #1 new camera, take pics and realise I can’t get them off camera because I miss essential parts… This was the case for the Panettone Muffins as well as the Boston Cream Pie. So my well intended plans went out the window right the first two months of the year!

This year we chose to bake from King Arthur; the website. Very happy about that because I do like King Arthur. A lot. Their blog is down to earth, filled with sound advice and do-able recipes. On to this one then. Boston Cream pie, the Pie that isn’t a pie at all. The pie that is cake. A cake filled with pastry cream and topped with a dark chocolate ganache. What’s not to like? I chose to bake the cake in a silicon sunflower pan. Silicon pans have come a long way, the first were not very good IMHO, baking cakes or bread in the early ones made for bleak results. These days they deliver nicely browned crispy edged bread/cakes. I’m a convert!

I followed the recipe on the King Arthur website for the cake, for the filling and ganache I used my own recipe. Initially I made a ganache following their lead but wasn’t satisfied at all. Probably the chocolate chips I used were off somehow, I binned it and started afresh with dark baking chocolate and got the shiny dark result I was looking for.

 

 

The cake baked and cooled and I used this handy device to slice it in half so I could fill with pastry cream. See how nice it browned and how crisp the edges are? Almost too pretty to obscure the definition with ganache don’t you think?

 

 

Sliced cake, nice and even, a tight crumb but airy enough to please. On with the filling; I used a basic pastry cream recipe but enhanced the flavor with a bit of orange liquor and orange zest.

In my Daring Bakers time we also made a Boston Cream Pie and I remember that one as a moderately stressful undertaking ;-). I remember loads of eggs, a pastry cream that wouldn’t behave but was ultimately delicious in the end. As in “eat from the pan with a spoon while it’s hot” delicious. This time around I think the cake was better, the pastry cream thickened as it should and my go-to ganache recipe is just what it is: a go-to TNT recipe!

 

 

 

Messy cut slice, the boys too eager to dive in, not waiting long enough for the ganache to harden. They were a bit apprehensive about the filling (what’s that inside Mom, pudding?) but once tasted they declared it good and went ahead… They raved about the ganache (can you tell they’re chocolate lovers?) It was exactly the right consistency to drape the cake with a smooth and rich mouthfeel.
Don't forget to check out the Boston Cream Pie of all the other ABC bakers