It’s actually a cake with two treasures, it has vanilla pudding inside it and chocolate glaze over it; what more do you need? Just gobble up…
Finally spring has sprung and we are enjoying unbelievably beautiful and sunny weather for the last couple of weeks. Hope the weather is not going to trick us by acting anymore weird. As spring arrives, first thing that comes to my mind is it’s time to barbecue. We love to BBQ and we really don’t miss any great sunny day that’s good for BBQ. Yesterday, we had our first BBQ of this year with our good friends. Even though it was slightly chili in the evening, we had a fun time and we grilled Tandoori chicken, Scallops, Shrimp, Asparagus and of course Corn on the cob. Everything was delicious. To end the fun filled BBQ I had made Boston Cream pie and my friend had made Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. Two of these delicious desserts gave the BBQ night a sweet ending.
Every time when I feel like having cake, I end up making my Dates cake. So this time I really wanted to try a different cake. While searching for some kool cake recipes, as usual I bumped into Martha Stewart’s website and chose Boston Cream Pie from the dessert category to bake.
Even though it’s called as a pie, it’s actually a cake filled with vanilla pudding and frosted with chocolate. The main reason why I chose to bake this cake was that I could enjoy vanilla pudding along with the cake. Vanilla pudding being my favorite pudding. And my husband will get to enjoy chocolate from this cake.
I made the cake, vanilla pudding and the chocolate glaze from scratch. I had some leftover vanilla pudding which I had this morning topped with fruits and nuts.
Boston Cream Pie
Step 1: Making the Cake:
Ingredients:
- All purpose flour- 1 1/2 cups + more for sprinkling on the cake pan
- Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp
- Salt- 1/2 tsp
- Sugar- 1 cup
- Eggs- 3, large
- Milk- 1/2 cup
- Butter- 6 tbsp + more for greasing the cake pan
- Vanilla extract- 1tsp
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with 1 tsp butter and sprinkle 2 tsp flour on the pan; keep aside.
- In a small bowl: combine together the flour, baking powder and the salt; set aside.
- Combine milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat, let it come to a boil.
- Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until thick, lightened in color and the mixture holds together for several seconds when the beater is lifted.
- Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients (flour/baking powder/salt) just until incorporated (don’t over mix).
- With mixer on low speed, add the hot milk mixture to batter; mix just until smooth.
- Mix in vanilla and transfer the batter to the cake pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake until golden, about 35 to 40 minutes, until a fork when inserted comes out clean.
- Cool cake for 10 minutes in the pan, remove from pan and transfer to a rack or a platter to cool down.
Step 2: Making Vanilla Pudding:
Ingredients:
- Sugar- 2/3 cup
- Corn starch- 1/4 cup
- Salt- 1/4 tsp
- Milk- 2 1/2 cups
- Egg yolks- 4 large
- Butter, unsalted- 2 tbsp, cut into small pieces
- Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Preparation:
- Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine together sugar, corn-starch and salt.
- Add milk slowly and dissolve the cornstarch completely.
- Whisk in the egg yolks.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly until the first large bubble forms and it sputters.
- Reduce heat to low, whisking constantly and cook for 1 minute.
- The mixture will start to thicken, whisk constantly.
- Remove from the flame, immediately pour the mixture sieve into the bowl (this is to remove any tiny particles that might be present in the pudding).
- Stir butter and vanilla extract into hot pudding and combine well.
- Place a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding (to prevent the formation of skin on the pudding).
- Chill for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
- We will be using only half of this pudding to fill in the cake, rest you could place in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and have it later topped with fruits, nuts etc.
Step 3: Chocolate Glaze:
Ingredients:
- Heavy cream- 1/4 cup
- Semi-sweet chocolate chopped- 1/2 cup or 4 ounces
Preparation:
- In a saucepan, bring heavy cream to a boil.
- Remove from heat, and add chocolate, stir till smooth.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature and to thicken slightly, about 10 minutes.
Step 4: Filling the cake with vanilla pudding and topping with chocolate glaze:
- With a serrated knife, cut the cooled cake horizontally into two parts.
- Spread the bottom half of the cake with half of the prepared vanilla pudding and spread it evenly on the cake.
- Gently place top half of the cake over the pudding layer.
- Using a small spatula, spread the prepared chocolate glaze over the cake.
- Allow it to set for 15-20 minutes.
- Leftover cake can be refrigerated , covered up to 2 days.
- All purpose flour- 1½ cups + more for sprinkling on the cake pan
- Baking powder- 1½ tsp
- Salt- ½ tsp
- Sugar- 1 cup
- Eggs- 3 large
- Milk- ½ cup
- Butter- 6 tbsp + more for greasing the cake pan
- Vanilla extract- 1tsp
- Sugar- ⅔ cup
- Corn starch- ¼ cup
- Salt- ¼ tsp
- Milk- 2½ cups
- Egg yolks- 4 large
- Butter, unsalted- 2 tbsp, cut into small pieces
- Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
- Heavy cream- ¼ cup
- Semi-sweet chocolate chopped- 4 ounces
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with 1 tsp butter and sprinkle 2 tsp flour on the pan; keep aside.
- In a small bowl: combine together the flour, baking powder and the salt; set aside.
- Combine milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat and let come to a boil.
- Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until thick, lightened in color and the mixture holds together for several seconds when the beater is lifted.
- Gradually whisk in the dry ingredients (flour/baking powder/salt) just until incorporated (don't over mix).
- With mixer on low speed, add the hot milk mixture to batter; mix just until smooth.
- Mix in vanilla and transfer the batter to the cake pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake until golden, about 35 to 40 minutes, until a fork when inserted comes out clean.
- Cool cake for 10 minutes in the pan, remove from pan and transfer to a rack or a platter to cool down.
- Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine together sugar, corn-starch and salt.
- Add milk slowly and dissolve the cornstarch completely.
- Whisk in the egg yolks.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly until the first large bubble forms and it sputters.
- Reduce heat to low, whisking constantly and cook for 1 minute.
- The mixture will start to thicken, whisk constantly.
- Remove from the flame, immediately pour the mixture sieve into the bowl (this is to remove any tiny particles that might be present in the pudding).
- Stir butter and vanilla extract into hot pudding and combine well.
- Place a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding (to prevent the formation of skin on the pudding).
- Chill for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
- We will be using only half of this pudding to fill in the cake, rest you could place in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and have it later topped with fruits, nuts etc.
- In a saucepan, bring heavy cream to a boil.
- Remove from heat, and add chocolate, stir till smooth.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature and to thicken slightly, about 10 minutes.
- With a serrated knife, cut the cooled cake horizontally into two parts.
- Spread the bottom half of the cake with half of the prepared vanilla pudding and spread it evenly on the cake.
- Gently place top half of the cake over the pudding layer.
- Using a small spatula, spread the prepared chocolate glaze over the cake.
- Allow it to set for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Leftover cake can be refrigerated , covered up to 2 days.
