Boston Cream Pie. Nuff said.

SATURDAY

Since the purchase of my oh-so-beautiful love of a machine, the KitchenAid mixer, I've been a baking maniac. My latest creation is the Boston cream pie cupcake. These babies are so moist yet dense and so full of flavor that they'll definitely become one of your go-to favorites.



Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes
Yields: 12 cupcakes

For Vanilla Cupcakes:

3/4 stick/ 6 tbsn. unsalted butter
3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 + 1/8 cup milk


For the custard:

1 small boxes of french vanilla pudding
1 cup of whole milk ONLY, no substitutions!
2/3 cup of heavy cream (for a creamier texture add more heavy cream)
3 tsp. vanilla extract


For the whipped ganache frosting:

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
For stiffer frosting add confectioners' sugar or put in freezer for 5-10 minutes.



DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside. In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, making sure it is well incorporated. Beat in vanilla, add flour in three batches, alternating with milk. DO NOT over beat. Divide batter among cupcake tins up to 3/4 of the way filled and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the custard, whip everything together until pudding has become thick, it took about 4 minutes with my stand mixer. Once the cupcakes are cool, use the cone method to remove the tops, then fill it in with custard and replace tops. For the coning method please see this page.

To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a large bowl. Heat the heavy cream on medium high until it comes up to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 2 minutes then stir until completely melted and glossy. To pipe the ganache, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and and it can hold its texture it is ready to pipe.