Boston Cream Cupcakes – The Just Right Cupcakes

I’ve been on a baking kick lately.  Not that there’s anything wrong with baking, but I think the Beard worries this will turn into a dessert blog.  While I was craving something sweet after making his birthday cake, I really wanted to do cupcakes, because they’re easier to transport and foist off on my family and coworkers.  However, I didn’t want something too sweet, because the Beard prefers things mildly sweet instead of “slap you in the face with a bag of sugar” sweetness.  I thought that a Boston Cream cake would fit the bill perfectly; not a terribly sweet cake, a creamy filling, and a sweet frosting.  As Goldilocks would say, these are just right.  Armed with some ideas, I decided to bust out our 1956 copy of The Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking and see what they had for a recipes.

Can I just say, this was the best damned cake I’ve ever had.  It was moist and dense, but still light enough that it didn’t sit in your stomach like a rock.  The directions were somewhat difficult to follow, and I’m finding the same problem with most of our vintage cookbooks.  These recipes are written so that you get a list of ingredients and measurements, but no instructions.  No, the real “how-to” part of the recipe is on a separate page and isn’t do much directions as it is a technique.  You need to master the basic technique, and if you know the technique, then you can follow the recipes.

Once I figured out how to follow the instructions, the rest was easy.  I tweaked the ingredients, just a wee bit, to make it fit with what I had in the house.  The batter was tasty, but the cooked cupcakes were delicious.  They cooked up nicely, rising just enough to make a nice dome over the liners without exploding out and over like a wannabe muffin.  Once cooled, this recipe would be great for frosting, as the cupcakes were firm and not prone to coming apart at the slightest touch.

The Process

While the cupcakes baked, I set to task making the Boston cream filling.  All of my vintage recipe books involved using a double boiler, and I didn’t feel like trying to set something up.  A quick jaunt through Pinterest brought me to Lindsay’s recipe at Life, Love, and Sugar, which was much, much simpler.

To fill them, I used a small knife to cut a cone-shaped bit of cake out of the center of the cupcakes after they had cooled completely.  I’ll admit, I may have snacked on the cones while I piped in the Boston cream filling.  Then piped a simple chocolate ganache frosting on top.

The end result was a cupcake that wasn’t too sweet, but wasn’t bland, and most definitely wasn’t from a box.  It was a moist cake that had a slightly sweet taste set off with the thick pastry cream and the dark chocolate icing with all three components combining to make one great little cupcake.

And that combination makes them incredibly easy to make disappear.

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Boston Cream Cupcakes

Hacked together from a few different sources, these cupcakes are based on a classic, simple cake recipe that is honestly the best cake I've ever had, and filled with a creamy pastry filling then topped with a chocolate ganache.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate, cream, cupcake, filling

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes

Total Time 28 minutes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 3⁄4 cup + 2 tbsps flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1⁄4 cup butter softened
• 1⁄4 cup oil
• 3⁄4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup + 2 tbsps sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Cream Filling

• 2 egg yolks
• 6 tbsps sugar
• 1½ tbsps cornstarch
• 1 cup + 2 tbsps milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

• 1½ cups dark chocolate chips
• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp sugar

Instructions

For The Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake pan with the liners of your choice.  In a small bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Sifting insures that the dry ingredients are evenly distributed, but you can mix them up with a whisk just fine.

2. In large bowl, mix the butter and oil until it is smooth.  Add the sugar gradually, creaming it with the butter and oil until it has completely dissolved.

3. Add the eggs to the wet ingredients and beat the mixture until it's fluffy, then add the vanilla extract to the egg/butter/sugar and mix thoroughly.

4. Begin to add your dry ingredients and milk to the creamed ingredients, alternating which one you add to the bowl.  You'll add a bit of the sifted ingredients, then a bit of the milk, etc, beating the mixture with each addition until it is smooth.

5. Fill cupcake liners about ½ full, and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into them comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan and allow to completely cool on a wire rack before frosting.

Cream Filling

1. Beat egg yolks together in a small bowl and set aside.  

2. In small saucepan, mix milk, cornstarch, and sugar until well combined and smooth.  Heat over medium heat until it begins to thicken and bubble.  Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
   

3. Add some of the heated milk mixture to the beaten eggs, whisk together, then add the egg mixture the saucepan.  Return to heat and bring to a light boil for two minutes, stirring continuously, then remove from heat once more.

4. Stir in butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.  Allow to cool to room temperature before using.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Heat heavy cream and sugar over medium-low flame until nearly boiling.  Pour over chocolate chips and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  

2. Whisk chocolate and cream mixture until smooth.  Cool in fridge until stiff, at least 1 hour.
   

Assembling the Cupcakes

1. With a small, sharp knife, remove a cone-shaped piece of cake from the center of each cupcake.

2. Fill the center of each cupcake with pastry filling.  It's easier with a piping bag, but you can improvise by cutting a small bit from the corner of a plastic freezer bag.

3. Pipe chilled ganache over the tops of the cupcakes.  Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

Cream filling courtesy of Lindsay at Life, Love and Sugar, because I can't be bothered to rig up a double boiler.

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.