The Great Boston Cream Pie Cake Adventure

I think it might have been my birthday, another year older but clearly no wiser, that dictated the attempt of a recipe several levels above my current skill set. The recipe (clipped out of the Virginian Pilot) was featured as part of a SuperBowl cooking face off and this was the winner. The article made it sound delicious but the recipe was intimidating. I clipped it and let it sit on my desk for a couple of weeks. Then it moved to the maybe pile on the counter. Finally, I decided that cake was necessary for a birthday celebration (my two year old agreed) so I purchased the ingredients. As you can see from above, there are a lot of them. There are a few items the recipe neglects to mention:

1. I used eight bowls of various sizes for this recipe, and cleaned a couple and reused them. You will also need a half dozen extra spoons and two or three knives, because they start to hide under item number 2.
2. I used an entire roll of paper towels. This may not be necessary for a normal cook but if you are challenged, this should be at the top of your grocery list.
3. The sugar and cornstarch for the pastry cream and the whipped cream are in ounces, not teaspoons or cups. As my sugar encrusted computer keyboard can attest, one ounce of sugar is approximately 7 teaspoons (28 grams) and one ounce of cornstarch is approximately 10.5 teaspoons.

I did remember to set out the eggs to get them to room temperature. I should note that I bought a half dozen eggs, realized I was going to be short an egg, and used an egg beater for one of the whole eggs. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to matter.

The first thing I encountered was that I forgot to purchase parchment paper. So much for reading and following the directions! I did grease the pans and then decided this might make the cake greasy on the bottom, so I coated them with flour. I also remembered to le the oven vent by removing the burner cover. At this point, I am feeling on top of the situation. This is never a good sign.

I mixed the dry goods and set them aside. I heated the butter and milk and then set it aside with the cover on. I made it look easy. That is if one interprets flour from the greased pans on one countertop and a small sugar spill on the other countertop along with a myriad of ingredients and the directions for the new electric hand mixer on the other countertop as easy. I had mini bowls out to separate the eggs and some shell may have landed on the trashcan instead of in but I was on a roll.

Now, this next part needs a bit of clarification. I did attach the beaters and test them before starting. One flew off and I caught it mid-air like a Food Network pro. I started to beat the eggs and all was well.  About three minutes in I wanted to take a look at the progress so I switched off the mixer while lifting it up. For future reference, the eject button is not the same as the off button. So one beater landed in the bowl (it didn’t crack fortunately, way to go Crate & Barrel) but the other one flew at an angle and hit the wall above the sink. No permanent damage, but it added to the mess considerably. Since I was already in the middle of it, I decided to press on. Fortunately, I had pre-grated the orange zest and had it ready to go. Back on track!

The egg white mixture went off without a hitch. Once I got the hang of the higher speed of the mixer it was pretty easy to get the white peaks to appear. It should be noted that if someone tried this by hand their arm would fall off and scream for mercy. Flying beaters aside, I do love the mixer. I stirred it into the other egg mixture and things were moving along. I didn’t have a sifter (seriously, where do people keep all of these things in their kitchen?) but I gradually sprinkled in the dry mixture. The sprinkling did the same thing, which is keeping the mix from becoming a chunky mess! Slow and steady it was.

The pastry cream mixture is where things get dicey. I thought I had worked around this by mixing the dry goods first and then boiling the milk and egg mixture. Turns out, while I was trying to beat the other egg the milk boiled over. Wow does that happen fast. There was milk up the handle, down the burners and starting to scorch. At this point, the kitchen looks like the Korean Demilitarized Zone. No time to worry about that now, I had to add the egg mixture to the milk mixture and avoid curdling. I used a soup spoon to add a little at a time and stir and this seemed to work. Since I didn’t have a strainer, I poured it into a bowl I set in a bigger bowl of ice. I thought about putting the whole thing in the refrigerator but decided against it. In retrospect, it might have made it thicker which would’ve been better. Then it was time to start on the whipped cream.

This was my favorite part. Not only did the mixer make the cream thicken up like it was supposed to, you would sample it because there was no raw egg in it! I added the Grand Marnier very slowly and it blended well. Then, I looked around my kitchen. Since all was lost for a cleanliness standpoint, I decided a little nip was in order. Future happiness moments might be made just making the whipped cream….mmmmm.

Then, back to reality. I had the cakes out of the oven and cooling in the pans on the burner covers on the counter since the stove was ravaged. They stuck at first. I placed a hand on top of one to try and guide it out and came away with a hand covered in cake and a perfect handprint outlined on the cake in the pan. I got a knife and loosened the sides and a small spatula to help loosen the bottom. Then they came out pretty easily. Before I got the second one out, I put the cream in the middle. After I puts what seemed like a lot of cream down as a layer, I added the other cake layer. My aim leaves something to be desired and the cake is pretty delicate, so a lopsided cake it was. I also had 50% of the cream left over. Incidentally, at this point my two year old woke up from her nap, walked into the kitchen and asked “what happened”. Sigh.

Finally, after filling the dishwasher and trying to find the counter tops, I started on the chocolate ganache. I needed a huge pot since the mixing bowl that will hold five cups of chocolate chips is also ginormous so I added two extra cups of water to the pot. The double boiler worked and the chocolate melted. I wasn’t sure if I should let it cool off or glaze it warm. I opted for warm. The chocolate adhered to the cake and stayed in place so it was fine, but there was a lot of extra. Some dripped over the edge and pooled on the cake plate (see photo) and the rest ended up as left over (maybe an extra cup or more). I put the whole thing in the refrigerator to cool.

The moment of truth had arrived. We got the cake out and cut it. My faithful two year old and I tried it. She loved it and asked for more. I remembered that I don’t like the cream in Boston Cream Doughnuts and perhaps that should’ve been a tip off that this would not be my favorite. The cake and chocolate were good though, and if you like Boston Cream Pie then it would be a winner. If you can stand the mess that is! Overall though, Happy Birthday to me!