Boston Cream Pie Cake Recipe
This is the classic cafeteria cake: two layers of soft yellow cake with a thick layer of vanilla pastry cream, all covered in a chocolate glaze that cracks when you put a fork through it. The key to this not being a complete mess is making the pastry cream the day before and letting everything chill properly before slicing.
Ingredients
For the Pastry Cream (Make this a day ahead)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
For the Yellow Cake
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
For the Chocolate Glaze
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cacao), chopped
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Make the Pastry Cream
Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a medium saucepan. Add the pod and the milk. Heat over medium until it’s steaming, but not boiling.
While the milk heats, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a separate bowl until pale and smooth. Whisk in the cornstarch and salt until no lumps remain.
To temper the eggs, slowly pour about half of the hot milk into the yolk mixture while whisking constantly. This gradually raises the temperature of the eggs so they don’t scramble. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Once it boils, continue to cook for one full minute, still whisking. This is important to cook out the cornstarch flavor.
Remove from the heat and immediately strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl to remove the vanilla pod and any small bits of cooked egg. Stir in the cold butter cubes until they are completely melted and the custard is smooth.
Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but overnight is better.
Make the Cake
Preheat your oven to 350F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the softened butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low, add about a third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat, ending with the last third of the flour mixture. Mix only until just combined; overmixing will make the cake tough.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for ~20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Assemble and Glaze
Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Stir the chilled pastry cream to loosen it up, then spread it evenly over the cake, leaving a small border around the edge. Place the second cake layer on top. Chill the cake while you make the glaze.
For the glaze, heat the heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate and butter. Let it sit for 5 minutes without stirring, then whisk until completely smooth and glossy.
Let the glaze cool for about 10 minutes, until it has thickened slightly but is still pourable. Pour it over the center of the chilled cake, using an offset spatula to gently guide it toward the edges, letting it drip down the sides.
Refrigerate the assembled cake for at least 2 hours to allow the glaze and filling to set completely. This is not optional if you want clean slices.
Boston Cream Pie Cake
Ingredients
For the Pastry Cream (Make this a day ahead)
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter cubed
For the Yellow Cake
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
For the Chocolate Glaze
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate 60-70% cacao, chopped
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Method
- Split vanilla bean, combine with milk in saucepan, heat until steaming.
- Whisk egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until smooth.
- Slowly whisk half hot milk into egg mixture, then return all to saucepan.
- Cook mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until thickened and boiling, cook 1 minute more.
- Strain custard, stir in butter until melted, cover surface with plastic wrap, chill overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line two 9-inch cake pans.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 parts, mix until just combined.
- Divide batter between pans, bake 20-25 minutes until done.
- Cool 10 minutes in pans, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
- Spread pastry cream on first cake layer, top with second layer, chill.
- Heat cream and corn syrup until simmering, add chocolate and butter, let stand 5 minutes.
- Whisk glaze until smooth, cool 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Pour glaze over cake center, spread to edges.
- Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.
