Recipe: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (Damon's Birthday Cupcakes)

Boston Cream Pie has always been Damon's birthday cake of choice, but he's never managed to make it through a whole one on his own. So for his birthday this year we made Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes! This recipe is a take on Martha Stewart's Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, the icing is allrecipes.com's Rich Chocolate Frosting, and the pastry cream/vanilla custard filling is a take on the recipe in "The Joy of Cooking". Please read the directions for each section through once before starting to cook! Makes 12 large cupcakes.

For cupcakes:

I hate to contradict Martha, but this recipe really only makes about 12, if you want nice big cupcakes.

I also rearranged the directions a bit, since unless you're really amazing at multitasking in the kitchen, it's really hard to keep your eyes on two things at once, and nothing is so time-sensitive that it can't wait a few moments for you to catch your breath. (Martha is a perfectionist. I am a realist.)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for tins
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk (We used 1.5% milk because that's what I grabbed by mistake. Worked just fine.)
  
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for tins
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used butter-vanilla instead. I think that might be something only available in Germany, though. Couldn't find bog-standard vanilla extract.)
  

Directions:

1. Butter (and flour, if you want, we went without by accident and it was fine) standard muffin tins.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in dry ingredients (In parts! If you add them all at once odds are you'll make a mess).
4. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
5. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat, bringing to a boil. With mixer on low speed, add milk mixture to batter, and beat until smooth. (It's easiest if you get someone to help you with this, unless you have a stand-alone mixer.) Add vanilla.
6. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each halfway. (We went for two-thirds-way. Makes for bigger cupcakes, which are easier to fill.)
7. Bake cupcakes until light gold, about 22-25 minutes (Check at the 15 min mark by poking one with a toothpick. When it comes out clean, your cupcakes are done.)
8. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. I find the best way to do this is to turn the cupcakes slightly in the tins- they should then pop right out. Let cool completely.

For frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
• 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
  
• 1 1/4 cups baking cocoa (not instant cocoa powder or the likes of Nesquick - they already have loads of sugar added and your frosting will be super-sweet!)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar, cocoa and vanilla. (Be careful not to add too much at once or you'll have a powdery mess all over your kitchen!) Slowly add enough milk until frosting reaches spreading consistency - you may not need the entire 1/2 cup or you may need more.

Taste your frosting as you go along (it'll be yummy!). That way you can add sugar/cocoa to your taste.

Refrigerate your frosting until your cupcakes are ready to frost.


For filling:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, or 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Once you've got the custard on the stove, this can get tricky, so make sure you have a spatula or two and a whisk at hand, plus a bowl to pour the hot custard into.
2. In a medium bowl beat sugar, flour, cornstarch and egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale yellow (about 2 minutes).
3. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a simmer over low heat (add vanilla bean if you're using that, but remove it once the milk is simmering).
4. Gradually pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine.
5. Heating the custard:
   • "The Joy of Cooking" says to scrape the egg mixture (use a spatula if your pans are sensitive) back into the pan (with the remaining milk in it), and cook over low to medium (low unless your oven is useless!) heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to prevent scorching, until the custard is thick and beginning to bubble. Then continue to cook, whisking, for 45 to 60 seconds. Using a clean spatula, scrape the custard into a clean bowl.
   • My take on this: unless you're an accomplished baker, you're probably going to notice your custard going from runny to lumpy practically immediately, despite constant whisking. Don't panic; just don't let it burn! Just pour your lumpy custard into the clean bowl and whisk it a few times, and it should even out just fine. If it did burn, then make sure not to scrape the burned bit on the bottom into the bowl.
6. If you're using the vanilla extract, stir that in now.
7. You may want to cover the surface of the custard with wax or parchment paper to keep a skin from forming. I find that this just wastes custard as it usually sticks to the parchment paper (can't seem to find waxed paper here, so no word on whether that works better), and you can just eat the skin off the top of the custard before filling the cupcakes.
8. Let cool, then refrigerate before using. Make sure the custard is set before filling the cupcakes!

To assemble the cupcakes:

(Watch the video for the Pear Champagne Cupcakes for a quick tutorial.)

The cupcakes and the custard must be cooled completely before filling the cupcakes! It helps if the frosting is pliable - room temperature is best.

Take a sharp knife and cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. (I find that removing a cone works better than just cutting off the top and scooping out a hole, since that makes the top much harder to reapply - you have to use frosting as glue and it can get rather sticky.)

Use a teaspoon to scoop out some more of the body, but not so much that the cupcake falls apart. You can usually get about a square inch out and still maintain the integrity of the cupcake. (I usually eat the scooped out cupcake. You could also discard it, but it seems like a waste. It's pretty yummy).

Take the cone you cut out of the cupcake and trim off the tip. (Eat that as well!)

Teaspoon the filling into the hole. Don't fill it up the whole way. Take the top of the cupcake and replace it. Depending on how much filling you've added, you may have to trim off a bit more of the cone.

Top with frosting. You should be able to apply it so that you can't see the seam where the top of the cupcake was cut out and then put back in. That way when you serve them to your friends you can keep mum about the filling, and they'll be in for a yummy surprise! We put the frosting in a ziplock bag and then cut off one of the corners for a makeshift pastry bag and used that to frost the cupcakes.

Repeat with remaining cupcakes.

Serve and enjoy!


My calligraphy skills need some work, but thankfully they disappeared so fast no one noticed!