The owners of Boston's Parker House Hotel claim that the Boston cream pie was first created there by renowned French chef, Augustine Francois Anezin, who led the hotel's culinary staff from 1865 to 1881. The dessert was first referred to as chocolate cream pie or Parker House chocolate cream pie, with the name eventually changed to Boston cream pie. Created at a time when cakes and pies were cooked in the same pans and the words were used interchangeably, Boston cream pie is actually a cake. It consists of two layers of sponge cake filled with cream or custard and topped with a chocolate icing. Boston cream pie is the official dessert of Massachusetts.
Recipe Servings: 8
+ 2 hours resting
Ingredients
Cream Filling:
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups milk
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Cake:
- Nonstick cooking spray, as needed to grease pan
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour or 1½ cups cake flour, plus a little to dust pan
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
- ¾ cup milk
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 large egg
Chocolate Icing:
- 3 Tbsp butter or margarine
- 3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
- 3–4 Tbsp hot water
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Separate egg yolks from whites. Discard or save whites for another recipe.
- In a small bowl, beat yolks. Add milk for cream filling. Set mixture aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir well.
- Add egg mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously.
- Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.
- Add vanilla and stir.
- Cover cream with plastic wrap. Smooth plastic wrap onto the surface of the filling to prevent a skin from forming.
- Chill filling in the refrigerator for 2–24 hours.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.
- In a large bowl, combine all cake ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape batter down from sides of bowl and beat on high speed for 3 minutes.
- Pour batter into cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30–40 minutes.
- Cool cake in pan for about 20 minutes, then on a cooling rack for about 1 hour.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter and chocolate. Melt over low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Remove chocolate from heat. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and hot water. Stir until smooth.
- Mark middle circumference of cake with toothpicks to use as a cutting guide. Slice through cake with a back-and-forth motion to create two layers.
- Place bottom layer with cut side up on a serving plate. Spread cream filling over layer.
- Place the other cake layer on top with cut side down. Using a spatula or metal spoon, spread chocolate glaze over top of cake. Allow some of the glaze to ooze down the sides of the cake.
- Refrigerate cake uncovered until serving.
Cream Filling:
Cake:
Chocolate Icing:
Assembly:
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