Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (39)

I haven't had time to bake anything in the last week, because I had to study, so this gap of free time that I have right now between the previous exam and the next one (next Friday) is perfect to write a post about these cupcakes. It has been two months (I think) since I last made them, but I never got to writing the actual blog post because I always make them when I have a few egg yolks left, and that is when I make Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The blog post is then usually about the cupcakes with the buttercream. These are from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (makes 18)

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

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for tins

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour standard muffin tins. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in dry ingredients.
3. Bring milk and butter to a boil. With mixer on low speed, add milk mixture to batter, and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each halfway. Bake cupcakes until light gold, about 15 minutes. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Let cool.
4. Using a serrated knife, cut each in half horizontally. Spread 1 tablespoon vanilla cream on each cupcake bottom. Sandwich with top. Spoon glaze over each, and serve immediately.

Vanilla Cream (makes 1 1/2 cups)

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

pinch of salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Whisk yolks until smooth. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add milk in a slow, steady stream. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour 1/3 of milk mixture into yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thick, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla.
3. Pass vanilla cream through a fine sieve into a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze (makes about 1 1/4 cups)

2/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

According to Martha Stewart, the vanilla cream is supposed to be white, but I can never get it in the right color. I guess that's because you're supposed to mix the egg yolks for quite a while with a mixer, which is impossible if you are working with one yolk. The batter is a weird color too, not the same as in the book. The cupcakes are interesting because they are cut into two layers and have a filling and a glaze too.

The first time I made them, I used a type of cream that has about 30% fat in it, but the chocolate glaze was almost liquid and it didn't remain on the cupcakes. This time I used cream for cooking, which hardens over time when I use it elsewhere. It worked here too and the glaze stayed on top of the cupcakes, but it didn't really harden, so they were perfect to eat. I made one third of the recipe because I only had two small egg yolks to do the cream with, and I got 6 cupcakes (the whole recipe then makes exactly 18). I used paper liners and then peeled them off, because I didn't want to have the extra work to do if the batter stuck to the pan. They would have looked better if I had baked them without the liners, but I'm always really busy when I'm making two different types of cupcakes, plus a frosting, a cream and a glaze at the same time!

They taste good, but I can't stop thinking about the fact that I'm eating something with raw egg yolks in it.  I'll definitely be making more of these in the future, because they are perfect for using up egg yolks that remain after making swiss meringue buttercream.

Look: 5/5

Taste: 4/5
Approximate cost of one cupcake: 0,30€ 

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