Thick chocolate ganache covering a sweet cupcake filled with rich cream- Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes at their finest.

The star of this recipe is definitely the crème patisserie. Creating a good recipe for a crème patisserie turned out to be a great challenge as many things can go wrong. 1 and ½ packages of eggs later, I finally got it right and ended up with a thick creamy mass. Once you have a solid recipe, crème pâtissière is nothing to fear. It tastes amazing and can be used as a filling for other various baked goods. It basically makes everything better. 😉

Lessons on ganache

A rich and creamy ganache can only be achieved by using high quality chocolate. Don’t use chocolate chips. It will not taste the same! Chocolate chips are great for other things but simply don’t play in the same league as couverture. Couverture is perfect for covering cakes, pralines, truffles and baked goods as well as for ganache. It contains a higher percentage of fat, thus melts better and is easier to work with. If tempered correctly, it will have a beautiful glossy sheen after hardening.

But enough lessons on chocolate, here is the recipe you’ve come for.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Rich and creamy Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes filled with homemade crème pâtissière and topped off with chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

240g flour (2 cups)
180g brown sugar (1 cup)
100g white sugar (1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
300ml buttermilk (1 and 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
115g butter, softened (1 stick)
3 large eggs

Crème pâtissière

400ml milk (1 and 3/4 cup)
1 vanilla bean
5 egg yolks
80g white sugar (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoons)
100ml heavy cream (1/2 cup)
30g cornstarch (1/4 cup)
10g flour (1 tablespoon)

Ganache

70g dark couverture (2.5oz)
130g milk couverture (4.6oz)
120ml heavy cream (1/2 cup)

Instructions

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180°C or 350°F and fill cupcake pan with liners.
Combine flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until well combined with a whisk.
Add buttermilk, vanilla extract and butter and beat with an electric handmixer for a minute.
Add in the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes.
Fill batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let them cool completely, then remove the liners and cut the cupcakes in half.

Crème pâtissière

Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add in the heavy cream, cornstarch and flour and continue beating for another 2min.
Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds. Add seeds plus the pod and milk to a sauce pan.
Cook until the boiling point is almost reached and remove from heat. Reduce heat to medium high. Take out the pod.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the milk and cook until mixture has thickened, stirring vigorously to avoid clumps.
Pass through a sieve into a bowl and cover the top of the cream with plastic wrap to avoid skin from forming.
Let cool completely, then fill cupcakes with the cream.

Ganache

Chop the couverture into small pieces.
Bring heavy cream to a boil and remove from heat.
Add in the couverture but do not stir, let it sit for 3min. (Make sure it’s evenly covered with heavy cream)
Stir until you have a smooth mass.
Lastly pour the ganache over the filled cupcakes using a spoon.
Let the ganache set completely.

Notes

Once the filling has set the cupcakes won’t slide or fall apart but are very stable and you can transport them without a problem. Do not transport them right after filling, the halves might slide apart. Store the cupcakes in the fridge for up to 3 days.

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