Vintage Friday: Boston Cream Pie

In celebration of America’s birthday, we highlight a treat from the venerable city of Boston, a key locale in American history and the hometown of my brother’s favorite baseball team, the Red Sox.

The popular American dessert Boston Cream Pie is not a pie, isn’t filled with cream, and may not hail from Boston. Rather, it is a thin layer cake bursting with custard cream filling, with chocolate glaze on top and dripping down the sides. Custard cream filling is made with milk, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, and cornstarch. It is very different from whipped cream, which is made with cream and sugar. Granted, custard is sometimes called pastry cream.

The purported history of Boston Cream Pie makes for fascinating reading and includes such red herrings as cream puffs made in Boston and a type of jelly roll. The forerunner of Boston Cream Pie came about when cooks began to make layer cakes and cut them into pie shaped wedges for serving. Jelly or jam became the standard filling for these thin layers of sponge or butter cake. A variation then occurred somewhere around 1870, with custard substituted for the jelly filling. Often the cakes were topped with sifted confectioner’s sugar, but not with chocolate. These were sometimes called Washington cakes or Washington pies. The 1950’s saw the wonderful addition of chocolate. However, even as late as 1959, the Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook listed chocolate icing only as an alternative for making Boston Cream pie. The recipe proper still provided directions to dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar. See an adaption below.

If you know me, you know I love myth and myth is “all right by me.” Whether its name is myth or truth, Boston Cream Pie rocks!

BOSTON CREAM PIE

INGREDIENTS:
CAKE– 2 cups sifted cake flour, 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 ¼ cup sugar, 1/3 cup shortening, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 unbeaten egg.
CUSTARD CREAM FILLING– 1 cup scalded milk, ½ cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, pinch salt, 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla.
TOPPING– Confectioner’s sugar (or, alternatively, chocolate glaze)

DIRECTIONS:
CAKE– Sift together dry ingredients. Add shortening, milk, and vanilla. Beat two minutes at medium speed or 300 strokes by hand. Add egg and beat two more minutes. Pour into two greased round layer cake pans, either 8 or 9 inches. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool on racks. Use one layer for this recipe, and freeze the other to use later. Using a long serrated knife, split a layer in half crosswise. Spread the custard onto the lower half, and cover with top half. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.
CUSTARD CREAM FILLING– Stir together the sugar, salt, and cornstarch. Gradually add milk, and cook slowly, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. This will take 10-15 minutes. Add ½ cup of the hot mixture to the eggs and blend. Combine the two mixtures and cook about three minutes, stirring constantly. Removed from heat, and blend in butter and vanilla.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE:
INGREDIENTS– 2 tablespoons butter or shortening, 2 squares unsweetened melted chocolate, pinch salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla, 2 ¼ cups sifted confectioner’s sugar.
DIRECTIONS– Blend together butter or shortening, chocolate, salt, and vanilla. Add the confectioner’s sugar alternately with ½ cup milk. Beat until smooth. If glaze is not thin enough, add a few drops more milk.