This is my rendition of Boston Cream Pie. It was first created for the grand opening of Boston’s Parker House, now known as the Omni Parker House. As you can see it’s not a pie. It’s a vanilla cake filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate ganache. At the Omni they spread some of the pastry cream on the sides and press almonds onto it. My hubs loves this dessert, so he usually gets it for his birthday or Father’s Day. Enjoy!
Notes
I place a dish towel under the cake when I am pressing the almonds. This helps to keep those that fall off from straying too far & making a mess.
Ingredients
- 1 Vanilla Box Cake (I use Betty Crocker SuoerMoist Vanilla Cake Mix)
- Pastry Cream:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- Dash salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Chocolate Ganache:
- 1 cup cream
- 8 oz. chocolate chips
- White Ganache:
- 1/2 cup cream
- 4 oz. white chocolate chips
- Garnish: 2 cups sliced almonds
Instructions
- Prepare & bake the cake according to package directions. Sub water for milk. Use two 8 or 9 inch cake pans. Let cake completely cool.
- Prepare pastry cream by sifting sugar, flour and salt together. Place in medium pot with milk. While whisking, heat on medium until thickened. Remove from heat.
- Add a bit of the hot mixture to your egg yolks. Whisk and then add to hot mixture, whisking until incorporated.
- Place pot back on low heat. Whisk constantly, until the cream is a thick pudding consistency. Whisk in vanilla & remove from heat.
- Transfer the pastry cream to a glass bowl & chill.
- Prepare both ganaches by heating the cream until it begins to bubble. Add the chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Place 1 of the cooled cakes on a serving plate. Cut/shave the top to make it flat. Spoon a generous amount of pastry cream in the middle.
- Place the other cake on top. You do not need to shave the top of this one.
- Using a spatula, smooth the pudding mixture on the sides. Be sure to fill in any gaps between the layers. Immediately, press the sliced almonds on the sides with your hand. Remove any almonds that have fallen down.
- Spoon the cooled chocolate ganache carefully on the top of the cake. Use the leftover sliced almonds to make a neat edge.
- Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, make 4 or 5 concentric circles with the white ganache. Use a toothpick to drag through the ganache (from the center to the outer edge) to create the spider web effect.
