Boston Cream Cupcakes

Sharlene~W's Note:

Cupcakes are coming into their own. Here in California, many new brides are choosing wedding cakes composed of intricate arrangements of hundreds of cupcakes! This especially delicious little morsel comes courtesy of Elizabeth Falkner, pastry chef-owner of Citizen Cupcake in San Francisco and was published recently in the local paper.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 20

For cupcakes

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

For pastry cream filling

• 1 cup milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

For chocolate glaze

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

1. To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer; add vanilla and eggs.
3. Sift dry ingredients together and add in 3 stages, alternating with the buttermilk.
4. Line muffin pans with paper liners.
5. Fill each about three-quarters full with batter.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes.
7. To make pastry cream: Bring milk just to boil in medium saucepan.
8. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch together in a bowl.
9. Stir just a little of the hot milk into the egg mixture to equalize the temperatures.
10. Add a little more hot milk to the egg mixture and stir well again.
11. Then add all of the hot milk and stir.
12. Return mixture to saucepan; whisk over low heat constantly until mixture becomes thick.
13. Pour pastry cream into clean bowl and whisk in vanilla.
14. Whisk in butter 1 ounce at a time until smooth.
15. Cover surface with plastic wrap and chill until cool.
16. Fold whipped cream into chilled pastry cream.
17. To make chocolate glaze: Bring cream and corn syrup to boil.
18. Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
19. Let hot cream sit on the chocolate for about 5 minutes.
20. Stir until chocolate is dissolved and smooth.
21. Stir in butter.
22. To assemble: Fill pastry bag with pastry cream; poke tip of pastry bag into top of each cupcake and inject each with some pastry cream.
23. OR slice each cupcake in half horizontally and spread some pastry cream in between layers.
24. OR remove a cone-shaped section from center of cupcake, fill hole with pastry cream and then replace cake piece.
25. Drizzle chocolate glaze over top of each cupcake.

Reviews

[Chef #559207]

Very time consuming as previous stated, But well worth it!! They are awesome! Mine did not come out looking the prettiest but they tasted so good no one cared!! I made them for a family reunion and they were gone in minutes.

[Chef #1257698]

I was very excited about this recipe because Boston Creme is my husband's favorite but was quickly let down. The cupcake itself was wonderful, light and fluffy. However the filling was not up to par, for the life of me I can't figure out why there is a 1/2 cup of butter in it, which made the filling greasy tasting. The glaze didn't turn out so hot either, but I'll admit I think it was because of the chocolate I made it with. Next time I will only use the cake portion of the recipe, add my own custard filling and find a better glaze. :(

[Foodanimechicki]

First, let me say that this is the first time I made this recipe, so the outcome could have been my fault. I baked my cupcakes exactly as written, but I found out I had to bake them about 5 minutes longer. When I took them out of the oven, half of them shrunk down in the center, and the other half had smooth flat tops instead of nice rounded ones. I didn't mind that so much, since I'd fill the centers anyway, but for some reason my filling just didn't turn out the way it was suppsoed to do...as it chilled, it grew lumpy, and when I folded in the whipped cream, it just got worse. I will try it again at a later time, perhaps, just to see if it could have been my fault. I did, however, really enjoy the actual cupcake portion, it has a very nice flavor that kind of reminded me of really sweet cornbread. So for now, I leave the stars blank, and if I try it again, I will rate it then. Thank you for the recipe!!