Active Time
1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time
2 hour 40 minutes
Boston cream pie is a cake with a curious name. Some trace its origin to Boston’s Parker House Hotel, now called the Omni Parker House, circa 1860. As that story goes, the hotel’s French pastry chef wanted to bake a cake but only had access to pie tins. He sandwiched vanilla cake layers with cream filling, covered the whole thing in a dark chocolate glaze, and created a misnamed legend. Other historians note, however, that many people used the terms cake and pie interchangeably in the 19th century. Complicating things further, other restaurant menus from the era include similarly named cake recipes, including American pudding pie and Washington pie. Whatever its origin, the new recipe had staying power. In 1958, nearly a century after the cake recipe debuted, Betty Crocker introduced a Boston cream pie cake mix, and it remained in production until the 1990s. In 1996 a group of high school students successfully sponsored a bill to make the Boston cream pie the official state dessert of Massachusetts.
Culinary trends come and go, but the Boston cream pie endures, inspiring everything from cupcakes to a dessert cocktail served at the Omni Parker House’s Last Hurrah Bar. This classic version combines a vanilla custard filling with layers of soft, buttery yellow cake and dark chocolate ganache enriched with heavy cream. Call it old-fashioned or an all-American institution; just don’t call it Boston cream cake.
This recipe was adapted for style from ‘Zoë Bakes Cakes’ by Zoë François. Buy the full book on Amazon.
Ingredients
About 12 servings
Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Pastry Cream
Dark Chocolate Ganache and Assembly
Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper greased with nonstick baking spray, but leave the sides of the pans untouched. The cakes need to cling to the ungreased pans to rise properly.
Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. (230g) cake flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, and ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Plus ⅛ tsp. Morton kosher salt and then sift back into the bowl. Set aside.
Step 3
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip 3 large eggs, at room temperature, and 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature, on high speed. Once the eggs are well combined and starting to foam, about 1 minute, turn the speed to medium-low and sprinkle ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar slowly over top. Turn the speed to high and let it whip for about 5 minutes.
Step 4
While the eggs are whipping, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring ¾ cup (175ml) whole milk, 2 Tbsp. mild-flavored oil (such as vegetable oil), and remaining ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract.
Step 5
Once the eggs are light in color and thick, they should be able to form a ribbon of batter that sits on top of the egg foam for a few seconds when you lift the whisk out of the foam. Turn the mixer speed to low, slowly add the boiling milk mixture, and then add the flour mixture, a few tablespoons at a time, scraping down the bowl several times.
Step 6
Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pans and gently run a spatula through the batter to pop any large air bubbles.
Step 7
Bake until a tester comes out clean, 15–20 minutes. Let the cake cool completely in the pans. Run a knife around the edge before turning out onto serving plates.
Pastry Cream
Step 8
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 2 cups (480ml) whole milk, ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (55g) unsalted butter, 1 pinch kosher salt, and the seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean (or 2 tsp. vanilla extract); bring to a gentle boil; and then remove from the heat.
Step 9
In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 Tbsp. cornstarch and the remaining ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar. Add 1 large egg, at room temperature, and 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature, and whisk into a smooth paste.
Step 10
Whisk enough of the hot milk, a little at a time, into the egg mixture until it is warm to the touch. Once the eggs are tempered, pour the mixture back into the remaining milk in the pan.
Step 11
Return the saucepan to medium-high heat and bring the mixture to a boil; continuously whisk for 3 minutes more or the pastry cream will separate once it cools.
Step 12
If there are any lumps in the pastry cream, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve into a shallow container and cover with plastic wrap, pressed directly onto the surface, to prevent a skin from forming.
Step 13
In a large bowl, add enough ice cubes and cold water to create a bath for the container to sit in without the water breaching the sides.
Step 14
Set the container in the ice bath or place in the freezer until chilled, about 15 minutes before using. Or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Dark Chocolate Ganache and Assembly
Step 15
In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm 2 cups (480ml) heavy whipping cream until just simmering. Turn off the heat and add 16 oz. (450g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped. Swirl the pan to make sure all of the chocolate is submerged in the hot cream. Let sit for 3 minutes and then gently stir until smooth.
Do Ahead: Store ganache in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Gently warm the ganache over a pan of simmering water, forming a double boiler, to a pourable or spreadable consistency, depending on your needs.
Step 16
Place one cake layer on a serving plate.
Step 17
Stir the pastry cream to loosen. In a medium bowl, whip remaining ⅓ cup (80ml) heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks. Fold ⅓ of the whipped cream into the pastry cream to lighten, then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Step 18
Using an offset spatula, spread all of the pastry cream over the cake; making sure not to go quite to the edge. Place the second cake layer over the pastry cream. Gently press down on the cake to make sure it is sitting snugly on the pastry cream. If the pastry cream goes beyond the edge, clean it up with a metal decorating spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour to set the pastry cream in place.
Step 19
Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, starting in the center and stopping just as it drips over the edge.
Step 20
Refrigerate the cake until the ganache sets, about 30 minutes, then serve right away.
Editor’s note: This recipe first appeared on Epicurious in March 2022. Head this way for more of our favorite birthday cake recipes →
Leave a Review
Reviews (12)
Back to TopI have made this twice. It's really tasty, but both times I had WAY more ganache that I needed, to the point where I ended up covering the entire cake with it. I don't mind having leftover ganache, but the amounts listed seem out of whack with the photo and the instructions.
Anonymous
West Hollywood, CA
11/25/2022
I followed this recipe to the letter and I had some issues. 1. The cake was dense and dry. 2. I added the 1/3 c whipped cream to the pastry cream and it became a disgusting mess. The mixture melted and oozed out, covering the bottom cake layer and plate. It definitely did not stay in place or hold the layers together. 3. There was almost 2x the amount of chocolate ganache needed to decorate the top of the cake.
Disappointed
10/2/2022
getting ready to make this for a special lunch. read the other reviews, and see that some missing things have been addressed--except NOT the sugar in the pastry cream ingredient list. What kind of sugar, granulated or confectioners? Which did other people use, since it doesn't specify?
Harriett
Colorado
4/18/2022
Agree with the issue of disappearing recipes! Very frustrating why should I continue to use this site any longer
Anonymous
CT
3/16/2022
So annoying! They allow one recipe per day, when i came here i saw the recipe for a few seconds, the page refreshed then disappeared!!
Patti Evans
Anaheim, CA
3/15/2022
Delicious.
Anonymous
Kentucky
3/15/2022
Any suggestions on how to substitute butter in place of oil?
Anonymous
3/15/2022
I clicked on this recipe,which had no recipe then said it was the end of my recipes here. There was nothing here!
Patti Evans
Long beach, ca
3/15/2022
It was my first time making Boston Cream Pie and it was so delicious! I could eat the pastry cream with a spoon.
Anonymous
New York, NY
3/14/2022
Time consuming and lots of steps but worth it. Really good!
Anonymous
Baltimore, MD
3/14/2022
The missing step is to whisk together the egg, egg yolks and cornstarch in a bowl. The rest of the instructions are ok. If an ingredient is divided it’s better to list it twice than to say “use 3/4 cup of the sugar now” and have the rest used later without being listed in the ingredients for the other component. I thought the pastry cream had no sugar on my first read through! The cream is for the ganache, not the pastry cream. It’s irritating that people who don’t know how to make pastry cream already would have to go look up pastry cream to figure out what needed to be done here.
Pastrychef
Chicago
3/13/2022
This recipe is missing many steps and many ingredients. It calls for whipping cream in the pastry cream, but it’s not listed in the ingredient list. It doesn’t say what to do with the corn starch. I wish I would have read thru this before I started making it.
Anonymous
3/12/2022