boston cream cupcakes

These cupcakes are damn good. bright vanilla cake with an amazing pastry cream filling and a chocolate glaze. very rich, and not as dense as i was worried they'd be. i swear, i don't think i've made an america's test kitchen recipe that didn't turn into a go-to food.

now they do take a few hours. the fact that they are so worth it might encourage you to make them for someone you really like, as they don't just 'whip up' and do take a stretch of time.
and please, don't make the pastry cream the day before and store it. just take it from me. oh, sure, it'll keep and might split up the time you spend on the cupcakes into manageable chunks, but you'll not have any left, because one spoonful will turn into ten and you'll be running back to the store to do another batch. which is funny, because you, the baker, know full well it's just butter and heavy cream and eggs, and you can count the calories instead of being blissfully ignorant, but you'll eat it just as quickly all the same. i had to stop myself only because i knew i didn't have enough butter for a makeup batch, while the idea of skipping dinner in order to guiltlessly eat the rest of the bowl was already an acceptable compromise in my mind. so if you just want to go ahead and double the recipe in case some 'drops on the floor', you'll get no sideways looks from me. just make sure when it does come time to start filling the insides, you make a really big, hollow center and fill to the top. some does get soaked up into the cake (though not much) and the glaze on top is perfect because it's like a little shellac that'll cover up any overflowing custard.


Pastry Cream
1 1/3 c heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
1/3 c (2 1/3 oz) sugar
pinch salt
4 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut in half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk the yolk, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. add the cornstarch and whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 15 seconds.

2) when the cream reaches a full simmer, slowly whisk it into the yolk mixture. return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy, about 1 1/2 minutes.

off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. transfer the pastry cream to a small bowl and refrigerate, with plastic wrap pressed flush against its surface, until cold and set, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Cupcakes
nonstick cooking spray
1 3/4 c (8 1/4 oz) all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c (7 oz) sugar
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces
3 lg eggs
3/4 c milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350. coat a standard muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray, flour generously, and tap the pan to remove the excess flour.

2) with a handheld mixer, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar on low speed in a large bowl. add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and combine until the mixture resembles coarse sand. add the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix until combined. add the milk and vanilla, increase the speed to medium, and mix until light and fliffy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes.

3) fill the muffin cups 3/4 full (don't overfill). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze

3/4 c heavy cream
1/4 light corn syrup
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) Cook the cream, corn syrup, chocolate, and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. set aside to cool and thicken for 30 minutes.

2) to hollow the cupcakes out, insert a small knife near the edge of the cupcake and cut all the way around, like how you remove the stem from a tomato or apple or something. just make sure you take out a significant amount. if you look closely at the finished product pictures, there's not much save for a shell left of the cupcake itself. these cupcakes dont rise that much, so there's not a whole lot of room for the cream to go if you don't gut it fearlessly. then cut the removed top so that just the top crust remains, which you put on top of the cream like a little hat. the recipe says you should be able to spoon 2 Tbsp on the cream into every cupcake.

3) set the filled cupcakes on a wire rack set over parchment. spoon 2 tablespoons of glaze over each cupcake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Refrigerate until just set, about 10 minutes.


sorry these finished photos look messy! we were running really late.