How to Make the Ultimate Boston Cream Pie 

Custard 6 egg yolks 1/2 cup sugar Pinch of salt Whisk 1/4 cup flour Whisk Simmer 2 cups half and half on medium heat Take 1/2 cup of milk to egg mixture Pour egg mixture into pot Whisk until thick Turn to medium- low heat Pour 4 tbs unsalted butter Add 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Strain custard Refrigerate for at least 2 hours Cake 3/4 cup milk 6 tbs butter Melt over low heat with pot covered Dry ingredients 1 1/2 cup flour 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon salt Beat in stand mixer until foamy: 3 eggs 1 1/2 cup sugar Whisk in milk Whisk in dry ingredients Transfer to two 9-inch pans Put in 325 oven for 20-22 minutes or until light golden brown Take out custard and give a Stack other half of cake Chocolate ganache Heat over medium heat: 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 tbs corn syrup Take off heat 4 oz bittersweet chocolate Whisk until melted Pour ganache over cake

I made this just a few hours ago, and I do have a few notes for some people who might be also looking to make this, too! I am an ametuer chef/baker, so these are real-life observations from someone who doesn't do this all day, every day. First, my pastry cream did not come anywhere close to how thick it was in the video (it ended up with a "slightly thicker than ketchup" consistency, not the buttercream frosting-esque one in the video), but it still solidified very nicely and only oozed out from between the layers a small amount when I assembled it. If I had to go back, I would have probably continued cooking it longer than the 8 minutes recommended, possibly up to 10 or even 11 minutes to get that extra thickness. Also, you REALLY need to mix it vigorously, not just stir it. Your arms should be tired by the time it's the right consistency (if you haven't tapped out and tagged another person in lol). Also, make sure your heated half and half is less than 165°F (I aim for 150°-155°) when you mix in the egg mixture, because no matter how much you temper the mix, eggs scramble in anything higher than 165°, regardless. Second, I have a cooking scale which helped keep the batter amounts even when distributing them into the pans, and I highly recommend you do that as well. Also, when I checked the cakes at the 20 minute mark, they were still pretty raw in the middle, and my wooden skewer ended up taking a gob of raw-ish cake with it, leaving a small divot in the top of the cake. I think I ended up baking them for a total of 26-29 mins, and they were fine, so don't be afraid to extend it a little if they need it (they are also very spongey and sticky if you handle them after they are cooled, and mine had a slight dome on the top of each cake which I had to cut off so the chocolate topping didn't just all slide off onto the sides and not stay). And thirdly, the chocolate topping. Same issue as the pastry cream, mine was not as thick as the video's was (which is probably due to different kinds of cream and chocolate), and even after 5 minutes was still VERY hot and too thin to pour onto the chilled cake. I let it cool sitting on the counter in the saucepan, stirring it occasionally, for about 15-20 minutes total. Only then did I pour it out, and it worked like a charm. It needs to be the consistency of hot fudge for the best results, and after some testing I found using 6oz of chocolate works better at achieving that than 4oz. I hope this helps any bakers out there!

When I was in high school I decided to make this from a Betty Crocker cookbook. My mother said she didn’t care for it so she had never made one. I ended up making it three times that day my family and friends of my sisters ate them as fast as I could make them and I know we weren’t letting it cool down much. The neighbors heard about it so they dropped in for ‘coffee’. It was a mess but probably my biggest success ever. My mother got caught having seconds and licking the spoon. She said ‘well I guess I do like it.’ It’s a lot of fun for a crowd and easy enough for a new baker to have a hit with.

I'm only here for the cream recipe. 😅 Just give me a bucket of it with a spoon. 🤤

R.I.P egg in the background... 6:20

Going to make this for my birthday tomorrow. Been wanting to make this for several years but life got in the way. Hope it was worth the wait

Bridget: "I call dinner and dessert the same thing." :D Great and easy to follow recipe. Parker House Hotel was also the home of Parker House rolls!

It's cool how they explained the science of corn starch vs. flour as a thickener.

I made this yesterday for my husband's Birthday, came out so good thank you lady's ❤

Love these videos. Thanks for the Boston Cream Pie recipe.

9:53 "This was a good invention" 🤣 my thoughts exactly. Boston Cream Cakes/Pies/Donuts are my favorite desserts

I love Boston Creme Pie so much and have wished so many times to be able to bake pastry and make that myself. That cake you all cooked look great and I would love to be there to help taste test it with you all.

I love Boston Cream Pie but it's so hard to find a GOOD one. I will definitely give this a try! Thanks!

I just made this today. Not a fan of the cake part (texture was like bread, but sweat). The pastry cream had great flavor, but an odd texture that I assume is due to flour used. I am going to remake this using a Jiffy box cake, and try using corn starch for the pastry cream. The chocolate ganache was AWESOME!! I molded the pasty cream in a cake pan so it was already round and flat and just needed to be placed between the cakes.

Excellent recipe. Followed it exactly and it came out perfect👍

thank you for the parchment paper + cooking spray tip! i've been wanting to avoid using cling film as much as possible and that never occurred to me!

Excellent job explaining the reason for flour instead of cornstarch. The only thing is it would be nice to use the egg whites leftover from the cream in the Genoise cake, but I understand ATK is all about the superior result.

Wow this is amazing! Thanks 🙏❤️

I feel so nostalgic watching you two. I used to watch you on PBS growing up.

This on my mom's pudding recipe for banana pudding. I make it a lot. I will make this for my husband. I have learned to cook again since we need to stay home more. Some are winners, some are loosers, mostly winners.

Cake needed to cook significantly longer than 22 minutes. Anybody else?

My mother used to make this pie/cake - once in awhile (I'm 68) - if I remember correctly,she used vanilla "Instant Pudding" and she made just a regular thin-ish chocolate frosting. I've never made one. Thanks ladies, you have just convinced me to make a Boston Cream Pie,too! :-)

I made too much pastry cream for eclairs so this was the perfect solution of what to do with the extra...it was either that or eat it with a spoon.

Boston Cream Pie came from Parker House and was inspired by American pudding-cake pie, not from a ruddy donut.

Happy I found this here. You have to pay to get their recipes online. You have to give your credit card # before you get a 2 week free trial. Didn't want to get into that, trying to cancel it after two weeks.

Thank you!!!

Love Boston cream pie/cake. But I never have the ingredients but do know a bakery where I can get some.

Can you use agave instead of the light corn syrup?

Dose it matter if the corn syrup is light or dark?

My favorite dessert!! I always use an old recipe for chocolate glaze we used on pound cake when I was a kid. It's easy to make and stays soft even when cold. And you don't need heavy cream! Fudgy Chocolate Glaze 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon clear corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup sifted powdered sugar Combine first 5 ingredients in small saucepan. Cook at low simmer and stir over medium-low heat until completely smooth. Remove from heat, and beat in the sifted powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake immediately, while glaze is very warm. Allow to cool and firm up before cutting cake.

Look at the fake trolls giving negative comments. These fake trolls are targeting your channel because you have the name America in your Americas Test Kitchen logo. People are waking up trolls. Soon you'll have to make an honest buck. Looks wicked delish ladies. Keep up the good work.

Can I use salted butter?

(Recipe transcribed below- but still watch the video as you make it to see their tips and consistencies) I made this for my fiancé’s birthday and here are our thoughts: I was scared of the pastry crème not getting thick enough so we spent a really long time whisking it (he helped) because I thought it didn't quite look as thick as theirs and another comment mentioned it not getting thick enough. But then it ended up being too thick and a tad rubbery when we ate it, so I’ll try less hard next time lol. For the chocolate glaze I used 6 oz of chocolate like another comment suggested (semisweet). I am glad that it doesn’t set into a brittle chocolate, but I think we would have liked it to set a little more; ours was kind of sticking to our knife pretty badly and not cutting as cleanly as theirs seems to have. Not sure what to change, but I think I might make a double batch of chocolate next time cause it’s tasty. My fiancé thought the cake component was pretty perfect though, and I definitely plan to make this again and just work on the crème. Pastry Crème: 6 egg yolks ½ cup sugar Pinch of salt ¼ all-purpose flour 2 cups half and half 0.5 cups half and half 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract. Vegetable oil cooking spray Cake: 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter ¾ cup whole milk 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract. 1.5 cups all-purpose flour 1.5 teaspoons of baking powered ¾ teaspoon of salt. 3 whole large eggs 1.5 cups granulated sugar Vegetable oil cooking spray Chocolate Topping: 0.5 cups of heavy cream over 2 Tablespoons of corn syrup. 4 oz. of bittersweet chocolate finely chopped. (Sweet or semisweet is also fine) Pastry Crème Instructions: Whisk sugar and salt into egg yolks. Add flour and whisk again. Bring half and half to simmer over medium heat. Take a half a cup and put it in the egg mixture to temper. Mix in, then put entire egg mixture into the rest of the half and half in the pot over medium heat. Cook for about a minute while continuing to whisk. Turn heat to medium low and whisk for about eight minutes. Turn up heat to medium and whisk for about another minute. Take off heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Put through sieve. To keep skin from forming, make circle of vegetable oil spray on a piece of parchment paper and press it down on top of the bowl of cream and put in oven. Can be made up to a day in advance. Cake Instructions: Put butter and whole milk in a pan, melt butter over low heat, then swirl in vanilla. Take off heat, put to side with lid on to keep it warm. Wisk salt and baking powder into flour. Put eggs and sugar into electric mixer. Beat on high speed until it is foam and pale, about five minutes. Wisk in hot milk mixture, then dry ingredients. Put into two nine-inch cake pans sprayed with vegetable oil cooking spray and with parchment paper in just the bottom. Put into 325 degree oven for about 20-22 minutes. Toothpick inserted in center should come out clean and top should be nice light brown. Cool the cake layers. Use a plastic knife to go around edge of pan, flip out onto rack. Apply pastry creme to one layer and put second layer on top, making sure both cakes are right side up. Chocolate topping instructions: Put heavy crème over medium heat, add corn syrup. When it simmers, take it off the heat and add chocolate. Wisk until melted, about 30 seconds. Let sit five minutes. Put it on top of cake. Put in fridge for at least three hours. You can also make it up to a day in advance. You’re done!

Just made this and it’s amazing. The sponge cake is perfect and stops the ganache and pastry cream from being too heavy and also not too sweet either just a really light vanilla flavour. It’s absolutely amazing with a cup of coffee. Will definitely be making it again!

Ughhhh......I absolutely hate it when chefs leave half of whatever they were mixing in the pot or bowl when scraping into another vessel..😖😣

NICE!!! I'M lovin this.

Very helpful • Cheers from The Detroit & Mackinac Railway 🚂

This just looked gorgeous. I want a bite. But could you bake one sponge bun and then just cut in half?

corn starch works fine. you need a turntable for when you spread cream and ice cake. plastic wrap neatly tucked into corners with no air works fine to prevent skin no need to use parchment and spray

Can you do the ultimate black forest cake?

Made the Boston Cream Pie from this today....it was perfect....my third recipe trial to get the right one...very happy with this...thank you for the recipe...and tips

Thank you so much I am making this for my dad - It is his absolute favorite dessert and you made it doable. You probably don't realize what a wonderful thing that is, but you need to know.

YEAH!

Twice I've made this and the first one didn't work out well. Thank you for your tutorial on this one. I just made it yesterday and before it sat in the fridge chilling, I had to have the first piece. All I can say is OMG!!!! It's fantabulous...The only couple minor problems I had, to which I've corrected, were on the pastry cream, I added a little bit more flour. By the time I removed from the fridge, it was very thick to work with. I added some heavy cream to make it more usable. That did the trick and it didn't affect the taste. Next mistake somehow my cake batter was very thin, and I followed the recipe, so I increased the baking time by 30 minutes more, I've also used the cloth strip that you wet and fit around the pan before baking. For those of you who don't understand what I'm taking about, you can find them on a couple websites. Just punch in cake baking cloth rings. They help the cakes from creating a dome, a nice flat top instead of slicing the top down. You get the point (pun intended). I love watching Cook's Country, have been watching it for years, America's Test Kitchen with John Kimball. Before he started Milk Street.

This looks like the best Boston creme pie recipe. Making this for Christmas. Might make one before Christmas to make sure it turns out good.

thank you for using parchment paper instead of plastic

I have always loved this treat!! Tired to make it myself and it turned out well considering that I'm not a baker. Thank you

*Lanny face intensifies

Ugh atk is the best. Flour over corn starch in prep for amylase in eggs. Genius

1) Instead of a bowl, put the pastry cream in a pie pan that's the same size of the cake - then you just 'plop' it on. 2) That cake was ugly as hell.

I tried making this cake , disaster from the start her measurements, were off , if it's your first time try another recipe, the ganache was runny, the filling was thick, not a huge rise , go somewhere else.

I followed the recipe exactly but the ganache’ was really thin, would more chocolate help that?

Cool animation.

Wow droooling

My favorite dessert! My mother use to make it. Seeing how much I liked it, she would make it on special occasions and as a treat from time to time. This may have been the first caked that I ever tasted. What I like about it, is it is just right. Not too sweet, bitter dark chocolate, the creamy vanilla flavor center that contrast with the dark chocolate and the moist cake. Thank you for reminding me how easy it is to make and for finally answering the question why it is “pie” and not cake. This will be next week’s baking project. Thank you for the inspiration, all the best Julia and Bridget!

How do you keep the cake layers from doming?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do they talk so fast ? What the stress for ? ( When I take the cake out of the oven , I take a fork and I scrap all the top brown part of the cake so that when the whole cake is cut , we see a completely white pastry. Is it a good idea . ?)

From what I've read, there's no actual evidence that the Parker House invented this but they claimed it at some point, so they get the credit. There are apparently older recipes that literally called it a pudding pie cake. I love it anyway but almost never have it. Maybe I'll get off my lazy butt and actually try this one.

correct me if I am wrong but I believe this is a reuploaded video?

How can we get d written recipe w/o going to free access?

Why half and half instead of cream?

Instructions unclear: gf pregnant

You answered my question within the 1st min. Thnyou! I was looking for cornstarch substitute. I also appreciated the scientific explanation🙌 Im off to make this odd pie request. I wonder if you've heard of it .. I'm told it's a 'vanilla type custard pie in a graham crust & meringue topping- ( I'm new to the neighborhood- gents are Irish/English descendants)🥧

My mom always made a devil's food cake for her Boston cream pie. That's the only way to have it. I even use my grandmother's cake recipe, circa 1940s.

Sometimes Boston Cream Pies bought in stores have a covering that is too thick and too firm-- more like a fondant. It's very disappointing. This version seems perfect.

I made the cream yesterday and let it sit in the fridge all night. Early this morning I started on the cake. It is an easy recipe, but it takes a while in between some of the steps. Waiting for the cake to chill before I could taste it was the longest step! lol I could only wait 1 1/2 hours. It was set enough for the chocolate to stay put when sliced. I really like this cream cake/pie but I just wish it was a little bit sweeter. I guess I have a heck of a sweet tooth. I made this following all the directions except for two parts. I saw it was going to be a nightmare straining the cream and I knew that I had been whisking like there was no tomorrow on low heat so it was silky smooth. Plus I took the pot of half and half off the stove and let it cool for about 5 minutes before I tempered the eggs. Oh yeah, that was the absolute hardest step now that I think about it! My arm about fell off when I was done whisking the cream! I also didn't wait for the 3-hour chill time at the end, but 1 1/2 hours was good enough for the chocolate to set. My husband doesn't like things too sweet so he is in heaven and it is a total win for him. Thank you for explaining all the steps in this recipe so well. All in all, it is a wonderful recipe for a delicious Boston Cream Pie!

Not sure if corn syrup is available in England. Can I use golden syrup instead? I think heavy cream is equivalent to double cream in England.

This is a promisingly different recipe (with the hot milk cake and the flour in the custard) but I've made the custard twice and found it to be grainy and dull, not smooth, creamy, and shiny. The flour needs work to dissolve in the eggs, and even with lots of whisking doesn't fully dissolve until you add the milk. For the effort and grainy result, I think the custard recipe is not worth it. Use other Boston Cream Pie custard recipes with cornstarch and cook them a little longer to get the firmer texture. No need to go the flour route. Sometimes ATK makes standard recipes more complicated without any additional payoff.

... I used almost same recipe for pastry cream, while back. They are correct about using flour instead of starch. I used starch instead and it broke down next day in fridge.

What happened to the man that used to wear the glasses

I’m going to make this for my husband’s 75th birthday. It will be my first time trying it, I call it my maiden voyage whenever I try a new recipe.

I tried the Creme with the cornstarch and new something wasn’t right about the texture. I threw it out. Then I found this recipe using flour. Bingo! This is how it should be made. 🎉

Can whole milk + some butter be substituted for the heavy cream in making the ganache? I had a hard time using up the rest of the heavy cream last time.

Made this cake today for my daughters boyfriends birthday he loved it,..one thing I changed was that the cake needs at least 6oz of chocolate to cover the cake not 4oz..as one of the other bakers noted that here in the comments.

So helpful!!! Thanks america's test kitchen... people 🙌

I baked this cake and my pastry cream is soft, in the fridge all night and is more like a pudding. Just waste lots of ingredients

10:38 I made this cake 9 yesrs ago, now I am gonna to make it again! Boston cream pie one is my favourites!

Without a doubt I say a Boston Cream Pie is the most delicious and elegant dessert ever made!

Bridget is sooo hot!

太棒了！這算是我最喜愛的派之一！

i'm going to make this keto style... you guys have all the fun. looks delish.

Even after 4 years, It's still good.

My mouth is watering for some Boston Cream Pie.

Just make the cake recipe - didn't know this substitute of a Genoise cake. Great Cake - not too sweet, very easy to make and as you said, perfect consistency. - thank you ATK! good addition to the repertoire.

I had Boston cream pie when I was visiting the city to see my relatives and I tasted it there. It was lovely. Thank you for the recipe, will attempt your recipe. We can't get this cake in London and other the UK bakeries and miss this lovely dessert.

I made this for my moms birthday today and she loved it! It’s really easy, just time consuming, I totally recommend it though!

Pls make mocha layered cake or banoffee pie..😍😍😍

Thank you for not using corn starch

This was the best recipe. Everything came out great

One of my favorites!!

Moscow Cakе "Charodeyka" !

I want to be your friend and bake together!

The cake portion came out very dense. Is there any way to aerate it so its consistency leans more spongey and less pound cake?

This looks DELICIOUS! I'm one of "those people" who use either organic or NON-GMO ingredients. So, my question is: Can I skip the corn syrup step all together? Thumbs up! Thank you.

The ganache poked my eye out!

ATK - I made this recipe, and the cake and chocolate turned out perfect. But the filling cream turned out too hard - almost chewy. Anyone have a suggestion as to what I did wrong? Maybe I didn't get it hot enough, or possibly I over stirred it? I could barely get it through my wire strainer. This is my dad's favorite pie/cake/pie, and I know he was disappointed with my last effort.

Yummie!

Brilliant

Why not have the cream touching the bottom of both cake layers? That way the bottom of the finished cake will be more even, better looking, and less crumbly. I'd rather have the bottom layers that have had the parchment peeled from them facing the interior cream. This example of a Boston Cream Pie to me is as beautiful as they come and since it looks like I can make it without an electric mixer (which was only used to whip the sugar and eggs) I think I will try to make it by hand next time I want a big cake. Otherwise it's on the shortlist for when I get a stand mixer. I might also bake the batter in one pan in two shifts, since I don't have a pair. Not ideal, but even if the second cake doesn't rise quite as well since it goes in 40-60 minutes later it will probably be alright. If not I'll have to make half the batter again. Thank you for the recipe.