Boston Cream Pie can often turn out dry in texture or bland in flavor. Not this Best Boston Cream Pie! This recipe boasts a custard that has flavor depth and a sponge cake that’s moist and tender. The dark chocolate ganache is amazing.
We’re a Boston Cream Pie loving family.
Aside from the questionable word Pie in the title (alas, it’s actually a cake) there’s no question this is one of our favorite desserts in the universe.
I made this Wicked Good Boston Cream Pie, dubbed by Cook’s Illustrated, for a dear friend’s birthday. Everyone grabbed big slices and ate their plates clean. More than one of us was eyeing that last piece for seconds, but we did the right thing and gave it to the birthday girl.
I haven’t stopped thinking about this cake since. Oh my goodness gracious me oh my…
Just showing off the creamy custard spread on top of the first sponge cake layer above 🙂
Boston Cream Pie is 100% my jam, from top to bottom.
Every layer is ridiculously boss. Every. Yummy. Layer.
The custard alone is worthy of eating by the bowlful. Not spoonful. Bowl-full. It’s rich, creamy, just the right amount of sweetness, and deeeeliciousssss…
The sponge cake layers are surprisingly simple to make. The results are standout.
You’ll want to just tear right into that uber soft, spongy, tender, moist round cake. Straight out of the cake pan.
But don’t. Not yet. Your patience will be greatly rewarded.
Be cool, let it cool, and do the layers.
I did say every piece of this Boston Cream Pie would be insanity, right?
Absolutely use the best dark chocolate you can get for the ganache layer. Trust: you’ll taste every bit of the quality that’s put into it.
Your chosen chocolate is destined to become a thick, glorious, beaming crown over the dessert.
At this point, you’ll be highly tempted to dip your finger or spoon or chopsticks into this melty goodness.
Been there, done that. Who can resist?
Once the ganache has thickened a bit, pour it onto your beautiful Boston Cream Pie and let ‘er drip.
There really aren’t words well enough to describe this exceptional cake.
Except maybe…wicked.
Enjoy!
Print
Yield:
Category:
Print
PinDescription
This Boston Cream Pie is the best of the best. Each layer is delicious all on its own. The custard is rich, creamy, and smooth. The sponge cake layers are moist and tender. The ganache is amazing. It all comes together to form a ridiculous dessert you won’t forget. Allow ample time for custard to chill and cake to cool before assembly.
Ingredients
- CUSTARD:
- 2 cups half and half
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup (3.5 oz) granulated sugar
- pinch of table salt
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 4 TB cold salted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- SPONGE CAKE:
- 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp table salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 6 TB salted butter
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- GANACHE:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 TB light corn syrup
- 4 oz high quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- CUSTARD: Heat half and half in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk yolks, sugar, and salt in a bowl until smooth. Add flour to yolk mixture and whisk until combined. Remove half and half from heat and – whisking constantly – very slowly add 1/2 cup of half and half to the yolk mixture, to temper. Whisking constantly, return tempered yolk mixture to the remaining half and half in the saucepan.
- Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until it thickens, 1 min. Reduce to med-low and keep simmering, whisking constantly for 8 minutes. It will slowly go from pale yellow to a deep yellow and become thicker. Increase heat to medium and cook, whisking vidorously, until bubbles burst on surface, 1-2 min. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla until melted. It should be pudding-like, thick, and smooth (not clumpy.) Cover and chill at least 2 hours or overnight.
- SPONGE CAKE: Preheat oven to 325F with rack on middle position. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line with parchment over the grease. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter over low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and cover to keep warm.
- In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip the eggs and sugar at high speed until light and airy, 5 min. Add hot milk mixture and whisk by hand until combined. Add dry ingredients and whisk just until incorporated; don’t overmix.
- Quickly divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with small tender crumbs attached, about 20-27 min.
- Transfer cakes to wire rack and cool completely in pan at room temp. Run thin sharp knife around edge of pans and invert cakes onto rack. You might need to give the pans a good slap on the back. Slowly and gently peel off the parchment paper.
- Place one round cake on a serving plate, top side up. Stir chilled custard briefly and spread onto cake evenly. Place second round cake, bottom side up, on top of the custard. Cover and chill while you make the ganache.
- GANACHE: In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring heavy cream and corn syrup to simmer. Remove from heat and add chocolate chunks. Whisk until smooth. Let stand, whisking occasionally, until slightly thickened, 5-10 min. Whisk again and pour onto top of cake, using ruber spatula to spread evenly and letting it drip slowly down the sides. Cover and chill cake at least 3 hours before slicing. A fully chilled cake will be easier to slice.
Source: Chew Out Loud, from Cook’s Illustrated
Here are a few of my favorite standout desserts:
1. Double Chocolate Cake with Kahlua Whipped Cream and Strawberries. I can’t wait to re-photograph this awesome cake. This was one of my very first recipes here, and it’s still one of my favorites.
2. Best Ever Angel Food Cake. I can’t help it, this really IS the best ever. Spongy, pillowy, soft, and everything a real angel food cake was meant to be.
3. Banana Chiffon Cake. Airy, light, spongy, and absolutely marvelous. We adore this so much, we eat it for breakfast, snack, and dessert.
4. Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake (GF). I don’t usually like mousse, but this one’s in a league of its own. Treat your guests to this and they’ll be in awe of you.
Beautiful and shiny – a very elegant cake.
Thank you so much 🙂
Gosh, this looks wonderful. This is how my mom made her Boston Cream Pie. Thanks for the memory.
Wishes for tasty dishes,
Linda
You’re so welcome, Linda! I always got my Boston Cream Pies from bakeries, but this recipe has been a game changer. It’s wonderful when something as simple as a cake or flower can bring back precious memories 🙂
Wow, this looks so good! I love Boston Cream Pie but I’ve never made it myself- but I’m definitely adding this to my must try list!
It’s so, so worth a try, Maya 🙂 Thanks for coming over today 🙂
My whole family loves the flavor of Boston Cream Pie. They’d be drooling over this in no time.
What do you mean of half and half ?
Rawan, it’s essentially plain coffee creamer, in the chilled dairy aisle. It’s called Half and Half. It’s less rich than heavy cream, but creamier than whole milk. Kind of in-between the richness of heavy cream and whole milk, thus it’s called half/half 🙂 Hope it helps 🙂
A little confused … so this IS the recipe from Cook’s Illustrated? Also, why do you show a pic of a pie with a pie crust? May I also state, in case you don’t know, that every page of your website includes these mini videos that suddenly start playing, at LOUD volume to add insult to injury, without my permission or request. Is this a glitch or with your permission?
Hi, Arline. Yes, the recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, with some modifications. I didn’t realize the pic looks like a pie with pie crust 🙂 It’s actually a top-down photo of the first layer of sponge cake with custard spread over it 🙂 Sorry about the mini vids…that doesn’t happen when I open my pages, so I didn’t know. It’s done automatically through BlogHer, I’m assuming. I believe if your volume is turned down, it won’t be loud. Sorry about that inconvenience! Thanks for visiting COL today 🙂
Can you substitute flour with cake flour ?
Hi, Max. I haven’t tried it with cake flour, so I can’t advise in that direction unless I try it out myself. I know cake flour already has cornstarch, etc. that regular flour does not, so you’d have to account for that. There are some great articles online about subbing various flours, which I think could really help you 🙂 Thanks for checking in!
When my boyfriend asked for a boston cream pie for his birthday I went searching. I’ve made these a couple of times before but always kept on the look out for something better. I can honestly say I’m done looking!
You’re recipe is amazing! It is not an exaggeration to say it is the best I have every tried, Every. Yummy. Layer!
The only thing I changed was to cut & scrape one whole vanilla bean for the custard and I used a tart pan for the bottom cake & inverted the tart pan to make a smaller top cake. There was enough battery left for me to make him his very own mini cake in a 6″ ramakin.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It made a special day even better!
Thanks for such an awesome comment; Sooo glad you guys liked it 🙂
i’m planning on making this for my boyfriend’s bday! just to clarify… Salted butter? or UN-salted. the amount of salt within the entire recipe is a lot more than i’ve typically seen.
Laura, I typically use salted butter in everything, as I prefer the flavor. But feel free to use unsalted butter. Enjoy and hope you love it as much as we do 🙂
I have question of course.I am wondering if I can substitute the light corn syrup with maple syrup?
Stacy, you can give that a try, but I can’t say how it would affect the final outcome. I’d love to hear how it turned out for you 🙂 This really is the best Boston Cream Pie, according to all our family and friends, so hope you really like it! 🙂
This looks great! I’m making it for a birthday this weekend and was wondering how far in advance I could assemble and refrigerate the cake before serving? Can’t wait to give it a try! Thanks. 🙂
Jocy, I’ve made it, completely assembled, 24 hours in advance. Just be sure to cover it well (I use a cake stand with a dome cover) so that it does not dry out in the fridge. Hope you love it as much as we all do! 🙂
Hi there! I’m wondering if anyone has tried this with gluten free flour instead of white flour? I know it’s generally a gamble since the gluten free ones are generally a lot flours mishmashed together, and I haven’t experimented a lot in this area, and I definitely do NOT want to mess up such an amazing sounding cake!
Thank you for sharing this recipe with beautiful photos! Do you think this would this be a fail as cupcakes?
Sylvia, I think it’d be awesome as cupcakes! I’ve been meaning to work on that as a separate post, actually. So keep on the lookout in the future for that recipe, if it interests you 🙂 If you can’t wait and are ready to experiment now, this cake base would be fabulous for cupcakes, and the custard is phenomenal, as is the ganache topping. Would love to hear back. Thanks for coming over today! 🙂
Made this recipe this weekend and it was absolutely amazing! Thank you for posting this!
Yay, Sarah! So glad you guys liked it! Thanks for coming over to let us know 🙂
Quick suggestion: I always read a recipe through a few times before starting. Even with that prep, I find it easier to prepare for baking if pan size and oven temp. are specified at the very beginning of a recipe.
Thanks for that idea, Marie! We’re so glad you are here today! Have a wonderful Christmas season and happy baking 🙂
hi
as an aussie reading your recipe, im wondering what half half is please?
cheers
Thanks for asking, Caroline! Half and half refers to coffee creamer here in the US. It’s equal parts of whole milk and light cream. You can sub with that. Here is a great link describing what half and half is. http://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-halfandhalf-ingredient-intelligence-205959
I’m looking to make this cake tomorrow for my mom’s birthday, I was wondering if I could bake the sponge cake in a 9″ spring form pan and split the layers instead of baking it in two separate pans? Would it still work?
Ellie, you can certainly try that, but you’ll have to modify the bake time and watch carefully so that it doesn’t over or under bake. You want it just tender and toothpick inserted in center coming almost clean with few tender crumbs attached. Hope it works well and Happy Birthday to your Mom! 🙂
thanks for letting me know! I baked the cake and made the custard and they’re both wonderful! Thank you for the great recipe 🙂
Yay, Ellie! So so happy to hear it 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend.
I made this today and it was spot on!! The custard was so good I was practically licking the bowl clean, lol.
The only part I got stuck on was the parchment paper. I didn’t understand what you meant so I just skipped it. Then when taking it out of the pan I understood what I was supposed to do. Still turned out in one piece and I was able to hide the ugly parts with custard and chocolate!
It was work but it was oh so worth it! I made it it for my husbands birthday and now my dad wants it it in April for his!
Thanks for the great recipe! Everyone loved it!
Yay, Natalie! So happy you guys loved it 🙂 Sounds like you’ve become the Boston Cream Pie Queen in the family 😉
Just made this and it’s amazing!!! Great instructions as well!! Thanks so much
YAY, Pamela! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂 Happy Easter, and hope you continue finding recipes you love here 🙂
Hello.. new follower here!!
I have tried boston cream cake once and it was delicious however I had a terrible time to keep both cakes on top of each other. See, with the cream inside it gets slippery. Never tried it again
Hi there! I am excited to try this recipe for Fathers day! And the one question I had was about baking the cake itself, I only have one 9″ pan, so I was wondering if I could bake the layers one at a time? Do you know if it will be okay to refrigerate the batter for the next layer or is it better to use all of the batter when baking a layer right away? Thanks for the recipe!
Sorry, I was out of town all Father’s Day weekend, Victoria! Hope the cake turned out well 🙂 Yes, you can bake it one layer at a time. You could even keep the baked layer (removed from your one pan) at room temp while you bake the 2nd layer. Hope you guys had a wonderful Father’s Day 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I made it for my best friend’s birthday Saturday night and every bite was eaten, as well as every crumb. We even swiped up all the drips of ganache with our fingers. So yummy, and worth the work. Even my friend who’s a professional baker loved it. Thank you!
Yay, awesome job! So glad you guys loved it 🙂 Thanks for coming over to let us know…thumbs way up! 🙂
Can’t wait to try this. Will the cake dry out if I make it the night before and keep it in the fridge.
I’ve made it the night before and kept it covered airtight in fridge. Works well; enjoy!
Thank you so much. Also, is it okay to use unsalted butter instead of salted butter. And why do you use corn syrup in the ganache?
Yes for unsalted butter; you can always add a pinch of salt if desired. The corn syrup is for texture and glossy appearance. You could omit it, but it will have a slightly less “gooey” texture and look less shiny. Either way, it will still taste great
I made this cake for my Aunt & Uncle’s birthdays (2 days apart from each other), and was completely shocked when 6 of us practically finished the entire thing. It was SOOOO amazing! Before this version, I was not a fan of Boston Cream Pie (and was sad that is what was requested that I make). Now I am a fan, and i will be making it again tomorrow for my husband’s birthday! Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay, so happy you guys loved it!! Thanks for coming over to let us know. Happy baking and eating
I have made a Boston Cream Pie several times before. I have misplace the recipe I had used. Just found yours an anxious to try. Usually the amount of custard is way too much.Also I prefer using only one layer and splitting it. My friends and family like a small serving of dessert. Will probably put one layer in freezer for a later time.
That sounds great, Cindy! Hope you guys enjoy 🙂
Hello. Any substitution for half and half?
Hala, you can use heavy cream (or whipping cream) with good results. Enjoy!
I’m making this for a friend’s bday who’s from Boston and did a trial run yesterday… sadly it didn’t rise :(. I’ve made sponge cake before and they sometimes ask for the eggs and sugar to be mixed to be whipped to a meringue, is this what you mean by light and airy? I checked the cooks illustrated recipe as well and they used the same terminology. Other than that, the cakes tasted great! Just flat 🙁
I am looking forward to making this cake for a birthday this weekend. I know I can make the components ahead of time on Friday and assemble the cake the day of the party. Do you think the pastry cream will hold up for a couple of days? Would you recommend freezing the cake layers and thawing on Saturday?
Trish, the pastry cream should hold up fine up to 48 hours, airtight and chilled. You can freeze baked cake layers, wrapped airight and thaw before assembling. The completely assembled cake can be covered and chilled up to 24 hours ahead 🙂
I have made ganache before but never added corn syrup. Does it add too much sweetness to the gnanache or change the flavor, or is it just for the “shiny” element? (I am a dark chocolate fan)..Can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend for a family birthday party!!
Hi, Aimee! It doesn’t add too much sweetness at all – it’s a perfect flavor balance! Yes, I believe it adds to the texture and the shimmery aspect. Hope you guys love this “pie” as much as we do!
Thank you! I’ll let you know how it turns out!