- I made it 4 years ago, Peter's 26th birthday. I began in mid morning, with no children, and began to make the cake. (Boston Cream Pie, is really not a 'pie', but a cake) I got the cakes done, no problem. I then had to split the cake in half. This didnt go so well. It was crooked, and crumbly and eventually fell apart. So, to the store I went to get more supplies. The second cake was made, and chilled. I split it in half, this time, pretty good. The middle custard cream turned out ok, and i globbed it on the bottom part of the cake, and squished on the top half. I then made the chocolate sauce and poured it over the whole cake, and set it in the fridge. I made his meal, and one hour before i was going to serve the cake, i took it out to 'warm up'. I then took a long knife, and began to cut. The chocolate was very hard and all the custard oozed out, making it a messy nightmare to eat.
- The second year I made it, i got the cake right, but the middle of the cake dropped, making the layers uneven. The version i used, which was a martha stewart version, was a lot more complicated, having to use a fresh vanilla bean and everything. I did this version ok, but the chocolate still became hard as i cut into it.
- The third year I made it, was a success!! I split the cakes in half perfectly (using a different cake recipe) then i still used the same m. stewart filling recipe. I then put the bottom half in the fridge, and then left the top half of the cake at room temperature. A half hour before serving, I made the sauce, put the remainder of the cake on the filling, and poured the chocolate all over the cake. And it tasted good, too.
- This year, I made the martha stewart recipe again. (what was I thinking). Peter asked if he could call our mortgage company to ask a couple questions. I said, yes. He was on hold for about 20 minutes and I really needed to start my cake, becuase it was 7:45 and it needed to cool before I wrapped it up. Maddy was crying, Kate was trying to help, peter was still on the phone, the egg mixture was burning, there was cake flour everywhere, and finally i set maddy and kate in the living room with peter because i am pretty sure it was easier for him to talk on the phone while watching the kids instead of me trying to bake a cake with kids!! in the kitchen!!! Finally, it was in the oven. The middle dropped again. So whatever, i am not redoing it. The next day, it was time to make the filling. The cakes were wrapped in saran wrap. I made the filling, but i think the milk mixture was too hot for the egg yolks, because some of it scrambled. Oh well. I split the cakes... only this time basically because the cake middle dropped, there was no middle! I sawed thru the cake with a bread knife and there was a hole in the middle. I sawed off more cake from another side that was lopsided, and layed that part on the plate. That was going to be the bottom. I poured the filling on the bottom layer, and put it in the fridge. right after supper, i took the cake out and made the chocolate, and put the top half of the cake on, and poured the chocolate. Still a success, tasted pretty good, but really... was not fun to make. I hate you boston cream pie!!
Pictures will come some other day. Ooh, today is sunday and we had peters birthday 'party'. Basically we celebrated his birthday for 3 days. Thursday (7th) was his actual birthday. Saturday we went to Fargo for the day to celebrate his birthday, and today we celebrated with a meal and dirt cake. I was so so so so tired today. I dont think i slept well this week; i dont know why, but i had to do a lot of cooking and baking today after church. But i was so tired , i had to take a 30 minute nap to recharge. I made BBQ Pork tips in the crockpot with homemade BBQ sauce (at peters request), stuffed baked potatoes (it was like a never ending potato... i felt like i was mixing it for hours) and then thats when i did alllll the dishes and then took a nap. After that i made the dirt cake. i was busy cleaning and cooking all day... so i am pooped!! Goodnight!! Sweet bed, here i come.
Way to keep at the boston cream pie making, Kristen! You took the right approach to the chocolate sauce on the 3rd try. If you let chocolate set at room temperature, it will be more stable, have a better texture and stay set longer. But if you cool it in the fridge, it cools too quickly and forms unstable crystals. When it warms to room temperature it has a tendency to get too soft if it's left out too long and it can also split. It takes more time to let it cool at room temp, but in the long run it makes for a cake that's easier to cut and chocolate that doesn't get too hard and not too melty when left out. The same goes when you're making ganache.
ReplyDeleteI usually have problems making cake from scratch, too. They are not my favorite ;-) I made a yellow cake for a friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago and it looked good in the oven but later fell. So I tried a new recipe and it worked pretty well but it was a pain to do it twice! I put the failed one in the freezer for a future trifle. The chocolate ganache frosting was good, though. Yum!
Yes, I realize that the chocolate sauce shouldnt have been in the fridge. As far as the cake caving in... at least I know if it does that again, I can put the top peice on the bottom and patch in the holes.... since the cake was pretty sticky from being a spongue cake. I used to really not like eating the cake either... but it tasted pretty good this time :)
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