join me for a late and sort of half-hearted celebration of national chocolate cake day.  in my morning facebook feed, i spied a martha stewart post with a link to a recipe for boston cream cupcakes. i’m not really a cupcake girl so i set about adapting it into a gluten free cake recipe.

 

not wanting to spend a bunch of trial and error time, i used Cup4Cup in the recipe. honestly, any pastry cream recipe or even instant pudding will work as a filling and chocolate ganache is just a 1:1 ratio of heavy cream to dark chocolate, and adding corn syrup will give a little sweetness and a bit of shine to your glaze.

Boston Cream Pie

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups (192g) Cup4Cup gluten free flour, plus more for pan

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole milk

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

3 large eggs

1 cup (200g) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract  or vanilla paste

Vanilla Pastry Cream*

Chocolate Ganache Glaze**

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch cake pan, set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl, set aside. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Beat eggs and sugar with a stand mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in the dry ingredients.
3. Bring milk and butter to a boil. With mixer on low speed, add the hot milk mixture to the batter, and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Pour batter into prepared cake pan, (the pan will be filled about halfway). Bake cake until light gold, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes (cake will shrink, do not panic), then transfer to wire rack to cool.
4. Using a serrated bread knife, cut cake in half horizontally. Spread vanilla cream on cake bottom. Sandwich with top. Spoon chocolate glaze over cake, and serve immediately.

*Vanilla Cream

Ingredients 

2 large egg yolks

1/4 (50g) cup sugar

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Pinch of salt

1 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Method 

1. In a small bowl, whisk yolks until smooth, set aside. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add milk in a slow, steady stream. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour 1/3 of milk mixture into yolks, whisking constantly. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thick, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla.
3. Pass vanilla cream through a fine sieve into a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

** Chocolate-Ganache Glaze

Ingredients 

2/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Method 

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.