Boston Cream Pie (Cake)

Is there anything more comforting than a comforting pie (or cake)? Nothing. Boston Cream Pie (cake) is delicious so I have heard. I always wondered what it was like. I mean, I have had the Yoplait Boston Cream Pie Yogurt. But then again, that's yogurt. And it was kinda bad. In my last post you might have read that I was being stupid and bought too much whole milk. I had to make this recipe. It called for a lot of whole milk.


First I made the custard. And oh my God. It was like a tiny corner of heaven, in a bowl. It was so...so...um..lovely? No...cus-tard-y? Yes! Ah yes! It was custardy! Is that even a word? I don't think it is. Um. NOW IT IS! *add to dictionary*. I am also known as the Vanilla Queen. I always, ALWAYS get the right amount of vanilla in the recipe with measuring it. It was strange, because it called for flour in the custard...does that sound right?




Then I made the cupcakes. More whole milk. UGH. I bet after this I'm going to have nightmares about giant bottles of whole milk. I haven't whole milk in years! It had actually slipped my mind. And then, there it is, sitting in my fridge. A cute polka dot cow on it...smiling. I can't resist the face! It's funny actually. Whenever I'm at the store to get lunch items or whatnot, I always think, "what do I need for cupcakes?" I always remember what I need, but I always forget the amount! But back to cupcakes! I was under so much pressure NOT to boil the milk and have it scald. Having three extra sets of eyes staring at you make more trouble. It worked out perfectly though. And thank Elinor Klivans that she specifically put that the batter was suppose to be thin. It made it easier to pour into the pan.



Here are the beautiful cupcakes!



The giant cupcake liners actually shrunk around the cupcakes...making it look like a mini cake! I was so happy and felt successful and professional. I went straight on to baking the second batch. But I noticed something weird about the batter. It looked like the original batter, but some oil was swirling around on top. I thought it wouldn't matter, so I baked them anyway. Guess what happened? It was a nightmare! A few cooked all the way through...except the rest didn't! The tops were still gooey and it smelled weird. I put them in for five extra minutes...and then another five minutes and then two minutes. They came out dense and tough. Yuck! I ended up throwing them away! I guess that I'm not professional at all.



The cupcakes in the pan were the cursed ones! I then let them cool, then chill in the fridge. Meanwhile, I made the glaze.



Chocolate perfection. Time to fill the cupcakes! I took the custard out of the fridge that had been in there for about two hours. Oh yes. TWO HOURS! And then the cupcakes. I sliced of a 1/4 inch of the top, then scooped out a piece of cupcake. Then I took a big spoonful of custard and filled the hole. I then put the top on the cupcake and set aside.







And then I scooped glaze over the cupcakes! Here's how they turned out!



And then of course...I ate one!



Yum yum! Bake on! GREAT AMERICAN BAKESALE!

Checklist of the Cupcake Queen

After I'm done with this post I'm going to take pictures and post them on here!

The Cupcake Queens Top 10 Important Things to have in the Kitchen

1. Electric/Standing Mixer
Always important. I have both. The electric mixer was a surprise birthday present (5 speed, not nearly enough, but its better than whisking my hand off and I would have to borrow my neighbors every time, which would probably make them annoyed AND I love it anyways) and the beautiful, Red standing Kitchen Aid mixer is my beloved grandmothers. My dad and his brothers bought if for her, because her old one was centuries old and shocked her every time she plugged it in.

2. Measuring cups/ measuring spoons
DUH!I haven't made these recipes enough to just dump everything in without these amazing things.

3. Cupcake pan
Now I couldn't make a cupcakes without this, right? Three sizes. Mini, regular, and large (or "Texas", quoting Elinor Klivans)

4. Antique sifter
Oh man, I LOVE this thing. It has that vintage green on it. Makes sifting so easy! NEVER WASH OR ELSE IT WILL RUST!

5. Old-fashion ice-cream scoop
Makes filling cupcake pans even easier. What would I do without it? Not fill cupcake pans?

6. Recycled confetti mixing bowls
Makes baking more fun. I used to use stainless steel mixing bowls and it made me bored when I did bake. A big orange bowl, a medium lime-green bowl, a small blue bowl, and one pink prep bowl. I love these.

7. Assorted utensils
Red, rubber spatulas, whisks, and spoons...oh my!

8. Yellow iPod Nano-chromatic
Dancing and baking? Good combo? Maybe. I like to listen to Lily Allen as I make seven-minute frosting.

9. THE ALL SACRED OVEN!
How else would you bake? Microwave? Easy-bake? Box-oven, just like the Girl Scouts? I don't think so.Watch Rachel Ray and you will see an all awesome oven/stove in the back as she makes 30-minute meals. Its yellow. I have that stove. In white. Jealous? Oh ya.

10. My CUPCAKE APRON!
Best Easter Present Ever. Along with the movie Julie and Julia. Coincidence? I think so.

SO there you go. Most important things to have. In my opinion.

The upcoming cupcake will be Boston Cream Pie cupcakes. I accidentally bought too much whole milk. So I flipped through the book, and found one that calls for 1 1/2 cups plus 2/3 cup. I guess I would have had to bake them sometime this year, better get it over with. My dad will be happy. He loves Boston Cream Pie. I wasn't planning on making these. But I guess I will have to roll with the punches. You wanna hear a secret? Boston lied. Boston Cream Pie is not a pie, but it is a cake with vanilla pudding and chocolate glaze. I've had the Yo-plait Boston Cream Pie yogurt, it was actually pretty good. I hope they are. Otherwise Boston is going to get it. I'm just kidding. But having a popular city lie, this makes me upset. I demand a recall!

I'm thinking of sending Food Network one of my project films. Just for fun. Or sending an email to Fox 9 saying that I want to bake cupcakes on there morning show. That would be great. But now it sounds like a incredibly stupid thing to do. I don't want to be known. I want to keep secret. Shh. It's a surprise. Like Pseudonymous Bosch. We don't know who he/her is. But we know his/her writing. That's the way my blog will be kept. For now.

Mother's Day

Mother's day is a big deal. Very stereotyped. But a big deal. I was reading the comics the other day cause there was nothing else to read, and it was all about Mother's Day. How the family burnt breakfast or how they forgot about the whole occasion entirely. Stereotype. It drove me crazy, because our families Mother's day is usually a pretty good. Not the stereotypical kind of day. It is probably right up there with Halloween and Christmas with its commercialism. That is what makes it so unbearable. Buy this! Buy that! 10% off but then you have to buy $100 worth of stuff.

Retailers. Ugh.

So instead of buying anything, I made (you guessed it) CUPCAKES!
Caramel-covered tea cakes. Yum. My mother loves caramel so I made them. The night before I made the batter. And then I put it in the fridge over night. The recipe made 24 mini-cupcakes. Then while they make you make the homemade caramel. It bubbles up in a saucepan until it hits 234F. Only six ingredients. Evaporated milk, sour cream, vanilla, brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and BUTTER. Every time I go to the store I always grab extra butter. You can never have too much butter. Unless of course you have high cholesterol or......

I put them on the plate that I had bought her months before, to almost complete her spring collection. She was so happy! And she loved the cupcakes!

I also learned something. That if you warm the batter to about room temp. the cupcakes will be fluffier and easier to fill the pan.

Fudge Marble

So last week I on Tuesday, I yet again had crammed in a small sliver of time to bake cupcakes for a open-mike poetry slam. Flipping vigorously through the book I spotted an easy one. Fudge Marble cupcakes. VERY EASY! In contains using two head-start recipes. The batter was easy yellow mix batter and the swirls of chocolate in the batter and the frosting was Fudge glaze. You make both at the same time. The you put half of the glaze with the batter and the scoop both up at the same time, having both chocolate and yummy yellow batter. The leftover glaze was tempting me so I dipped a trefoil in, YUM!

The cupcakes were a huge hit! They were gone within seconds. People enjoying funny poetry and stuffing themselves with cupcakes.