My mom's favorite, I had never attempted this before but decided to tackle it for her birthday.
Cake
1/2 Cup butter (that's 1 stick), softened on the counter for 20 minutes or so
1 Cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 Tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 Cup milk
2 Cups cake flour
2 Tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
Cream Filling
1/2 Cup sugar
4 egg yolks
6 Tbls. flour
1 1/2 Cups milk
2 Tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 Cup heavy cream
1 Tbls. butter
Toasted Almonds
1 1/2 Cups almonds, sliced
1 Tbls. butter
pinch of salt
Make the Cake
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 8-inch round cake pans with oil, then line with circles of parchment paper. Set them aside.
2. Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of your mixer. Beat them together until well combined.
3. Add in egg yolks. Beat again until well combined and slightly fluffy.
4. Scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spactula and add the milk.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir them together with a whisk to combine well. Toss the dry mixture into the butter/sugar in the mixing bowl.
6. Mix on med-high for maybe 20-30 seconds to combine, just until the batter comes together. The batter will be relatively thick and stiff.
7. Give the batter a stir or two with spactula to be sure that it's mixed well and no dry ingredients remain in the very bottom of the bowl.
8. Divide batter evenly between your two prepared cake pans. Smooth it down with a spactuala so it fills the whole pan and it's relatively even.
9. Bake the 2 cakes for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees.
10. They're done when they're golden brown on top and feel firm (not jiggly) in the middle when pressed with a finger. When inserted in the center a toothpick should come out clean.
11. Cool cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes. Then gently run a knife around the whole edges to loosen it, and remove eahc cake from the pan (Because you lined each pan with parchment paper, this should be easy). Set the cakes on a rack to cool completely. If your cakes wound up a little crusty on the edges, don't worry. You're going to trim those crisp edges right off when you assemble your Boston Cream Pie.
Make the Custard
1. Fill a medium-sized pot with a few inches of water. Set it on the stove over high heat to bring it to a boil. Then put the suger and egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl (I used Pyrex).Whisk together until well combined.
2. Add the flour, whisk to combine.
3. Pour in the milk and the vanilla extract. Whisk the combine. When your pot of water is boiling, drop the heat to low.
4. Set the bowl on top of the pot of water. Whisk it constantly for 5-7 minutes until it starts to thicken. Keep whisking until the custard gets very thick. It's done when it coats the back of a spoon. Give it a taste. It should have a nice custard-y taste, without any hint of raw flour.
5. When it's done, take it off the heat. Cool it on the counter to room temperature, then pop it in the fridge to chill completely.
Make the Chocolate Frosting
1. Fill a medium-sized pot with a few inches of water. Set it on the stove over high heat to bring it to a boil (If you're making the frosting right after the custard, just use the same pot of simmering water).
2. Chop up the chocolate. Put it into a large heatproof bowl. Pour in the cream.
3. When your pot of water is boiling, drop the heat to low. Set the bowl on top of the pot of water.
4. Toss in the butter. The chocolate should start to melt almost immediatly, whisk to combine. Keep whisking until the chocolate is melted and you have a uniform mixture.
5. Set the chocolate frosting aside to cool. As it cools, it will thicken up. If you put it in the fridge, keep a close eye on it. It can go from nice and thick to solid fudge in no time flat.
Toast the Almonds
1. Melt the butter in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Put the sliced almonds in the pan. Toss in a pinch of salt. Stir to coat the almonds with butter. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts are fragrant and start to turn brown.
2. Set the toasted almonds aside to cool.
Assemble the Boston Cream Pie
1. Phew! Ok, we're finally at the point where we can put this whole thing together! Don't do this until all of your components are completely cool (If you try to put it together when any pieces are warm, you'll wind up with a slippery, drippy mess).
2. Start by trimming your cakes. Carefully set them one on top of the other.
3. With a serrated bread knife, cut the edges off. Go slowly and press down on the top of the cake with one hand to keep it from ripping.
4. Should you have an accident with one of the cakes, don't fret. Just use that cake as the bottom layer. The custard filling will help glue the whole thing together once it gets cold in the fridge.
5. Set one cake on your serving platter, bottom side facing up (do this so that your custard goes on a falt- not slightly domed surface).
6. Grab the custard filling from the fridge. It should be nice and thick. Spoon it out onto the cake. Reserve a few spoonfuls of custard for later, to help stick the almonds to the side of the cake.
7. Spread the custard to the edges with a rubber spactula. Put the second cake right on top.
8. Grab your frosting. Spoon it out onto the top of the cake. Spread it around until the top of the cake is covered.
9. Pop two toothpicks into the cake to hold the layers together for now, until it's completely chilled.
10. With your finger, brush the leftover custard over the edges of the cake, so it's covered in a thin layer.
11. Press the toasted almonds onto the sides of the cake. They should stick nicely to the custard.
12. Keep going until all sides of the cake are covered in toasted almonds. Wipe any excess almonds and custard off your platter to clean it up. The pop the cake into the fridge for a few hours to firm it up.
13. SERVE AND ENJOY!!
