Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

My brother just celebrated his birthday.  One of his favorite desserts is Boston Cream Pie.  I love making cupcakes rather than cake, so I made him a batch of these beautiful Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes this past weekend.  Very easy!  Here's how....

Start by making a vanilla cupcake.  You guys already have my recipe for cake!  If not, go back and hunt through the blog posts. I posted it before!  Let them cool, and you are ready for the next step...the filling!

Mix up a batch of vanilla pudding.  If I had to do it over again, I would have made the cook and serve pudding. I chose to use instant pudding.  I went with the French Vanilla flavor.  I think the cooked pudding makes a better tasting pudding, though.  Another thing I would have done differently is chilling the pudding before filling the cupcakes.  The pudding will go in a piping bag with a big round tip on it.  I used a #32 Star tip from Wilton.  They do make a filling tip but I didn't feel like digging mine out.  

Once I filled my piping bag with pudding, I simply jammed the piping tip down into the cupcake, piercing it in the center. Squeezing the bag will inject the pudding into the center of the cupcake.  When you pull away, you'll see a little pudding oozing out of the top of the cupcake.

Put the filled cupcakes in the fridge for an hour or so and let them get nice and solid.  Longer is even better.  

When it's time to ice them, mix up a batch of chocolate ganache. The post previous to this one gives you the recipe and instructions! Go take a peek!!!  

Once the ganache is ready, simply hold each cupcake upside down and dip right into the ganache, covering the tops.

Let the chocolate drip for a bit before you put them back on the cookie sheet they were sitting on.  I made the mistake of making MY ganache too thin for these.  Next time I will go a little heavier on the chocolate versus the heavy whipping cream.  They still tasted delicious!

Back to the fridge they go once they are dipped!  If they don't seem like they have enough chocolate coating the top, you can always dip them a second time once the first layer of chocolate has set up.

I prefer MY Boston cream pie to be cold when I eat it, so we kept the cupcakes in the fridge until it was serving time. A word of warning....these cupcakes are MESSY.  You will want to use a fork!

I wish you much success with these delicious treats!!!  And don't forget...when you make them....call my brother.  He will gladly volunteer to taste test them for you!

Don't fear the ganache!

One of the most decadent forms of chocolate icing is chocolate ganache.  It's takes only TWO ingredients to make it....and it's SOOOOO yummy!  It's kind of like making "chocolate soup."  

As pictured above, the two ingredients are chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream.  You need a big bowl and a sauce pan. Chocolate chips go in the bowl with a whisk ready to go.

Heat the heavy whipping cream until it almost comes to a boil. Then simply pour the heated cream into the bowl of chocolate chips and allow the chocolate to start melting.  Stir with a whisk until it becomes nice and melted and smooth....like chocolate soup!

The recipe is all about ratios.  To make normal chocolate ganache with dark chocolate, the ratio is 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. If you use 12 ounces of chocolate, use 6 ounces of cream.  If you want it to be thinner, add a little more cream.   For milk chocolate, the ratio would be 2.5 to 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream.  For white chocolate, use 3 to 4 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream.

After you have stirred your ganache to a beautiful chocolate soup, it's ready to use.  If you want it to thicken up a little, you can let it cool for a bit.  It's perfect for dipping your cupcakes in or pouring over a cake.  

At the bakery, we would make it and pour it into a cake pan to cool. Once it was cool and SOLID, we could store it in the fridge for a week and cut chunks off (it resembled fudge) and melt it to use. You can melt it right back to a great consistency with the microwave.  I recommend using half power so you don't burn the chocolate or only microwaving in small increments.  

Just remember, the more stable you want the chocolate ganache to be, the more chocolate you'll want to use.  If you want it to be more runny, use more cream.  

I wish you much chocolate success!!