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With Thanksgiving next week this recipe is a nod to our American friends. Although it's called a Boston cream pie, it's actually a cake that acquired its name when cakes and pies were cooked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. It was created by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian at Boston's Parker House Hotel in 1856 and proclaimed the official Massachusetts State Dessert in 1996.
Ingredients:
Vanilla cream filling:
270g milk
75g sugar
30g unsalted butter
30g cornflour
3 egg yolks
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste
Sponge cake:
225g gluten free flour
225g sugar
200ml milk
130g unsalted butter (room temp and cut into small cubes)
30g almond flour
2 eggs
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
¾ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp xanthum gum
Ganache:
100g double cream
65g dark chocolate chips
Method:
For the vanilla cream filling:
In a saucepan heat the milk and vanilla until boiling. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until paler in colour, then add the cornflour and continue to whisk until all combined. Add the milk mixture in a thin slow stream to the eggs whisking continuously. Once mixed together pour this back into the saucepan and while still whisking heat until mixture has thickened (to a custard consistency). Remove from the heat and add the butter, mixing again until you have a smooth custard.
Place this in a large clean bowl and cover with cling film. The cling film must be directly touching the cream, (this stops a skin forming on top). Leave this to one side to cool.
For the sponge:
Preheat oven to 160⁰C (fan), line and grease two 18cm or 20cm springform cake tins.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and xanthum gum. Add the butter and using fingers tips work the butter into flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla bean paste until combined. Add this to the flour mixture in 2 or 3 stages, beating in between until you have a smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 tins and bake for appx 20-25 mins. The cakes will be ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean and they have turned golden on top. Once ready take out the oven and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.
For the ganache:
Place the chocolate chips in a pyrex bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan until boiling point, then pour this over the chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes, then mix together until all combined and you have a smooth consistency. Allow to cool fully and thicken, appx 30-40 mins.
Assembling the cake:
Pour the cream filling over the top of one of the sponge cakes and then smooth over. Place the other sponge cake, bottom side up on top of the cream, pressing it down slightly. Pour the chocolate ganache over the top sponge cake, smoothing it out, then place in the fridge to set.
Gaby Van Clarke
The word ‘healthspan’ has been absorbed into our daily lexicon. It pops up as often as lifespan now as the movement to maximise health progresses. Healthspan is the length of time a person is healthy, not just alive, and was coined by gerontologists in a 1987 Science article. A period of life in which you are healthy and free from chronic disease or disability.
