![]() ![]() The name "chocolate cream pie" first appeared in the 1872 Methodist Almanac. While other custard cakes may have existed at that time, baking chocolate as a coating was a new process, making it unique and a popular choice on the menu. The cake consisted of two layers of French butter sponge cake filled with thick custard and brushed with a rum syrup its side was coated with the same custard overlaid with toasted sliced almonds, and the top coated with chocolate fondant. A direct descendant of earlier cakes known as American pudding-cake pie and Washington pie, the dessert was referred to as chocolate cream pie, Parker House chocolate cream pie, and finally Boston cream pie on Parker House's menus. Sanzian at the Parker House Hotel in Boston. It is claimed to be created in 1856 by Armenian-French chef M. ![]() ![]() In the late 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cream pie", a "chocolate cream pie", or a "custard cake". The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were cooked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. We find that the small amount of gelatin in the pastry cream helps ensure impressive, stable results.A Boston cream pie is a cake with a cream filling. As long as New Englanders’ beloved Boston cream pie remains on the menu, well, we’ll just keep trying.Īdventurous bakers may visit the Omni Parker House Web site for the original gourmet version, but our own Boston cream pie recipe relies on the familiar combination of golden cake, sweet pastry cream, and smooth chocolate glaze. Betty Crocker produced a boxed Boston cream pie mix for sale in grocery stores for more than 30 years, and Boston cream pie cupcakes, ice cream, and even doughnuts (another official Bay State favorite) are other popular variations.Īlthough it may be a challenge to explain how our curious cake-meets-pie originally came to be, enjoying a slice of it isn’t hard at all. Today this classic combination is a favorite not just in Massachusetts, where it became the official state dessert in 1996, but nationwide. By swapping pastry cream for jam and chocolate glaze for powdered sugar, the modern Boston cream pie was born. The most popular such confection of its time was “Washington pie,” a jam-filled layer cake topped with powdered sugar. It’s thought that home cooks, smitten with the gourmet Parker House cake but unable to re-create it, simply turned to a similar recipe and improvised. With a few minor tweaks, the original recipe is still the one served in the famed Parker House dining room, but in kitchens across New England, a simpler adaptation emerged. ![]() This lax approach to labeling is likely why Sanzian’s French-inspired concoction débuted as “Chocolate Cream Pie” in 1856, and why subsequent versions continued to be called pies rather than cakes. At that time, pie and cake tins were often considered interchangeable, as were the words themselves. Starting with a rich butter sponge cake filled with a rum-infused pastry cream, he coated the sides with toasted sliced almonds and spread a layer of chocolate fondant on top, embellishing it with a delicate spiderweb of white fondant. Boston Cream Pie photographed on location at Twin Elm Farm, Peterborough, New Hampshire.īoston’s Parker House Hotel (now the Omni Parker House) is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of what today we call Boston cream pie, and its first chef, by the name of Sanzian, its creator. ![]()
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