A 19th century New England classic winning modern-day fans
By Ari Weinzweig
Over the years, Boston Cream Pie has quietly built an ever more loyal following at the Bakehouse. I’m in the club! Its lovely light texture makes it one of my favorite Bakehouse desserts this time of year—one more reason to enjoy the warmer months here in Washtenaw County.
The story behind Boston Cream Pie
While the name implies something creamy baked into a pie shell, the reality of Boston Cream Pie is something else altogether. Evan Jones, in his classic cookbook American Food, said the fact that Boston Cream Pie is “really a cake disguised by this misnomer remains unexplained.” In December 1996, the state of Massachusetts quietly declared Boston Cream Pie to be the official state dessert. The dessert’s name comes from an era when cakes and pies were pretty much prepared in the same pans, and the words “cake” and “pie” were used interchangeably. In the late 19th century, sweets like this one were called “cream pies,” or “custard cakes.”
Why our Boston Cream Pie is so good!
Back in 1856, the then-newly opened Parker House Hotel in Boston had a chef from France, Augustine Francois Anezin, who developed what we now know as Boston Cream Pie. His technique of pouring chocolate over the top of a custard cake like this was quite an innovation at the time. The moist butter-rich layer cake was then still a relatively new phenomenon in the world of pastry—it was only with the introduction of baking powder twenty years after Anezin worked his magic that they became common even in upscale settings. Writing in the New York Times, Samantha Seneviratne reminds me that it’s the skill of the Bakehouse bakers that makes Boston Cream Pie possible: “How you whip the eggs and the sugar is critical, as the tiny air bubbles they produce add lift to the finished product”—one more good reason that I for one will be buying Boston Cream Pie at the Bakehouse and not trying to make it at home.
The way we put it together, the finished product is two layers of moist vanilla chiffon cake, filled with fresh vanilla bean pastry cream, covered with a lovely thin layer of vanilla buttercream, and then last, but not least, rich dark chocolate ganache. Amy Emberling, co-managing partner at the Bakehouse, writes, “We love to make classic foods, the ones that have passed the test of time. Boston Cream Pie lands in that category.” I agree. Take one bite, and you’ll know why it has a whole state so devoted to it.