Boston cream pie
|
A Boston cream pie | |
| Course | Dessert |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Serving temperature | Room temperature or chilled |
| Main ingredients | Sponge cake, custard or cream, chocolate glaze |
 Cookbook: Boston cream pie  Media: Boston cream pie | |
A Boston cream pie is a cake that is filled with a custard or cream filling and frosted with chocolate.[1] Although it is called a Boston cream pie, it is in fact a cake, and not a pie.[2]
History
Owners of the Parker House Hotel in Boston state that the Boston cream pie was first created at the hotel by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian in 1856.[3] The cake he created, called "Parker House Chocolate Cream Pie", consisted of two layers of French butter sponge cake filled with crème pâtissière and brushed with a rum syrup, its side coated with crème pâtissière overlain with toasted sliced almonds, and the top coated with chocolate fondant.[4]
The commonly known variety is likely derived from the Washington pie, a two-layer yellow cake filled with jam and topped with confectioner's sugar, for which pastry cream of custard eventually replaced the jam, and a chocolate glaze replaced the confectioner's sugar.[2] Today, the cake is topped with a chocolate glaze (such as ganache) and sometimes powdered sugar or a cherry.
The first known attested printed use of the term "Boston cream pie" occurred in the Granite Iron Ware Cook Book, printed in 1878.[2] The earliest known recipe of the modern variant was printed in Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion in 1887 as "Chocolate Cream Pie".[2]
The Boston cream pie is the official dessert of Massachusetts, declared as such on 12 December 1996.[5]
Other form
A Boston cream doughnut is a name for a Berliner filled with vanilla custard or crème pâtissière and topped with icing made from chocolate.[6]
See also
- Chocolate brownie, another dessert created at an American hotel
- List of pies, tarts and flans
- List of regional dishes of the United States
- Sachertorte, the chocolate and apricot cake from a Viennese hotel that is associated with that city
Notes
References
- Goldstein, Darra; Krondl, Michael; Heinzelmann, Ursula; Mason, Laura; Quinzio, Geraldine; Rath, Eric, eds. (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199313624.
- Patent, Greg (2002). Baking in America: Traditional and Contemporary Favorites from the Past 200 Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780618048311.
- Stradley, Linda. "Boston Cream Pie Recipe and History". What's Cooking America. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- "Massachusetts Facts". Citizen Information Service, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- "Boston Cream Pie". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
Further reading
- Forbes, Esther, and Arthur Griffin. The Boston Book. Houghton Mifflin Company: 1947.
- Morrisey, Louise Lane, and Marion Lane Sweeney. An Odd Volume of Cookery. Houghton Mifflin Company: 1949.
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