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 yellow butter cake that is filled with custard or cream and topped with chocolate glaze.[1]
Despite its name, it is in fact a cake, and not a pie.[2] The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were cooked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably.[3] In the latter part of the 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cream pie", a "chocolate cream pie", or a "custard cake".[3]
History
Owners of the Parker House Hotel in Boston claim that the Boston cream pie was first created at the hotel by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian in 1856.[4] Called a "Chocolate Cream Pie", this cake 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.[5] While other custard cakes may have existed at this time baking chocolate as a coating was a new process, making it unique and a popular choice on the menu.[3]
The name first appeared in the 1872 Methodist Almanac.[3] Another early 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.[6]
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.
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
References
- ↑ Merriam-Webster.
- 1 2 3 Goldstein et al. 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Byrn
- ↑ Stradley.
- ↑ Patent 2002.
- ↑ Citizen Information Service, p. 6.
Bibliography
- Byrn, Anne (2016). American Cake: From Colonial Gingerbread to Classic Layer, the Stories and Recipes Behind more than 125 of our Best-Loved Cakes. Rodale. p. 46. ISBN 9781623365431. OCLC 934884678.
- 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.
