It's fair to say that this cake is pretty much the same as a Boston Cream Pie. My great grandmother worked as a professional cook during her life so it is possible that she found this recipe in a magazine or possibly an American cookbook, we will never know. What is certain though is that it is a lighter version, with the filling not being as rich as a creme patissiere and the amount of butter in the sponge being less than normal. Bearing in mind that she lived through both world wars, during the latter part of her life her shopping would have been restricted by rationing, so this probably affected several of her recipes.
I have updated the ganache topping slightly but other than that the recipe is how she wrote it and I have to say it is a fabulous cake! Incidentally, the fluted edge of the cake below comes from using a cake tin liner (from Lakeland Ltd) in the tin....so much easier than cutting out!
Ingredients
125g Soft Butter
175g Caster Sugar (use vanilla sugar if you have it)
200g Plain Flour
2 tspn Baking Powder
Half a tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
3 Large Eggs
2 tbsp Milk
1 tspn Vanilla Extract
For the custard filling
Half a pint of Whole Milk
1 tbsp Cornflour
1 tbsp Caster Sugar (again, vanilla sugar if you have it)
1 Large Egg
1 tspn Vanilla Extract
For the chocolate ganache icing
100g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
100ml Single Cream (you can use double but single sets to a softer icing)
Approx 1 tbsp Butter
Enough icing sugar to thicken slightly
- Preheat the oven to 175C or gas 4. Grease and line a 20cm/8 inch springform cake tin (or use a cake tin liner!). You could use two sandwich tins and reduce the baking time.
- Using an electric whisk or mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and bicarb with the eggs, milk and vanilla and whisk on slow at first to combine then high for a minute until the mixture is light and airy. (Tip - check the mixture around the edges, if there are any signs of the mixture splitting slightly then whisk in a tablespoon or so more flour)
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, use a skewer to insert into the cake to check it is cooked through. Take it out of the tin after 5-10 minutes cooling then put on a rack to cool completely.
- To make the vanilla custard, whisk all the ingredients together in a small pan and put on a low heat. With a wooden spoon, stir constantly until it starts to thicken...at this point it may look like it's going lumpy, don't panic! Stir frantically until it goes through the lumpy phase and thickens properly, it should be thick but not like a paste. Pour this into a bowl and cover with cling film, gently pushing it onto the surface of the custard to prevent it forming a skin. Leave to cool almost completely.
- When the vanilla custard is cool take off the cling film, it will have thickened up considerably. Take your cooled cake and cut it in half, put the bottom half on a plate and spoon on the vanilla custard, almost to the edges. Carefully place the other half of the cake on the top....it will have a bit of a wobble.
- Make the chocolate ganache topping, measure the cream in a measuring jug then tip in the chopped chocolate. I then heat this in the microwave in 20 second bursts until all the chocolate is melted (it shouldn't take more than 1 minute in total). Stir to combine into a shiny, melted mass then add the butter and stir to melt in. Sieve and stir in enough icing sugar to thicken and sweeten it slightly then pop in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm it up.
- Slowly and carefully spoon the ganache on top of the cake so it is almost going over the sides then leave to set for an hour or two.
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