Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Gluten free baking. Does it terrify anyone else? Just me? Hm.  Whelp. I finally decided it was time to conquer my fear and try my hand at it.

I was sent a copy of Kyra Bussanich’s new cookbook Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle which makes gluten-free baking seem not-so-scary. Kyra was the first gluten free  baker to win Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and has actually won twice overall so she knows her stuff! The cookbook is filled with really amazing sounding cupcakes but has a bunch of other mouthwatering baking recipes, including gluten free muffins, scones, cookies, brownies, and much more!

As I was paging through the cookbook, I came across her recipe for Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes. I just had to make them!

I used a bunch of OXO baking tools to create these cupcakes including the Cupcake Corer, the 6 Piece Measuring Spoon Set, and the 6 Piece Measuring Cup Set. These tools, along with many others, can be found during the month of September with these green stickers on them:

For every specially marked item sold, OXO is donating 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as a part of its $100,000 pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Keep an eye out for the green sticker when buying your baking tools, every little bit helps!

Now, on to the recipe. I changed the frosting but kept the rest of the recipe intact.

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup potato starch
• 2/3 cup white rice flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 package dark chocolate chips (12 oz)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• Pinch fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Cocoa powder, as needed

“Adapted with permission from Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle by Kyra Bussanich (Ten Speed Press, © 2013).”

So, I don’t know the whole science of gluten free baking yet. But I thought I’d include some information about some of the ingredients included in this recipe. (Someone correct me here if I’m wrong about this stuff)

• Tapioca starch or tapioca flour is made from the root of the cassava plant. It’s basically ground tapioca pearls. The starch keeps gluten free baked goods chewy and adds some sweetness to the batter.

• Another thickener (or corn starch substitute) is potato starch. According to Bob’s Red Mill, potato starch adds moistness to baked goods.
• White rice flour is exactly what it sounds like: white rice ground into a flour. Rice is gluten free so it works great as a gluten-free flour.
•  Gluten is kind of important when it comes to baking. So in gluten free baking, you need to add something to the mix to help hold everything together when baking. This is where xanthan gum comes in. It’s great as a thickener in sauces and dressings and works as a substitute to gluten in baking.
• Vanilla bean paste isn’t a gluten free alternative. It’s actually just a vanilla extract alternative (you can use them interchangeably). Vanilla bean paste is just vanilla extract infused with vanilla bean seeds so it packs more punch in the vanilla-flavor department. You can find it in specialty natural foods markets. I found it at Wegmans.

 

Your gluten free baking ingredients lesson is now over. Now to test out our new knowledge!

 

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners and set aside.

 

Add the softened butter to a large bowl and beat on medium speed until light and creamy.

Add the sugar and beat until light in color and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl at the end.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl at the end.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the tapioca starch, potato starch, rice flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum.

Add the milk and vanilla to a small bowl and mix to combine.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the large bowl, mixing to combine.

Add 1/2 of the milk/vanilla mixture to the large bowl and mix to combine.

Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mixing. Follow with the remaining half of the milk/vanilla mixture and mix. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill the prepared cupcake tins two-thirds full.

Bake until the tops are slightly springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean, 13 to 16 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place each cupcake on a cooling rack until completely cool.

 

To make the pastry cream, line a baking pan with heatproof plastic wrap and set aside (I have zero idea what heatproof plastic wrap is. I used normal plastic wrap and I’m still alive…)

Place the milk and the sugar in a saucepan and scald the milk (heat to the point where it is steaming and the edges look like it is about to boil but is not yet bubbling).

 

While waiting for the milk to steam, separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.

Add the egg yolks to a large bowl. (Reserve the egg whites for omelettes!)

Whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and the remaining cup of sugar until well combined.

Once the milk is scalded, whisk the egg mixture vigorously while very slowly pouring in the milk in a steady stream.

Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium-high heat. Whisk constantly while heating to ensure that no lumps form. Bring to a boil and, whisking constantly, continue to let boil for 90 seconds. (Mine thickened up quite a bit)

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla bean paste until well blended.

Pour the pastry cream into the plastic wrap–lined pan and cover the entire surface of the cream with additional plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Chill 30 to 60 minutes.

When the cupcakes have completely cooled, use the cupcake corer to core the center of each cupcake. (If you do not have a cupcake corer you can use a pairing knife, do not cut completely down to the bottom though!)

Reserve the cored part. Add the pastry cream to a plastic ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners. Squeeze some of the filling into each cupcake, leaving a bit of room at the top.

Take the cored part of the cupcake and remove all but the top. Add the top back to the cupcake and press down.

To make the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan. When it begins steaming, remove from heat and add the chocolate chips, vanilla bean paste, salt, and butter. Let cool to room temperature.

This as is would be good for the frosting. But when you core the cupcakes, it can make the top a bit lumpy which makes this thin icing not exactly pretty. So. I decided to thicken it up into more of a traditional cupcake icing. I whisked in some cocoa powder until the frosting thickened (I want to say I used about a 1/4 cup but I honestly don’t know. Add until it looks like normal frosting). Do this once it has completely cooled because the gananche will thicken as it cools as well.

Add the frosting to a pastry bag or another ziplock bag with a corner cut. Squeeze the frosting onto each cupcake.

Woo hoo! Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes! LOOK AT THESE!

They taste as good as they look too!

I do wish the corer took out a bit wider of an area so there could be more of the creamy center. But past that, these cupcakes are amazing.

I’m so happy I had a winning gluten-free baker to teach me the way through her cookbook. I can’t wait to try more of the recipes in this cookbook when gluten intolerant friends are in town (or honestly, these look so good, maybe I will just make them for myself and not share. shh).