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Boston cream cupcakes

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes Recipe

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 16 cupcakes
Calories: 220kcal
Author: Becky Hardin
These Boston cream pie cupcakes are soft, creamy, and decadent—everything you love about the classic dessert in handheld form! Made with yellow cake mix and filled with vanilla pastry cream, they’re simple, impressive, and absolutely irresistible.
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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

  • Kitchen Scale (optional)
  • 2 Cupcake Tin(s)
  • Hand Mixer
  • Piping Tip Set (optional)

Ingredients

For the Pastry Cream Filling*

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Yellow Cupcakes

  • 13.25 ounces yellow cake mix (1 box)
  • 1 cup water
  • ⅓ cup unsalted butter melted (⅔ stick)
  • 3 large eggs

For the Chocolate Ganache Frosting

  • ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions

For the Pastry Cream

  • Add the sugar, cornstarch, and milk to a large saucepan and mix until smooth. Cook, stirring continuously, over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken and boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
    ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1 cup milk
    cornstarch and milk in a saucepan.
  • Add a little bit of the cornstarch/milk mixture to the egg yolks and whisk together, then add the egg mixture to back to the remaining milk mixture.
    2 egg yolks
    pouring cornstarch and milk over whisked egg yolks in a glass bowl.
  • Place the saucepan back on the heat and bring to a light boil. Allow to boil for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
    cooking pastry cream in a saucepan.
  • Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
    1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    adding butter and vanilla to pastry cream in a saucepan.

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 (12-count) cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
  • Whisk together the cake mix, water, butter, and eggs.
    13.25 ounces yellow cake mix, 1 cup water, ⅓ cup unsalted butter, 3 large eggs
    cupcake batter in a glass bowl.
  • Fill the cupcake liners about halfway. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
    baked cupcakes in a cupcake tin.

For the Chocolate Ganache Frosting

  • Combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 15-second intervals until the chocolate is completely melted.
    ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips, ¼ cup heavy cream
    chocolate chips and cream in a glass bowl.
  • Sift in powdered sugar and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
    2 tablespoons powdered sugar
    whisking thickened chocolate ganache in a glass bowl.

For Assembly

  • Once everything is cooled and ready, cut out the centers of the cupcakes.
    cored baked cupcakes.
  • Fill in the centers with pastry cream.
    spooning pastry cream into cored cupcakes.
  • Add the removed centers back over top of the pastry cream to seal it in.
    placing removed cores back over pastry cream filled cupcakes.
  • Top the cupcakes with the chocolate ganache.
    boston cream cupcakes with chocolate ganache on a wire rack.

Video

Notes

*I love and highly recommend making homemade pastry cream. I promise it's not as hard as it looks! But if you're in a real hurry, you can skip all these steps and prepare a box of instant vanilla pudding instead.
Tips:
  • If you're unsure if you properly tempered your eggs, you can strain the cooked custard through a fine-mesh sieve before chilling it to remove any cooked egg bits. This ensures a smooth pastry cream.
  • Take care not to overmix your cupcake batter, or the cupcakes will turn out dry and crumbly.
  • I like to portion my cupcakes with a cookie scoop or a ¼-cup measuring cup to ensure they all turn out the same size.
  • To make mini cupcakes, use a mini cupcake tin and bake for 8-12 minutes.
  • I cut about 1 inch wide and 1 inch deep into my cupcakes for the filling. That always gives me the perfect cupcake-to-cream ratio.
  • I always use a piping bag when filling the cupcakes. With a piping bag, I feel that I have more control over how much cream goes into each cupcake. You can certainly just use a spoon to put the filling in the cupcake, but it might not be as clean and neat as a piping bag.
  • I used about 1 tablespoon of pastry cream filling per cupcake. 
  • If you try to coat the cupcakes in ganache while it’s too warm, it won’t work out so well. The chocolate ganache needs about 10-15 minutes to cool, creating a deliciously thick texture.
Make-Ahead: You can make the pastry cream up to 2 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to fill the cupcakes. I like to keep it in a pastry bag or a Ziplock bag, then snip the tip when I'm ready to fill.
Storage: Store cream-filled cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I do not recommend freezing.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 194mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 303IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 1mg