It has cake, frosting, a custard filling. There is no pastry crust. It is made in cake pans and assembled, not in a pie pan and served from said pie pan. It's a cake. But it's called a pie. Why?
Tell George to go to "whatscookinginamerica.net" for the history of Boston Cream Pie's name.. I did and love learning and thinking while drinking my morning coffee. Thanks!
(Sandy sent the following in an email...thought I'd share! --SR)
Hi Susan,
There are two questions that immediately come to mind when you hear Boston Cream Pie. One is "Why is it called a pie?", and the other is "Why the name 'Boston'?". To answer the first question of why "pie" instead of "cake", it is probably because colonists baked their cakes in pie tins as they did not own cake pans. As far as calling it Boston Cream Pie, the story began when a New York newspaper in 1855 published a recipe for a 'Pudding Pie Cake'. This recipe was similar to the Boston Cream Pie recipe of today except that it had a powdered sugar topping. From there we go to Boston where a man named Harvey D. Parker opened a restaurant called the Parker House Restaurant. On the menu was a 'Parker House Chocolate Pie', the recipe to which was similar to the New York newspaper recipe except a chocolate glaze had replaced the powdered sugar topping. We are not sure how it was renamed to 'Boston Cream Pie', but Bo Friberg in his book 'The Professional Pastry Chef' thinks "the name stems from the original title (in the New York paper) combined with the reference to Boston."
Okay, what's his rationale that it's not a pie?
ReplyDeleteIt has cake, frosting, a custard filling. There is no pastry crust. It is made in cake pans and assembled, not in a pie pan and served from said pie pan. It's a cake. But it's called a pie. Why?
ReplyDeleteTell George to go to "whatscookinginamerica.net" for the history of Boston Cream Pie's name.. I did and love learning and thinking while drinking my morning coffee. Thanks!
ReplyDelete(Sandy sent the following in an email...thought I'd share! --SR)
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
There are two questions that immediately come to mind when you hear Boston Cream Pie. One is "Why is it called a pie?", and the other is "Why the name 'Boston'?". To answer the first question of why "pie" instead of "cake", it is probably because colonists baked their cakes in pie tins as they did not own cake pans. As far as calling it Boston Cream Pie, the story began when a New York newspaper in 1855 published a recipe for a 'Pudding Pie Cake'. This recipe was similar to the Boston Cream Pie recipe of today except that it had a powdered sugar topping. From there we go to Boston where a man named Harvey D. Parker opened a restaurant called the Parker House Restaurant. On the menu was a 'Parker House Chocolate Pie', the recipe to which was similar to the New York newspaper recipe except a chocolate glaze had replaced the powdered sugar topping. We are not sure how it was renamed to 'Boston Cream Pie', but Bo Friberg in his book 'The Professional Pastry Chef' thinks "the name stems from the original title (in the New York paper) combined with the reference to Boston."
Blessings,
Sandy
Out here in CA the call it Boston Cream Cake or at least at the store we buy it at. It's my hubby's favorite cake.
ReplyDelete