This is not my first boston cream pie, I made one many moons ago, before my mum became a vegetarian, so obviously that version of the cake had eggs in.

Also, if memory serves me well, that cake was a bit of a nightmare, I couldn’t get the ganache to set, because Anna Olson’s book said one thing, but then on her recipe page the recipe was different and I used half of one recipe and then half of the other and it was just a pouring chocolate stream that didn’t want to set.

This time however the ganache set like it is supposed to, all thick and luscious and shiny, which means I tempered it properly… I hope.

For the first time ever I made my own pastry cream. Normally I skip over recipes that require me to make pastry cream or I substitute it with custard.

The finished cake was so good that I didn’t share it with my dad’s work buddies, I made sure that there was enough slices left over for me to last me through the week as a before bed time snack… the diet can start again in 2019, Don’t you think?

My mum loved the cake, we fought over who was going to lick the ganache bowl when I was finished, she won, so what did I do? I quickly washed all the dishes by mistake of course.

Thanks to my new cake layer cutter, I was able to evenly and neatly cut this cake in half, normally I battle or take the easy way out by only icing the top of the cake and forging the middle. I just seem to be one of those people that can’t cut a circle cake in half evenly, freehand, it always always comes out lopsided. No more thanks to my new gadget… Oh how I love gadgets. My kitchen draw is over flowing with gadgets but I refuse to throw anything out.

Ingredients for the cake:

1 ½ x cups soya milk.

3 x Tbsp white wine vinegar.

½ x cup butter, melted.

½ x cup coconut oil, melted.

2 x tsp vanilla essence.

1 x tsp salt.

1 ¾ x cup castor sugar.

3 x cups cake flour.

2 x tsp bicarbonate of soda.

1 x batch pastry cream

1 x batch chocolate ganache.

Method for the cake:

In a jug, milk the soya milk and vinegar together. Set aside and allow to curdle for 10 – 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together the butter, coconut oil, vanilla essence, salt and sugar till smooth and set aside.

In another bowl, sift together the cake flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix till well combined.

Pour into a greased and line cake tin.

Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes into the tin, before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Ingredients for the pastry cream:

• 4 ½ x tbsp. corn starch.
• ¼ x cup water.
• 2 x cups soya milk.
• ¾ x cup castor sugar.
• 3 x Tbsp butter.
• Pinch of turmeric.
• 2 x tsp vanilla essence.

Method:

• In a jug, mix together the cornstarch and water and whisk till smooth and set aside.
• In a sauce pan, combine the milk, sugar, butter and turmeric together.
• Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Add in the cornstarch mixture and stir continuously till the mixture starts to thicken.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla essence.
• Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heat proof dish.
• Cover the surface of the custard with cling wrap.
• Pop into the fridge to set.

Ingredients for the ganche:

• ½ x cup whipping cream.
• 120g x bitter sweet chocolate chips.
• 1 x Tbsp oil.
• 1 x tbsp. corn syrup.

Method:

• In a sauce pan, bring the cream to a boil.
• Remove from the heat and pour over chocolate chips.
• Stirring till all the chocolate has melted.
• Stir in the oil and syrup.
• Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.

To assemble the cake:

• Cut the cake into two layers.
• Place one layer down on your plate.
• Spoon the pastry cream over this layer, smoothing it out nicely.
• Place the second layer onto of the cream.
• Carefully spread your ganache over the top of the cake.
• Pop into the fridge for 10 minutes allowing the ganache to set.