Camp Cupcake: Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

This is possibly my favorite recipe that I've made to date.

It's a little on the ambitious side, as the cupcakes are filled with

pastry cream and topped with chocolate ganache glaze. However, they were well worth the effort. At least, to me they were.

People have asked me if I am getting sick of making cupcakes. Truthfully, there are times when I get the urge to make other things, like pudding, or hand pies, or cinnamon rolls. And I don't love having to wash the same dishes over and over again. But I don't think a week has gone by that I haven't looked forward to baking something. I never get over the thrill of taking

ingredients and making them into something that looks and tastes good, particularly during those weeks when the other areas of my life don't seem to be going the way I want them to. I still get excited to share whatever I've made with people I work with.

This week was no exception. I am in the process of getting my dissertation proposal revised so that I can finally start working on the actual data analysis. It's been slow-going, which is frustrating because I recognize that a lot rests on being able to get my dissertation proposed: graduation, job opportunities, leaving Lubbock. In addition, I had one client this week where, after hearing what was going on in her life, my gut reaction was to say something like, "Wow, that really sucks," because her situation was so bad, I wasn't sure what else I could say.

But all of that stuff tends to go away when I make cupcakes. These cupcakes were no exception. This was a recipe I had been looking forward to for a long time. I love things that are miniature, and the picture in the book was so pretty.

I made the cupcake base last night. Here is a link to the recipe. It tastes like the base of a

pastry, like an eclair or a cream puff. This is one of the few recipes I have made that instructs you to pour the batter directly into the pan without lining it first. I have learned by sad experience that getting the cupcakes out of the pan can be a little tricky. However, I decided to try Baker's Joy, which is a fabulous little spray that combines some sort of no-stick substance like Pam with flour. It turned out to be the best $1.88 I have ever spent. The cupcakes came out easily, and I didn't even have to run a knife around them first. Plus, I didn't have to mess with melting butter, brushing it inside the muffin tins and then dusting them with flour. I would highly recommend it for anyone making cakes or muffins or anything like that. George, if you haven't tried it yet, you'll be amazed.

Unfortunately, in the course of making the base of the cake, I managed to knock half a dozen eggs off the counter, which meant a) I spent some time mopping egg off my kitchen floor, and b) I had to run to the store this morning before I could make the pastry cream that goes along with this recipe.

I have to say, I am a big fan of pastry cream. It is, as far as I can tell, nothing more than really good, homemade vanilla pudding. I am embarrassed to admit that, after I was done filling the cupcakes with it, I ate the rest out of the bowl with a spoon. It's that good.

The last part of the recipe is the chocolate ganache glaze. The recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate, which makes it very rich. I wondered what it would have been like had I used milk chocolate, instead, but the pastry cream is so sweet that milk chocolate ganache might have been a little too much.

After all of the parts were finished, it was just a matter of assembling them together. I have never cut a cupcake in half, horizontally, so that was a little weird, but I am very proud of how they turned out. I had a little trouble transporting them, as the tops had a tendency to slide off, but they were still very pretty.

If you need to make a fancy dessert that can be served easily, this one is a real crowd pleaser. However, if you are looking for a cupcake that can be eaten without a napkin or a fork, this is probably not the recipe.