Boston Crème Cupcakes. Deliciously moist yellow cupcakes with a vanilla custard center and topped with chocolate ganache. Hello, heaven. My young daughter kept coming into the kitchen while I was making these and asking, “Mommy, can I have a cupcake?” and I’d always reply, “Not yet sweet pea, they’re not finished.” She would then turn around and walk out, only to come back in, asking the same question every five minutes. Although, I’ll have to say she had perfect timing when I was using a cupcake corer to remove the center of the cupcakes to prepare them for adding the filling…because there were cupcake scraps from removing the centers. She must have eaten five little scraps, gobbling them down and saying, “Yummy in the tummy, Mommy!” She’s definitely right about that one, these were very yummy in the tummy.
I took a bite out of the cupcake for the picture above…and enjoyed every second of it. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get the pictures done in order to finish off the rest of it. It couldn’t be left sitting there like that, half eaten…right?! Hard to believe this was my first try making chocolate ganache, and I’ll definitely be making that again to put on top of other desserts. These cupcakes were simple and amazing. Simply amazing. There you go, that’s the perfect description.
For the Cupcakes:
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in medium size mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer at medium speed for 2-4 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, distribute batter into lined muffin pan. Bake for 22-24 minutes, until a light golden brown on top. Cool completely on cooling racks. Use cupcake corer and remove center of cupcakes. Slice a small portion off top of removed core, place on top of filling, top with ganache. Store cupcakes in refrigerator.
For the Filling:
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 (3.4 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons vanilla
Combine milk, instant pudding mix, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat mixture with a hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until it thickens. Place mixture in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size plain tip. Fill cupcakes with vanilla pudding filling by inserting tip into top of cupcake and squeezing a couple of tablespoons of filling into each cupcake.
For the Chocolate Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
Heat cream in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until bubbles appear around the edges. Remove from heat, add chocolate morsels to pan, and whisk until smooth. Spoon or drizzle glaze over cupcakes. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour, before serving.
