Cake. No, not the band. And then some...

I wanted a nice, simple cake. Nothing too crazy. Just some basic elements that everyone loves. Almost like peanut butter&chocolate, but not... You get the idea. So, there was the thought of pudding (yumola) & a basic spongey cake (mmm mmm) & a little bit of chocolate (who doesn't love that?). Wouldn't you know it? The French have already thought of it. Except, a Frenchie thought of it while in Boston, while working at the then Parker House Hotel atop School Street downtown, right across from King's Chapel. They called it Boston Cream Pie. Except, of course, it's a cake. Now, I'm not sure whether to blame the misnomer on the Frenchman or on Bostonians in general, but whichever is at fault, I'm not surprised. Two additional little facts about the cake and its aura. First, the hotel kitchen that created it is also known for another ubiquitous table accoutrement: the Parker House dinner roll. Yup, that piece of white bread, crunchy&golden on the outside, tender&white on the inside, came out of the very same place as Boston Cream Pie. The Pie is also the official dessert of this great Commonwealth. (One more thing: the hotel itself was quite the place to be in Boston's literary heyday... check it out sometime.)

Anyway, the recipe I used came from Martha Stewart. It can be found here. I essentially followed it to the letter, thinking it would be no-fail. Well, I forgot that Martha's actually not a native of Massachusetts... which might explain the not-quite-no-fail attributes of this cake... Regardless, a few fuzzy pictures follow. The mise-en-place is first, naturally. (Note the sleek black Kitchen Aid.)

And so, it went well, generally, except for the cakey bit... of which only the top half (which became the bottom half) turned out cooked. The bottom half (which became the top half) was a dense mess. Edible, but hardly worth it. You wouldn't have known it by looking at it.

Even once assembled, it looked quite yummy. I will say that I didn't have the proper cake plate, which made the presentation slightly less than aesthetically pleasing. In any case, the pastry cream, which I made the day before, was outstanding. I would definitely, most definitely, use this recipe again. It can be found just off the link for the cake recipe, above. The chocolate glaze is a no-brainer (semi-sweet chocolate and heavy cream.... yeah, how is that not good?). I will find a new spongey cake recipe, or split the batter before baking. If anyone has a good basic cake recipe, please pass it along! I definitely aerated it sufficiently... Might not be enough flour... Or, who knows? There's a reason I'm not majoring in chemistry.

On another note: my older brother actually asked for seconds of the cake. That easily was a first for him. A first! And I don't think he was doing it to be nice.

Finally, what, pray tell, did I do with all those whites? Did I throw them away? Tsk tsk. That would've been wasteful. Instead, behold, a sea of meringue...