Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

Last updated - ; Published - By Rhian Williams 35 Comments

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ThisGluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie is:

  • rich and creamy
  • perfectly chocolatey
  • just as delicious as the traditional version!

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (1)

Contrary to what the title may suggest, Boston Cream Pie is actually a sponge cake, and I was inspired to make this gluten-free and vegan version because I used to really love Boston cream pie donuts.

The combination of the creamy custard with velvety chocolate ganache is absolutely heavenly, and I was keen to recreate this in a dietary requirement-friendly sweet treat.

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (2)

For the cake, I used my go-to sponge recipe: it comes together in one bowl, uses familiar ingredients and is vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free. It's moist and fluffy, and makes the perfect base for a layer cake like this Boston Cream Pie.

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (3)

For the custard filling, I used unsweetened cashew milk, which I love because it's so naturally sweet and creamy, and a shop-bought custard powder.

You'll be surprised that a lot of custard powders are actually naturally vegan and gluten-free, so be sure to look out for that if you have any dietary requirements. If you can't get hold of cashew milk, unsweetened almond milk would also work.

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (4)

I use this custard powder which I love because it's vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free and contains just 4 simple ingredients!

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (5)

And now for my favourite part of this Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - the chocolate ganache topping! My version here is so easy to make as all you need to do is melt some dark chocolate and mix in any type of milk.

This creates a seriously indulgent, melt-in-your-mouth silky ganache that stays pleasantly soft even after having been refrigerated, as opposed to just using melted chocolate, which will harden completely when refrigerated, making the cake impossible to cut.

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (6)

If you'd like to keep the cake completely refined sugar free, you could buy a refined sugar free dark chocolate, or use my coconut oil-based chocolate sauce recipe here.

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (7)

I hope you’ll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie! For more cakes, check out my:

  • Coconut Cake
  • Lemon Blueberry Cake
  • Cherry Bakewell Cake
  • Purple Carrot Cake
  • Victoria Sponge Cake
  • Black Forest Cake
  • German Chocolate Cake
  • Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Cake
  • Brooklyn Blackout Chocolate Cake

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog,I’d really love to hear anyfeedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes onInstagram! Thank you.

Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie:

glass mixing bowl

measuring jug

18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin

baking paper

cooling rack

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (8)

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie

ThisGluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie is rich and creamy, perfectly chocolatey, and just as delicious as the traditional version!

4.46 from 33 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten-free boston cream pie, vegan boston cream pie, vegan gluten-free cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 343kcal

Author: Rhian Williams

Ingredients

For the cake:

For the custard:

  • 300 ml (1 ¼ cup) unsweetened cashew milk (or sub any other milk)
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup to taste (or sub any other sweetener)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons custard powder (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary - the amount you need may vary depending on the brand)

For the chocolate ganache*:

  • 40 g (1.5oz) dark chocolate* (ensure vegan if necessary)
  • 6 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)

  • Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)

  • Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds

  • Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

  • Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry

  • Transfer mixture between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm springform baking tins)

  • Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean

  • Once done, turn the cakes out onto wire racks and leave to cool completely before applying the custard

For the custard:

  • Heat up the milk in a saucepan with the maple syrup and vanilla

  • Dissolve the custard powder in a separate bowl in a little extra milk

  • Once the milk in the saucepan is steaming, add a little of the hot milk to the bowl with the dissolved custard powder, mix well and transfer the custard powder mixture to the saucepan

  • Mix well and keep stirring on a low heat for a few minutes until thickened. If it's looking too thick, add a little extra milk, and if it's looking too thin then add some more custard powder as required - in general, it's better for the custard to be too thick than too thin

  • Leave the custard to cool for around 30 minutes before applying to the cake - it doesn’t have to be completely cooled but it should have firmed up a little

For the chocolate ganache:

  • Melt the chocolate either over a bain-marie or in the microwave, add the milk and mix well

To assemble:

  • Place one half of the sponge on a cake stand or plate, and spread the custard evenly on top of it

  • Place the other half of the sponge on top of the custard

  • Pour the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake and spread evenly

  • I’d recommend keeping the cake in the fridge for a few hours until the chocolate ganache has set before cutting to avoid making too much of a mess

  • Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days

Notes

*You can alternatively usealmond flour

**If you'd like to keep the cake completely refined sugar free, you could buy a refined sugar free dark chocolate, or use my coconut oil-based chocolate sauce recipe here.

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie

Amount Per Serving

Calories 343

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Made the recipe?Tag @rhiansrecipes on instagram and use the hashtag #rhiansrecipes!

Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.

More Recipes

  • Gluten-Free Vegan Raspberry Madeleines
  • Gluten-Free Vegan Raspberry Muffins
  • Gluten-Free Vegan Raspberry Cake
  • Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply

  1. Ashleigh

    Have you tried making any other sizes of cake? Thinking about using 9 inch pans but not sure the cake is substantial enough and doubling might be too much. Figured it’s worth seeing if you ever did it another way. Looking forward to making this for my 40th birthday next week!!

    Reply

    • Rhian Williams

      I think for 9 inch pans you could use 1.5 times the recipe, so half the recipe extra added onto this recipe! You can easily get calculations for this by moving the sliding scale on the recipe next to the number of servings to '12 slices' instead of '8'. Hope that helps!

  2. Marah

    Do you think it’d be fine to put the batter into cupcake tins?!

    Reply

    • Rhian Williams

      Yes definitely!

« Older Comments

Gluten-Free Vegan Boston Cream Pie - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is Boston cream pie filling made of? ›

What is Boston cream filling made of? This delicious cake is filled with pastry cream or creme patissiere in French. It's a silky custard made from egg yolks and sugar most often flavored with vanilla.

Why is Boston cream pie a pie and not a cake? ›

A Boston cream pie is a cake with a cream filling. The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were baked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. In the late 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cream pie", a "chocolate cream pie", or a "custard cake".

Is Boston cream pie a Boston thing? ›

The dessert—layers of pastry surrounding a spill of custard, the top glazed in chocolate—is often said to have been invented at Boston's Omni Parker House, where the future Communist revolutionary worked as a baker around 1912. His marble-topped pastry table can still be seen on display at the hotel.

Why is the Boston cream pie significant to Massachusetts? ›

The Boston Cream Pie was declared the official state dessert of Massachusetts in 1996, thanks in part to a Norton High School civics class who sponsored the bill. The cream pie beat out some stiff competition in Fig Newtons, Toll House cookies, and Indian pudding.

What's the difference between Bavarian cream and Boston cream? ›

The doughnut adaptation of the pie is popular not only in Massachusetts but throughout the United States and Canada. Also filled with the same cream, the Bavarian cream doughnut differs from the Boston cream doughnut in that, instead of a chocolate glaze topping, the Bavarian cream doughnut is tossed in powdered sugar.

What is the best ingredient to use in thickening the filling of cream pies? ›

Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency. Tapioca starch is preferable for products that will be frozen because it will not break down when thawed.

Why is it no longer called crack pie? ›

Name change

Some food writers and others have criticized naming foods including Crack Pie after addictive substances as insensitive and offensive. In May 2019, Devra First of the Boston Globe criticized the name in a column for making light of addiction by alluding to the addictiveness of crack cocaine.

What state is known for Boston cream pie? ›

The dessert was first created and served at the grand opening of Boston's Parker House, now widely known as Omni Parker House, nestled in downtown Boston, MA. Today, the Boston Cream Pie is distinguished as Massachusetts' official state dessert over Toll House Cookies and the Fig Newton.

What's the difference between custard pie and cream pie? ›

In North America, "custard pie" commonly refers to a plain mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and sometimes nutmeg combined with a pie crust. It is distinctly different from a cream pie, which contains cooked custard poured into a cooled, precooked crust.

Does Mrs Smith make Boston cream pie? ›

Sink your fork into layers of rich vanilla custard, fluffy whipped cream, and moist yellow cake with Mrs. Smith Boston Cream Pie, a classic indulgence that's sure to please. This frozen pie is perfect for any occasion: a quick weeknight dessert or a special treat for weekend gatherings.

Does a Boston cream pie need to be refrigerated? ›

Does Boston Cream Pie need to be refrigerated? Yes, because of the milk and egg-based filling, Boston Cream Pie should be refrigerated until you serve it but can be left at room temperature for up to four hours in a room that is less than 85ºF.

Does Boston cream have custard or cream? ›

Boston cream “pie” is actually a sponge cake—thus named because it turns out as light and fluffy as a sponge. The cake includes two layers filled with a creamy vanilla-flavored custard and topped with a rich chocolate icing. When making the custard, take care to follow the directions closely.

What is another name for a Boston cream pie? ›

Cookbooks from that era, like Fannie Farmer's 1895 The Boston Cooking-school Cook Book, include recipes for similar desserts—custard-filled or cream-filled cake, albeit without the chocolate glaze—under different names, like cream pie, French cream cake, or Boston cream cake.

Which came first, Boston cream pie or donut? ›

The doughnut was made out of inspiration from the Boston cream pie which was, in turn, created by chef M. Sanzian at Boston's Parker House Hotel in 1856.

What pie is America known for? ›

Apple pie has English origins, according to Smithsonian magazine, but the dessert is an American classic. Even McDonalds makes apple pie.

What is Boston cream donut filling made of? ›

Boston cream donuts are always topped with chocolate and filled with pastry cream, just like a Boston cream pie or my Boston cream cupcakes.

What is cream pie filling made of? ›

A cream pie, crème pie, or creme pie is a type of pie filled with a rich custard or pudding that is made from milk, cream, sugar, wheat flour, and eggs and typically topped with whipped cream.

What is the jelly stuff in pork pies? ›

Use this gelatine to insert into your pastries. Often used in pork pie to bring our flavour and fill the gap between the pastry edge and the meat. Gelatine is a protein that is used in various products for filling and decorating.

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