Boston Cream Cupcakes 8 points (by proxy)

"I don't love custard unless it is frozen," she types, as her heart heaves and pangs of sorrow shoot through her body.  "It's freezing cold down here in this basement of mine, but sweet heaven above what I would do to a Nielsen's milkshake right now."

        

But moving on... When I saw that these cupcakes would require homemade custard, I really stopped caring about the cupcakes and focused on how I could turn the pastry custard in to frozen custard.  Boston Cream anything mostly makes me feel a little funny in my gag reflex area, so these weren't all that motivating for me.  But, I plugged along with the indispensable help of Aunt Mint, who took over custard duty and then created a superb glaze. (Note: We did this during nap time.  We are kind of like super-heroes, but lamer and in yoga pants instead of flame-retardant Kevlar tights.)  I baked the cakes, filled, and glazed.  I was convinced that I had destroyed the cakes by the time they came out of the oven  The batter was so weirdly frothy before baking that when they came out more like individual shortcakes, I almost gave up.  Luckily Mint looked at the pictures in the cookbook (brilliant!) and pointed out that my cakes looked identical to their cakes.  Score!  We cored the cooled cakes, fed the middles to our mouths and The Dude, and filled those bad boys up with (gag) Boston Cream.  The glaze really turned things around for me, though.  We didn't have bittersweet chocolate like the recipe calls for, so we used Ghirardelli semi-sweets that were left over from making blondies last week (a blondie is what I call dessert!  These things were divine!)  The glaze turned out perfectly!  And in the microwave, too!  No double boiler, constant stirring, etc.  Just throw some sticky, calorie laden items into a sweet vintage Pyrex bowl and stir.  Done!  I really enjoyed glazing the cakes.  It made me feel super fancy and skilled.  I think I will give up teaching, daycare, parenting, wifery and breathing in order to pursue a career at Sprinkles as a froster.  I figure it's still a step-up from my original dream career of wanting to be the person who poured Slurpees at 7-11.  I lived in Huntington, Utah.  I didn't know that patrons pour their own Slurpees.  I was out of a job before I ever had one.  Bummer.

I didn't mind any one of this recipes components alone.  But when you put them together it is like they meld into my word nightmare.  Gooey, moist, sticky, glorified donuts.  However, Aunt Mint, The Dude, and Mr. Ginger all agreed that these cakes are something special.  Since I clearly cannot be objective, I have to trust their ratings.  Even Grandma Steve, who like me, is not a custard, pastry-type lady enjoyed one.

You should know that I have a lot of guilt for not being able to wax poetic about these cupcakes.  In all fairness, the recipe isn't terribly difficult, the cakes turn out beautifully, the custard tastes nice, the glaze is delectable, and they present like a dream.  The final consensus?  I'm a little bit insane, and pastry dose nothing for me.  You, however, should try these cupcakes.  Even if you don't live in Boston.  Here is the recipe, courtesy of my lovely cousin, Mrs. Amanda Tatton.