October 29, 2007

Bostini Cream Pie - Gluten Free


The October Daring Baker's Challenge

Mary from Alpineberry chose this month's Daring Baker's Challenge. She first tasted it twelve years ago in San Francisco and later the recipe was published in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. The recipe was developed by Donna Scala and Kurtis L. Baguley of Bistro Don Giovanni's restaurant in San Francisco. It was the San Francisco Chronicle's award winning recipe for 1996. Donna Scala is the owner of Don Giovanni's restaurant and Kurtis Baguley is now the Executive Pastry Chef of the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City where he serves a Bostini Trifle.

The original portions of this recipe were quite large, so I divided it into quarters. It made 5 small Bostini Cream Pie's.

Recipe

Custard

3 1/2 Tb lite coconut milk*
2 Tb cornstarch
1/2 beaten egg
2 yolks
3/4 cup + 3 1/2 Tbs coconut milk*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tb agave syrup

Orange Chiffon Cake

3 Tb brown rice flour
3 Tb sweet rice flour
3 Tb chestnut flour
3 Tb arrowroot starch
3 1/2 TB superfine sugar
1/4 + pinch baking powder
1 1/2 Tb coconut oil
1 egg yolk
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 Tb fresh orange juice
1 1/8 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp kudzu/kuzu powder, dissolved in the orange juice
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Chocolate Glaze
2 oz. semi sweet chocolate
2 oz. butter or coconut oil

Making the Custard

1. In a small bowl, pour the lite coconut milk and cornstarch and stir until smooth.

2. Dump in the whole egg and egg yolks, then whisk until smooth.

3. In a saucepan, pour in the coconut milk, vanilla extract and agave syrup. Slowly bring to a boil. As soon as it has come to a boil, pour several spoonfuls into the egg mixture to temper it. Whisk to combine the liquids. Slowly pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan. Constantly stirring, cook the cream mixture until the liquid has thickened.

4. Strain the custard and pour into 8 cupcake foils. Place in the refrigerator to chill.

Making the Chiffon Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 8 cupcake foils on a cookie sheet that are the same size as the ones used for the coconut custard.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, sugar, baking power and salt. Dump in the coconut oil, eggs yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla extract, stir until smooth. Take care not to overbeat.

3. In a large bowl or the bowl to your mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Dump in the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.

4. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter. Then pour the cake batter into the cupcake foils.

5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake top springs back when pressed with your fingertip. Cool the cakes on a wire rack. After they have cooled down, cover them with a towel so that they will remain moist.

Making the Chocolate Glaze

1. In a small saucepan, dump in the butter and heat it until it just starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir the butter and chocolate together, so that the chocolate will melt. Work the chocolate in until the mixture is smooth. If your sauce is a little lumpy, go ahead and strain the glaze.

2. When ready to build the Bostini Cream pie, make sure the chocolate glaze is warm.


To Make Bostini Cream Pie
1. On a plate, place down one chiffon cake layer making sure to remove the cake from the cupcake foil.

2. On top of the chiffon cake, place one of the coconut custard cups. If your custard did not completely firm up, scoop it out with a spoon and place on top of the cake.

3. On top of the coconut custard, place another layer of the chiffon cake. Remove it from the cupcake foil.

4. Drizzle with the warm chocolate glaze. Makes 4 Bostini Cream Pies.

What did my family think of Bostini Cream Pies? My children liked the chocolate sauce and my daughter liked the coconut custard. Neither one of them cared for the cake. My husband was in heaven as Boston Cream Pie is one of his favorite desserts. My husband and I thought that all together the Bostini had a nice flavor, but while the chocolate glaze and coconut custard were delightful, the cake was not our favorite.

Thank you Mary for a great challenge!

* Note: You can find two different types of coconut milk at your local health food store or Whole Foods, lite coconut milk that can be poured straight out of the can or coconut milk that you will need to remove the top of the can to remove. Coconut milk is very thick with some liquid that has usually settled at the bottom of the can. Before using the coconut milk, remove it from the can and place into a medium sized bowl. Stir it together before measuring out the quantity you need for a recipe. (I purchased my lite and regular coconut milk from my local Whole Foods where it was located in the Asian Foods section.)

39 comments:

Gigi said...

Great job on your plating. I love all the chocolate dots and swirls:)

Anne said...

Coconut - great idea! They look beautiful! :)

Carrie said...

The cake was my least favorite part as well. I liked the custard the best!

Esther said...

Looks great. I've bought some agave syrup recently but keep forgetting to try it out.

Brilynn said...

The coconut sounds great!

I think the cake was actually my favourite part though!

Belinda said...

The coconut milk sounds like an interesting addition...and your presentation is lovely...I really like the chocolate glaze! :-)

slush said...

This is why I love the DBs, we all loved the cake and said the cake was "eh". I love seeing everyones take and opinion.

Great job!! Gorgeous!

Unknown said...

looks great, i love coconut milk

glamah16 said...

Looks so good. I find it interesting how you adapted the recipe for the gluten free diet. Do you feel the diffrent gluten free flours had a impact on the taste? I so tempted to start playing with coconut milk now.

creampuff said...

Kudos to you for making this gluten free! And I love that you used coconut milk!

Wedgeoli said...

Your bostini looks great. The chocolate was definitely my favourite part!

www.chocolateshavings.ca

Anne said...

I love anything with coconut. Great job on this months challenge :)

Alpineberry Mary said...

Very nice job on your gluten free version. Coconut and chocolate is a great combination.

Lis said...

I said it last month and I'll say it again this month.. I am so impressed with how you change the recipes to be gluten & dairy free.

I love your lil Bostini - that chocolate has me drooling at 7:20 in the morning. :D

Way to go!

xoxo

April said...

this looks so good!!!

Jen Yu said...

I love how you transformed the recipe to gluten-free! That is just brilliant and I think it takes that extra bit of understanding to do it. Bravo! Looks terrific.

jen at use real butter

linda said...

Wow, it looks like a plate you'd get in a restaurant! You had to do a lot of adjustments not just the regular challenge but the gluten-free challenge on top of that and also no (cows) dairy? Curious about the combo with coconut...

Deborah said...

It looks wonderful!! You are a true adapter! A lot more daring than I am...

Unknown said...

I love how domed you Bostini are! And the shiny chocolate...great!

Dagmar said...

Great job and well done with adapting the recipe!

Christine said...

You have a double challenge with making it GF, though I suppose it's easy for you because you do it often!

I love the plating, very pretty. I also am intrigued by all of you who made it with coconut milk/water. I love chocolate and coconut!

Shandy said...

Hi and WoW! Your idea of changing the flavor to coconut was terrific! I love your presentation of the Bostini and I was wondering if changing the ingredients to make this gluten - free changed the texture of the cake? Baking is such a science and you definitely have my curiousity peaked =D

Shandy (Pastry Heaven)

Kelly-Jane said...

You've done a great job varing the recipe, and it looks fabulous too =)

Annemarie said...

very impressive to have come out with the right combinations to keep it gluten and dairy free. I'll definitely be keeping your dairy-free custard in mind since that would go down well in my house.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

wow, you did a SPECTACULAR job on the current Daring Bakers Challenge!! By the way, I too have a Sheltie!! I have a few pictures of her in some of my blog posts - she's quite delightful :0)

marias23 said...

Such elegant and beautiful plating. Great job! It looks droolworthy!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Hi again Sheltie Girl!!

I just read your lovely, inspiring comment on my blog - although Kiwi was not part of a rescue group, we did save her life (I wrote about it in my second blog post EVER - her story is quite compelling). It's so nice to have "met" another blogger who loves Shelties as much as my family and I do!! :0)

As much as I'd LOVE to be a Daring Baker (and am quite honored/appreciative that you mentioned it), I doubt I'd be able to fully participate, since I obviously cannot use the common ingredients that most Darings Bakers use (i.e. eggs, dairy, etc.), since I'm a vegan...

Helene said...

Beautiful GF version! I am always impressed with your adaptations. the plating is great!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I am so glad you are in our group. Great job on the Bostini! Your presentation is great. Altogether it wasn't my favorite but a wonderful experience. Delighted you can do it Gluten Free!

Julie said...

Wow, the idea of custard built on coconut milk is incredibly appealing! One of my favorite Thai restaurants serves coconut custard over their rice pudding, but it's more of a sauce. It looks like yours set up. Great job!

Gabi said...

Wow, great job and I'm so impressed with the way you adapted it to GF.
xoxo

thepassionatecook said...

i agree, small was the way to go. although when i finally tasted it, i wanted more, more, more!

Anita said...

Love the addition of the coconut! Your plating looks so pretty!

Inne said...

Great job Natalie. Very impressive, how you adapted everything to food intolerances/allergies. Btw, I love your banner at the top!

The Caked Crusader said...

Beautiful glossy choc sauce - i forgot to sieve mine!
Great photo too

Dolores said...

I was wondering how this dessert was going to work gluten and dairy free. Wow. It looks and sounds as amazing as the original. I love the coconut milk approach to the pastry cream!

Jenny said...

Nice swirls!
The coconut was quite the original variation!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Best,
Paz

LizG said...

Very nice bostini, Natalie! I love the use of coconut milk as an alternative. I'll have to try that, as I love coco milk.