Small Batch Vegan Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes- No dairy, no eggs!
These tender and fluffy Boston Cream Pie cupcake recipe yields just 6 perfectly moist one bowl vanilla cupcakes (that are naturally eggless and dairy free, so vegan!), filled with an easy lush vegan pastry cream, and topped with a silky pastry cream frosting that’s dipped in chocolate ganache! Naturally made without eggs and dairy free, these small batch Boston cream pie cupcakes taste just like the real deal- only in cupcake form!
Tell me about these Boston cream pie cupcakes:
If you love Boston cream pie, then let me introduce you to your new obsession.
Small batch Boston cream pie cupcakes.
We have a deliciously tender and moist vanilla cupcake that’s filled with a silky vegan pastry cream and topped with a pastry cream frosting AND dipped in chocolate ganache.
Basically mini Boston cream pies. Which I still think should be called a cake.
They’re also incredibly easy to make. Like my small batch cookie dough cupcakes, we only need a whisk and a bowl to make the batter (which is based off of my funfetti cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes!).
Then the pastry cream takes just 5 minutes to make, and requires zero eggs nor dairy (we’re using vegan alternatives!). And the rest? So easy. We’ll integrate the remaining pastry cream into our frosting (this is my FAVORITE part) and dip the frosted cupcake in melted chocolate ganache for the finishing touch.
These cupcakes are dreamy, lush, and perfect for those who haven’t attempted to make a cake yet (definitely less intimidating!). You’re going to love them!
Do I need to make them vegan?
As this is a vegan food blog, all of my recipes are vegan. Therefore, I haven’t tested any of them with dairy products. So I can’t say for sure if it will work.
And I will say that the vegan products we use are really simple! You really only need them for the pastry cream and frosting:
- Vegan heavy cream or coconut cream
- Vegan cream cheese
- Vegan butter or coconut oil
- Dairy free chocolate chips
- Dairy free milk (I love oat milk!)
Making a vegan pastry cream:
The one big worry with pastry cream is scrambling the eggs. You don’t have to worry about that here, because we have the easiest vegan pastry cream that just uses 7 ingredients, all of which are eggless and dairy free.
It’s based off of my classic vegan pastry cream, but reduced in amount so that we have just enough to fill and decorate our Boston cream pie cupcakes.
My biggest tips here:
- Keep the vegan cream and dairy free milk cold: No need to bring those to room temperature. It’s much easier to mix the cornstarch in if the liquid is cold.
- Whisk everything together before bringing to heat: You want to actually mix everything cold- it prevents the cornstarch from clumping!
- You can swap in arrowroot starch if you’d like: It’s also known as arrowroot flour. Either one works!
The best part about these cupcakes is then taking the leftover pastry cream and integrating it into the frosting. I used a cream cheese frosting as my base, then added the remaining pastry cream in.
The result? Ultra lush, silky, and DELICIOUSLY decadent. Like creamy, “buttery,” vanilla with a bit of a tang.
How to dip cupcakes into chocolate ganache:
This part in my concepting for making these Boston cream pie cupcakes made me really nervous. I’ve heard of dipping cupcakes into a chocolate coating before, so I knew it could be done, but what about vegan?
Well, short answer: it absolutely works. Here are my tips:
- Chill the frosted cupcakes: Pop the cupcakes into the freezer for just 5-10 minutes, or until your piped cream cheese frosting sets on top and feels cold. You don’t want to leave the cupcakes in there any longer, but just to set the frosting (so don’t worry- your cupcakes will still be really moist!).
- Prep the ganache while the cupcakes are cooling: This will give the ganache enough time to cool to room temperature, so that it doesn’t immediately melt off your frosting.
- Give the ganache a good stir before dipping: This makes sure that the ganache is super smooth.
- Dip, twist, pull: When you’re ready, gently and carefully dip the cupcake into the chocolate ganache to cover just the frosting, twist, and pull up to be right side up again. There you have it!
I’m shocked that I actually could do it on the first go, so I know that you absolutely can too! If you need more help, check out my video here on how to easily dip them.
Can I make these cupcakes gluten free?
Absolutely! Swap in my favorite, King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour using either the cup measurements or the gram measurements. It will work just wonderfully!
The remaining components of the recipe are all naturally gluten free, so you’re good to go there.
You’re just going to LOVE these small batch Boston cream pie cupcakes!! Seriously, they’re unbelievably vegan, and everyone will be speechless.
Let me know what you think of them in the comments section below! And happy baking 🙂
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Small Batch Vegan Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes- No dairy, no eggs!
- Prep Time: 20
- Cooling time: 30
- Cook Time: 22
- Total Time: 1 hour 12 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These tender and fluffy Boston Cream Pie cupcake recipe yields just 6 perfectly moist one bowl vanilla cupcakes (that are naturally eggless and dairy free, so vegan!), filled with an easy lush vegan pastry cream, and topped with a silky pastry cream frosting that’s dipped in chocolate ganache! Naturally made without eggs and dairy free, these small batch Boston cream pie cupcakes taste just like the real deal- only in cupcake form!
Ingredients
Small Batch Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes:
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (65 g) avocado oil
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract + 1/2 tsp vanilla powder or vanilla bean paste
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour*
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 batch vegan vanilla buttercream or vegan cream cheese frosting
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegan heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) dairy free milk*
- 1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
- 3 tbsp (30 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp vegan butter, cold
- 1/2 cup (100 g) vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (120 mL) vegan heavy cream
Instructions
- Prep: Line a half dozen cupcake tin with 6 cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 350F. Start with making the cupcakes first.
- Make the batter: In a bowl, whisk together the avocado oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste. Then add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. As you whisk, pour in the vegan buttermilk and whisk JUST until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the batter.
- Bake the cupcakes: Scoop the batter to fill 6 cupcakes. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until lightly golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in their cupcake tin for 30 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make the pastry cream: In a small saucepan WITHOUT heat, whisk together the vegan heavy cream, dairy free milk, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla bean paste, and sea salt. Then bring the saucepan to medium heat, and whisk as the mixture cooks and thickens. Once thickened (about 7 minutes), remove from heat, and add in the vegan butter. Stir until the vegan butter is melted and incorporated. Then transfer the pastry cream to a bowl, and cover lightly with saran wrap. Place the bowl into the fridge to chill until the pastry cream is cold, about 30 minutes.
- While the cupcakes are cooling: Make the vegan chocolate ganache by heating up the heavy cream (either in the microwave or on the stovetop) until hot. Then add in the chocolate chips, and let sit for 1 minute to start to melt. Mix vigorously to combine. Then set the chocolate ganache aside to cool to room temperature as the cupcakes are cooling.
- Next, make the frosting: Whether you’ve chosen the buttercream or the cream cheese frosting, make a half batch of whichever frosting you’re using following the instructions in the post. Then cover and set aside as we prepare for assembly! We’ll add the remaining pastry cream to the frosting in Step 8.
- Fill the cupcakes: Once the cupcakes and pastry cream are cooled, you can fill the cupcakes. Slice a small 1/2″ divot into the top of each cupcake (or use a cupcake corer). Spoon the pastry cream into a piping bag and pipe the pastry cream into the cavity of each cupcake. You will have leftover, which we will use for the frosting!
- Finish the frosting: Add the remaining pastry cream frosting to the cream cheese frosting, and cream together on high speed until fluffy. It will be soft, which is not a problem!
- Pipe the frosting: Fill a piping bag with a round tip and pipe the frosting on top of each cupcake. Place the cupcakes onto a plate and place the plate into the freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes. This will harden the frosting enough for us to dip the cupcakes into the ganache.
- Dip the cupcakes: Once the frosting feels set, remove the cupcakes from the freezer. Stir the chocolate ganache if it has set a bit (you can also do a quick zap in the microwave for 5-10 seconds). Carefully dip the top of one cupcake into the chocolate ganache, twist, and pull back up. Place the cupcake back onto the plate or cooling rack, and repeat for all of the cupcakes.
- Serve and enjoy! Serve the cupcakes immediately or store for later covered in the fridge. Enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free: Swap in King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour for gluten free Boston cream pie cupcakes.
This recipe is delicious (which is no different than all of the other Banana Diaries recipes I’ve tried, so no wonder! The vanilla cupcakes alone were moist, soft, and fluffy, but then add the pastry cream, frosting & ganache and you are truly living!
A few notes:
– Just FYI, you will have WAY more frosting than you need, even if you half the recipe. I packed mine up and may make a 6 inch cake in a few days to use up the rest.
– At first I didn’t realize the the remaining pastry cream gets whipped with the buttercream at the end, so the frosting had some downtime before I whipped it together with the remaining cream. This ended up being fine, however, I momentarily panicked because it looked at first as though my frosting split once I added the cream! I just kept whipping and it turned out perfectly smooth and fluffy within another minute or two- so if this happens, don’t panic!
– Unfortunately the ganache recipe as listed here did not work for me at all. I used vegan chocolate chips and Silk heavy whipping cream and followed the instructions exactly. What I got was a gritty and greasy chocolate blob…I don’t know what I did wrong!
– To correct this, I put 3 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chopped into a bowl and then microwaved 1/3 of a cup of full fat coconut milk until it was bubbling. Then, I poured the coco milk over the chocolate, let stand for 4 minutes, then whisked together. This created a perfectly glossy ganache that covered my iced cupcakes perfectly while hardening slightly once cooled.
Overall, amazing recipe and thank you for sharing! I love trying as many of your recipes as possible 🙂
Hi Maggie!
I’m SO grateful for these notes, thank you so much!! The frosting recipe, I can reduce even more, and will adjust the recipe accordingly 🙂 For the ganache, I’m so sorry that happened, I’ve never heard of that happening! I usually use the Silk heavy whipping cream, so I find that bizarre that it was gritty- which brand of chocolate did you use? Unless it was just a bad carton of silk :/
But so glad that you loved them still!! Thank you again for these notes! They’re so helpful for other readers 🙂
Thank you so much for the super-quick reply! I personally don’t mind the extra frosting- it is so delicious and can be used in many ways… I appreciate that it has me looking to bake again this week! For the ganache, I used Wegmans brand dark chocolate chips, I’m wondering if I made the Silk too hot? I’m not really sure, but anyhow, my husband who is not vegan/no-dairy LOVED these so much he actually brought one into work today to share with his teammate. Thanks again!
That’s so fascinating about the ganache!! I’m really curious as to how that happened, maybe the Silk was too hot? I’ll look into it because I don’t want that to happen to others! But so so happy you both loved them 🙂 Really really happy to hear it, thank you!!
This recipe was SO GOOD! The cupcake itself- phenomenal!
The pastry cream! YUM!
I made the butter cream and had to improvise with it and the ganache because I messed up haha
I used canned coconut milk VS heavy cream for the ganache and it worked out fine! I through out my heavy cream forgetting I needed it for the ganache.
I used earth balance for the butter cream. You do have to keep an eye to not let it get too melty when you are bringing it to room temp. Mine did so I popped it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
This recipe was so good my husband ate 2! Loved it and loved that it was only 6. I can’t wait to try other recipes!
Hi!
I’d love to make this recipe, but I don’t have avocado oil at home. Is there a substitute I can use for that? 🙂
Oh sure! So what you need is a high heat oil- you can also use canola oil or sunflower oil are the best because they’re pretty neutral in flavor!
This recipe is delicious. Thus is the first successful vegan pastry cream recipe I’ve found.
That’s so wonderful!! So glad to hear it, thanks for the review 🙂
I used this purley for the cupcake recipe and it was great! thanks!
Amazing!! I’m so happy to hear it 🙂 Thank you for the review!!