Boston Cream Pie, Parker House Rolls and the Story of a Famous Hotel
Two classic comfort foods were born in the same downtown Boston hotel. Here is the history behind Boston cream pie and Parker House rolls.
Some foods carry a city’s name around the world. Boston cream pie is one of them, and it shares its birthplace with another classic, the Parker House roll. Both trace their roots to a single downtown hotel that has been feeding Bostonians since the 1850s.
The Parker House
Harvey Parker opened the Parker House on School Street in 1855, across from where Boston Latin School once stood and near the Old City Hall. It quickly became one of the city’s leading hotels, known for fine dining and an elegant setting. Today it operates as the Omni Parker House and is often described as the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States.
In the 1800s, the hotel’s dining rooms hosted an informal literary group known as the Saturday Club. Members included figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Charles Dickens also stayed at the hotel during a visit to America.
A pie that is really a cake
Boston cream pie was created at the Parker House in the 1850s. Despite the name, it is a cake: two layers of sponge cake filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate glaze. At the time, the line between pies and cakes was blurrier than it is now, and cakes were often baked in pie tins.
The dessert became popular well beyond the hotel. In 1996, Massachusetts named Boston cream pie its official state dessert after a campaign that involved schoolchildren and lawmakers. It also inspired the Boston cream doughnut, a favorite in coffee shops across New England.
The roll with a fold
The Parker House roll is a soft, buttery dinner roll made by folding a round of dough in half before baking, which gives it its distinctive pocketbook shape. It was created at the hotel in the 1800s, and recipes for it spread through American cookbooks. Many home bakers still make Parker House rolls for holidays.
Other Boston comfort foods
Winter in Boston calls for hearty food, and the city has a long list of classics:
- New England clam chowder, the creamy version, served in restaurants all over the city.
- Boston baked beans, slow-cooked with molasses, a reminder of the city’s trade history and the source of the nickname Beantown.
- Brown bread, a steamed bread often served with beans.
- Indian pudding, a cornmeal and molasses dessert with colonial roots.
Making Boston cream pie at home
If you want to bake one on a cold weekend, the basic parts are simple: a light sponge or butter cake, a vanilla pastry cream and a glossy chocolate glaze. Let the cake cool fully before filling, chill the cream well and pour the glaze while it is still warm so it spreads evenly. Many recipes, including versions published by the hotel itself, are easy to find.
Whether you try it in the hotel’s dining room or bake it in your own kitchen, Boston cream pie is a small, sweet piece of city history.
