Bite into a Boston Cream Pie at Omni Parker House for National Pie Day

Forget cupcakes. Pies are "the new cupcakes," to quote the Los Angeles Times. And a recent New York Times article ponders the question, "Is the cupcake bubble still inflating?" Across the country, it appears that pies are supplanting red velvet as the latest sugar-crazed trend. How appropriate that National Pie Day falls this weekend. Boston's historic Omni Parker House Hotel is rolling out the Boston Cream Pies on January 23 for the occasion. Figures- the hotel invented both the Boston Cream Pie* and Parker House rolls! You're invited to stop by the hotel lobby today (January 21) at 4 pm for a free slice of pie. What's more- the venerable hotel will donate a portion of all Boston Cream Pie sales from Friday-Sunday to the Charlestown Club, part of Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, which was featured in the movie "The Town."

*Curious about the history of the Boston Cream Pie? Read away:

Harvey Parker opened the ornate, five-story Parker’s Hotel and Restaurant in 1855. During this time, chocolate was primarily consumed as a beverage or in puddings. When Harvey Parker hired creative French Chef Sanzian to create and serve a versatile menu in his restaurant, his bake staff decided to drizzle chocolate icing onto a sponge cake filled with vanilla custard. Instantly, the Boston Cream Pie was born and became an immediate and perennial hit. The original Parker House recipe for the pie was so popular, that in 1958 it became a Betty Crocker boxed mix. On Dec. 12, 1996, the Boston Cream Pie was proclaimed the official Massachusetts State Dessert. The bill was signed into law in the Omni Parker House’s historic Press Room. To help celebrate the hotel’s 150th anniversary, in September of 2005, the World’s Largest Boston Cream Pie was displayed at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. The pie was sixteen feet in diameter and topped with another Boston Cream Pie resembling the Parker House structure from 1855. The monstrous dessert included 1,300 pounds of cake, 800 pounds of filling and 500 pounds of chocolate frosting.