Éclair vs Classic Boston Cream Pie

Both desserts pair egg-rich pastry with a creamy filling and a chocolate top, but they use their shared staples very differently. The éclair cooks butter into a boiled choux dough, beats in whole eggs until shiny, and bakes it into puffed, firm, golden fingers filled with vanilla-scented whipped cream, then dipped in a glaze of dark chocolate and butter. The Boston cream pie bakes a baking-powder sponge, layers it with a sturdier, cornstarch-thickened custard enriched with egg yolks and butter, and heats its cream with corn syrup and chocolate into a pourable glaze. One is airy and light; the other soft, layered and custardy.