Whoopie pies.... with a black forest theme

I had never heard of whoopie pies before this year. They are a traditional American sweet, a cross between a soft cookie and a cake, and originated with the Amish, who made them to use up little bits of leftover cake batter.

Amish farmers apparently used to find them in their lunchboxes occasionally and got so excited they would shout 'Whoopie!" You have to love that degree of excitement over baked goods.

Mr Cupcake asked the interwebs about them and then informed me that whoopie pies are the 'State Treat' of Maine, USA - not to be confused with the official Maine State Dessert which is apparently blueberry pie. I love that someone in Maine wanted to give State status to both a dessert AND a treat.

These whoopie pies are a red velvet mixture with a mascarpone and cream cheese filling flavoured with cassis liqueur and studded with cherries soaked in cassis, and a dark chocolate topping. They are very rich and decadent (those guys in Maine must be on the chubby side).

Disaster 1 - the baking tray batch

My first attempt to make whoopie pies, the day before these, was a complete disaster.

I read that I could cook them by piping circles of cake batter onto baking trays, or using whoopie pie tins, which are like cupcake tins, but the holes are larger and much flatter (cookie shaped rather than cake shaped). As I didn't have any whoopie pie tins I decided to make two batches, the first piping circles onto flat trays, the second using a cupcake tin but only filling the holes a quarter full - I reasoned I would get small whoopie pies that way, and larger ones on the tray.

Disaster 2: the cupcake tin batch

Except. Except I didn't. I got a tray full of completely joined-up batter about a centimetre thick (which I tried to turn into a swiss roll, but even that didn't work) and about 8 full size cupcakes - they rose and rose, the little buggers.

But the good thing about whoopie pies that look like cupcakes is that you can pretend you set out to make cupcakes.... so these were my first 'whoopie pies' ... vanilla cupcakes.... :-)

So-called 'muffin top' tins

So on my second attempt I zoomed out to Woolworths in Newtown - a truly excellent facility - and bought a couple of five-buck 'Muffin Top' tins. After having a giggle at the name I decided that these tins were actually whoopie pie tins and were essential for the job.

The actual recipe for my second batch was a red velvet whoopie pie recipe from a new English book called Whoopie Pies, by Hannah Miles (the first, failed batch was a vanilla recipe from the same book). It produced a very nice, light cake with a fine crumb, which turned out of the tins beautifully, without cracking or flaking. It was almost like a butter cake recipe but with a hefty amount of buttermilk and some water added, which I guess helped with the lightness.

With the right equipment, my second batch worked much better. This time I got cookie-shaped rounds of cake, with a fine texture and a good shape, if a little thin (my high-rise cupcake experience of the day before had made me scared to fill the tins up).

They turned out of the tins really well and I was able to fill them and top them with chocolate.

Going from the general look and feel of the fillings in the book, I made up my own 'black forest' filling. This consisted of halved cherries macerated in Cassis liqueur (I would have used Kirsch but I didn't have any)...

...Mixed with a creamy filling which was roughly equal portions of mascarpone, spreadable cream cheese, icing sugar and a splash of cassis. I put this in a disposable piping bag and piped it out onto half of the whoopie pies, studding it with a few cherries, and then sandwiched it with another whoopie pie on top.

I tried some different piping patterns (both with a star nozzle). That's why one of the whoopie pies in this picture looks a bit messy.

To decorate the top (because it seems like whoopie pies are often iced as well as filled) I melted some dark chocolate with my trusty home made double boiler arrangement - a china bowl precariously balanced on a tiny saucepan full of boiling water.

Then I spooned it on the top of the whoopie pies and finished with a cherry half on top.

Now, I was pretty happy with the way this picture turned out - they look so luscious and glossy and all - but I have a confession to make. These were a bit TOO RICH for Dr Cupcake! Yes indeed. There was an awful lot of filling in proportion to the cakey part, and the filling was pure dairy goodness - so much of it that I felt like I was becoming more lactose intolerant with every mouthful. I think next time a whipped cream filling, moderate in quantity, could work as it would be a lot lighter.




Recipe for cake batter:
125g unsalted butter or margarine (apparently they are traditionally made with vegetable shortening)
200g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g self raising flour
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
250ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt)
2 tsp red food colouring
100ml hot (not boiling) water

Set oven to 180C (350F) and grease and flour the tins. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat again. Sift all the dry ingredients in and mix again, then add the buttermilk, colouring and the hot water. You should end up with a sloppy but not liquid mixture which can be spooned (messily) into the pans. Let the mixture sit in the pans for 10 minutes, then pop into the over for 10-12 minutes. When you take them from the oven, run a metal spatula carefully around the edges to release the pies and cool them on a rack before filling and icing them.
Keep in a sealed container in the fridge - these are best eaten the same day but can keep for several days, depending on the filling.