Your kids will love this recipe: soft chocolate cake is sandwiched with sweet, fluffy marshmallow filling (or as my neightbor called it "basically a giant oreo cakester". That hurt. Please don't compare my treats to something made by Nabisco). This makes sixteen Whoopie Pies, but the recipe doubles easily if you need more treats for a party. The cake is moist and sticky, so if you are making these for a group, flatten large paper cupcake liners and place one cake in each to make serving easier.
During my class at The French Pastry School last summer, Chef Pierre talked about the importance of making an emulsion between butter and eggs when baking. This is easier to do if the ingredients are all at room temperature, so, when I take the butter out of the refrigerator to soften, I also take out my eggs and buttermilk. For the flour, I used a cup of whole wheat pastry flour plus one cup of white; two cups of all-purpose works well too. The original recipe called for Dutch-process cocoa, which, according to David Lebovitz is “cocoa powder made from cocoa (cacao) beans that have been washed with a potassium solution, to neutralize their acidity. It is darker in color than regular cocoa and has a more mellow flavor.” Although Dutch Process cocoa is traditional for Whoopie Pies, all I had in the pantry today was regular cocoa, so I used it and these are delicious. I’ll try this recipe in a few weeks with Dutch Process Cocoa and let you know the difference. If you need cocoa, The Spice House sells both types.
Whoopie Pies
Makes 16. From Gourmet Magazine, with a few changes
For cakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (regular or Dutch Process)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
For filling
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar (no need to sift)
- 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°F or 325F convection. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment.
Butter, buttermilk and the egg should all be at room temperature before starting the recipe.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.
Beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld. Scrap beater/bowl. Add egg, beating until combined well, about another 3 minutes, scraping down beater/bowl at least once during mixing. Reduce speed
to low.
Add about 1/3 of flour mixture and mix to combine. Add ½ of buttermilk/vanilla and mix. Repeat, ending with last third of flour mixture, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.
Spoon 2 tablespoon mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets (I used a large cookie scoop). I fit 15 scoops on each of the large cookie sheets; you could probably get 12 on a standard sheet. Don’t crowd them.
For convection: bake about 10 minutes until tops are puffed and spring back when touched. For a standard oven, bake about 12 minutes. You may need to switch pans halfway through baking (or just give the lower pan another minute or two when the top sheet is done). Transfer to a rack to cool. Remove from parchment with spatula.
For filling:
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
Using a small cookie scoop, mound the filling on the flat side of half of the cakes (use a heaping scoop which will be alittle over two teaspoons of filling per cake). Top with a second cake. Any extra filling would be good on graham crackers (store in refrigerator).
The cakes freeze well; freeze with wax or parchment paper in between layers.
