Whoopie Pies

TIME 1 hour, plus 1 hour cooling and 30 chilling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Whoopie pies are a classic dessert recipe consisting of rounds of moist chocolate cake sandwiching a thick layer of creamy frosting. The origins of the pie date to the early part of the 20th century to either coastal Maine or the rich baking tradition of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Ineither case, we wanted to update the slightly fusty, lard-laced recipe.Many updated baking recipes replace lard with vegetable shortening, but we have found in the past that the substitution wreaks havoc on texture and flavor. Sure enough, we found butter was a far superior stand-in than shortening. Whoopie pies are a classic dessert recipe consisting of rounds of moist chocolate cake sandwiching a thick layer of creamy frosting. The origins of the pie date to the early part of the 20th century to either coastal Maine or the rich baking tradition of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Ineither case, we wanted to update the slightly fusty, lard-laced recipe.Many updated baking recipes replace lard with vegetable shortening, but we have found in the past that the substitution wreaks havoc on texture and flavor. Sure enough, we found butter was a far superior stand-in than shortening.

As for the flavor, adding plenty of cocoa powder and vanilla to the cake batter was all it took to recreate the traditional taste of a whoopie pie. We found Dutch-processed cocoa guaranteed a deep, dark-colored crumb and also possessed a more intense chocolate flavor than regular cocoa powder.

INGREDIENTS

subheading: Cakes:

2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour

½ cup (1½ ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon table salt

1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), softened but still cool

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

subheading: Filling:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened but still cool

1 ¼ cups (5 ounces) confectioners' sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon table salt

2 ½ cups Marshmallow Fluff

note: BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Don’t be tempted to bake all the cakes on one baking sheet; the batter needs room to spread in the oven.

Directions at americastestkitchen.com

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