Sugar shaker – for dusting your surface with icing (confectioners’) sugar to prevent sticking
Whoopie Recipes
A great whoopie pie should be moist, dense and slightly sticky – the perfect hybrid of cake and cookie, with a generous mouthful of filling in every bite. All of the recipes in this book will make 12 whoopies or 40 mini whoopies.
The Perfect Whoopie…
Making whoopie pies is not difficult but there are a few points to bear in mind to guarantee greatness…
• Always use the best and freshest ingredients you can.
• Always bring your ingredients to room temperature before you start baking, to avoid curdling.
• Always preheat your oven.
• Make sure your whoopies are just firm to the touch before removing from the oven or they tend to sink after a few minutes.
• Allow whoopies to cool completely before filling and decorating.
• Whoopies can be baked in any colour you like by adding some food colouring to the batter (see Techniques).
• If you don’t have whoopie pie tins, you can use baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper. Drop scoops of batter at evenly spaced intervals, but not too close together as the mixture tends to spread.
• To make mini whoopies, follow your chosen whoopie recipe, but use mini muffin tins and 10ml (2 level tsp) batter in each well. Bake for approximately ten minutes or until they are just firm to the touch.
• Whoopie pies are best eaten fresh but can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days. They can also be frozen for up to a month. For best results, freeze in single layers – once frozen they can be stacked on top of each other in a sealed container for easy storage.
Chocolate Whoopie
The original and quintessential whoopie pie.
Ingredients…
• 115g (4oz) soft unsalted (sweet) butter
• 200g (7oz) soft brown sugar
• 1 large (US extra large) egg
• 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
• 225ml (8 fl oz) buttermilk
• 60g (2oz) cocoa powder (unsweetened cocoa)
• 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) baking powder
• 190g (63⁄4oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF/Gas 4). Grease two whoopie pie tins with a little softened butter.
2 Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and set aside.
3 In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy using an electric whisk or freestanding mixer.
4 Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
5 Fold in half the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
6 Drop 11⁄2 tbsp or a level small ice cream scoopful of batter into each well of the tins.
7 Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the whoopies feel just firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tins for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Double Trouble…
Add a good handful of chocolate chips to the batter for a decadent double chocolate treat!
Vanilla Whoopie
A fantastically versatile whoopie – the perfect canvas for the most daring of fillings!
Ingredients…
• 115g (4oz) soft unsalted (sweet) butter
• 200g (7oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 large (US extra large) egg
• 7.5ml (11⁄2 tsp) vanilla extract
• 225ml (8 fl oz) buttermilk
• 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) baking powder
• 275g (93⁄4oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF/Gas 4). Grease two whoopie pie tins with a little softened butter.
2 Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and set aside.
3 In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy using an electric whisk or freestanding mixer.
4 Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
5 Fold in half the flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
6 Drop 11⁄2 tbsp or a level small ice cream scoopful of batter into each well of the tins.
7 Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the whoopies feel just firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tins for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Flavour Boost…
For a more intense flavour and an authentic look, replace the vanilla extract with seeds scraped from a vanilla pod.
Red Velvet Whoopie
Another firm favourite among whoopie aficionados.
Ingredients…
• 115g (4oz) soft unsalted (sweet) butter
• 200g (7oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 large (US extra large) egg
• 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
• 5ml (1 tsp) white vinegar
• 30g (1oz) cocoa powder (unsweetened cocoa)
• 225ml (8 fl oz) buttermilk
• 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 240g (81⁄2oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2.5ml (1⁄2 tsp) red paste food colour
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