Contents
Two soft chocolate cake domes with a white filling between them. Maine legislated it as the official state treat in 2011 after a fight with Pennsylvania, whose Amish communities have as good a claim; the name is supposed to come from what a farmhand shouted on finding one in a lunch pail.
Structurally it is a cake sandwich, and it is a good introduction to the difference between a frosting and a filling.
What makes it work
- Buttermilk and soda, not butter and powder. The acid reaction gives the domed, springy, slightly open crumb that makes it a whoopie pie rather than a flat cookie. See buttermilk recipes and yeast and leavening.
- Pipe, do not scoop. A piping bag gives round, even domes; a scoop gives peaks that flatten unevenly.
- The filling is marshmallow-based, traditionally, because it stays soft in the fridge. A pure buttercream sets hard and cold and turns the sandwich into a brick. See Types of Frostings.
- Cool completely before filling. Warm cake melts the filling and it runs out the sides within minutes.
Ingredients
Makes 12 pies.
Cakes:
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 75 g cocoa powder — see Cocoa and cocoa mixes
- 8 g baking soda
- 4 g fine salt
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 240 ml buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla — see Pure vanilla extract
- 120 ml hot coffee — see coffee
Filling:
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened
- 200 g marshmallow creme, or 100 g homemade marshmallow
- 250 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Method
Whisk the flour, cocoa, soda and salt. Cream the butter and brown sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, then alternate the dry mixture with the buttermilk. Stir in the hot coffee last — the batter will look alarmingly thin.
Pipe 45 g rounds, well spaced, onto parchment. Bake 190 °C / 375 °F for 10–12 minutes, until they spring back. Cool completely on a rack.
Beat the filling ingredients until light, three minutes. Pipe a generous mound onto the flat side of half the cakes and press the others on until the filling reaches the edge.
Notes
- Coffee is a cocoa amplifier, not a flavour here — it deepens the chocolate and is undetectable as coffee.
- Pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese filling are the autumn version and arguably better; see Pumpkins.
- Wrap individually. The exposed filling picks up fridge smells. Keeps three days, and freezes filled for two months.
Elsewhere on the site
Method and theory: Cookie recipes · cookies · cakes · Types of Frostings
Nearby: oatmeal cream pies · black and white cookies · nanaimo bars