Whoopies Pies originated in the USA during the first quarter of the 20th century, according to what I have read. I have made them a few time and decided to try them again, but this time varying the filling.
Most recipes I have seen use marshmallow fluff and a lot of icing sugar, as well as butter, to make the filling. But for mine I wanted to reduce the sweetness and increase the creaminess. So I opted for mascarpone and double cream as well as a little vanilla and some icing sugar.
The pies are actually two individual cakes which are sandwiched together with the filling. For mine I opted for the most common cake, chocolate. To keep the cake nice and light I used cocoa powder for the flavouring.
These cakes can be made whatever size you wish. I decided on quite large ones but smaller ones will work well too, but the baking time must be adjusted in that instance.
The filling is very simple too, with the cream and sugar being whisked to stiff peaks and then the mascarpone and vanilla is whipped and added into the cream.
After assembling the cakes it is a good idea to chill them for a while to allow the filling to firm up before serving. They can be taken out of the fridge about 15 minutes before serving.
Although they can be eaten just as they are I think they make a great dessert too with some fruit compote or summer berries added to them.
The recipe below calls for buttermilk, but a substitute of 240ml of liquid made up of milk and then 2 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice, or white vinegar works well too. In fact that is what I used.
My whoopie pies turned out very well indeed and they tasted so good with the light and soft chocolate cake and the rich and creamy, slightly sweetened filling being the perfect accompaniment.
Whoopie Pies with Mascarpone
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Ingredients
- For the cakes
285g(2 cups minus 1 1/2 tbsp, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
43g(1/2 cup) cocoa powder
5 g(1tsp) baking soda
3g(1/2 tsp) salt
113g(8 tbsp) softened unsalted butter
200g(1cup) soft light brown sugar
1 medium egg(large in USA)
5ml(1 tsp) vanilla extract
240ml(1 cup) buttermilk
- For the filling
330g(1 1/2 cups) mascarpone
300ml(1 1/4 cups) double cream
60g(1/2 cup) icing sugar
5ml(1 tsp) vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F and line a couple of baking trays with parchment paper.
- Place the butter and brown sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer(you can do everything by hand instead, if you wish, or with a hand mixer) and whisk until they are fully combined and light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract and the egg and whisk again until fully combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- In a large bowl place the flour, salt and baking powder and sift the cocoa powder over the top.
- Stir the flour mixture to ensure everything is thoroughly combined.
- Spoon one third of the flour mixture onto the batter and beat with a paddle attachment just until combined.
- Add half the buttermilk and mix again until combined.
- Add another third of the flour mix, and combine that too.
- Then add the remaining buttermilk, again mixing to combine.
- Add the remaining flour mix and mix until just combined.
- Gently stir the mixture to ensure everything is well mixed.
- Scoop mounds of 80ml(1/3 cup) of the batter onto the parchment paper, leaving a large gap between each to allow for significant spreading. If you want smaller whoopie pies you can use less batter for each.
- Bake the pies in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until they have risen and are slightly domed and firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the trays before carefully peeling from the parchment paper and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a large bowl place the cream and the icing sugar and whisk until it reaches stiff peaks.
- In another bowl whisk the mascarpone and the vanilla extract until it is all nice and smooth.
- Add the mascarpone to the double cream and whisk to fully combine.
- Match the pies in pairs, of the same dimensions.
- Upturn half of the pies and spoon, or pipe, the filling onto the upturned surface and carefully spread all over.
- Place the remaining pies on top of the filling and gently press until the filling reaches the edge.
- Put the pies into the fridge to chill and set up the filling.
- Take out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving.