Chocolate Whoopie Pies

It’s so nice to get back to baking after so long, I have missed my little kitchen. While I was away I picked up a number of new cookbooks, one of them being Whoopie Pies. I have wanted to try making some whoopie pies for some time, especially after seeing lovely pictures on a number of other blogs.

For my first time making whoopie pies I decided to try out the classic Chocolate whoopie with marshmallow fluff filling. The flavour of the pies was intense chocolate and very yummy but I wasn’t super happy with them, no matter how high I piled the batter my whoopies came out a bit flat. Because I only brought home one tub of marshmallow fluff I decided to save it for some whoopies I am happier with and whipped up some vanilla buttercream instead.

I will definitely be trying them again, and other recipes from the book.

Oh and just because I’m getting very excited about Christmas, these whoopies decided to dress up.



Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pie
(from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell)

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temp)
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

To make the whoopies- Position a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 190 degrees c. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl.


In a second bowl, beat together butter, shortening and brown sugar, on a low speed until just combined. Increase the beater speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy.


Add the egg and vanilla essence and continue beating for another 2 minutes until very light in colour.


Add half the flour mixture and half of the milk to the butter and sugar and beat until just combined.


Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, add the remaining halves of the flour and milk and beat until completely combined.


Using a spoon, drop around 1 tablespoon of batter onto the baking tray, spacing them at least 2 inches apart.

Bake the whoppie pies one tray at a time for about ten minutes, or until the whoppies bounce back when lightly poked.

Remove the whoopee pies from the oven, let them cool on the trays for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.


Spread or pipe buttercream onto the whoopie pies with buttercream and sandwich together.

For the Vanilla Buttercream

3 cups icing sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temp)
3 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

To make the Buttercream- In a bowl, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute until mixture is crumbly. Add the cream, vanilla and salt and beat on high until frosting is smooth, about 3 minutes.

Philadelphia and Washington

Philadelphia was food heaven! We were very lucky to be staying right around the corner from the Reading Terminal Market, the range of foods was so very exciting.


Flying Monkey bakery in the market had some of the yummiest treats we had on our holiday.


If you go to Flying Monkey the pumpkin whoopie pie is yum yum yum.


The 4th Street Cookie Company in the Reading Terminal Market. The cookies here blew my socks off! A great snickerdoodle and the double choc chip, swoon worthy.


Everyone can stop searching, I think I found the best choc chip cookie in ever! The crispy edges tasted like a cookie I had when I was little and have been searching for ever since and the insides were soft and super full of choc chips.


The puppy dog selection in the Philly Cupcakes shop was super cute. I got a yummy carrot cupcake and it being halloween weekend, it was served to me by spiderman.


The capital building in Washington.


Red Velvet Cupcakes, Washington. Boyfriend is so proud of himself for pointing out this little shop to me, they were his favorite cupcakes. They were beautiful looking little cakes and had a number of unusual flavours.

So thats all from my trip, a condensed version of my food adventures. I've decided to give scrapbooking a try, to put together all the photos and bits and pieces I collected.


Just one last photo. I was so happy to get home and see this little miss, we got her a present from the Sanrio store in Times Square, she loves her new Hello Kitty friend.

New York

I couldn't visit New York and not visit Magnolias. I didn't love the red velvet but the vanilla very much lived up to the hype.


The day wasn't pretty, but Miss Liberty was.


Wow! the cupcakes from Crumbs are massive, at least twice the size of a regular cupcake. There was a store three store up from our hotel, lucky me.


See I told you Crumbs was close.


Central Park


Hotdogs in central park. Maybe it was because I was super hungry, but these hotdog cart hotdogs were delicious.


We had intended to visit Bubby's Pie Company, but being a Sunday morning there was a line out the door. So we headed over to Billy's Bakery and were happy to find a large range of cupcakes and also a display full of tasty looking pies. The apple pie made a very yummy breakfast and the cupcakes a tasty take home treat. I wish I had a chance to try the peanut butter pie.


The pumpkin cupcake from Billy's was my favorite of whole the trip and the vanilla was definitely up there too.


Toys R Us on Times square. This store was all kinds of crazy, four levels of the most amazing toy displays I've ever seen. Other than the ferris wheel there was a life size Barbie house, a giant t-rex and 2 candy departments!


Me with my take home cupcakes, being a spaz in the toy store.


I spent a long time gazing at this lego display, in the Lego store in Rockefeller Plaza. It was such a detailed replica of the ice rink just outside the shop.


I use to be soo excited when my Mum got us Poptarts when we were little, but then we stopped getting Poptarts in Australia, sad sad times. Imagine my excitement when I found poptarts world just off Times Square. This very cool machine inside Poptarts world held so many flavours I had never even heard of.


A rainbow wall of MMs inside the MMs store on Times Square.


After a hard day hitting the museums we stopped for lunch at a cute retro diner, Lexington Candy Shop. I had the best malted milkshake!


This little strawberry shortcake cupcake from Buttercream Bakery was another favorite of the trip. It had a shortbread biscuit for the base and decoration ant was filled with strawberry jam. Yum.

One more holiday post to go and I'm back to baking, except I don't know where to start, should it be macarons, whoopie pies, cupcakes, cookies? Gosh I'm happy to be back in my kitchen!

Boston, Providence and New Haven

I'm home, I'm unpacked and I'm having a bit of trouble getting back into the swing of things. My kitchen seems alien to me, I've been back a week and haven't had the urge to bake anything. Maybe i have forgotten how to make cupcakes, I sure can remember how to eat them thought. Perhaps I haven't felt like baking because I've spent the last month eating yummy treats all day everyday.

I don't really know what to say about my holiday, except it was fantastic! It was four weeks of non stop sightseeing, exploring and adventures. At the end of each day m feet and legs were so sore I could hardly move.

I took alot a photos, nearly 2000, but will just share a few mostly of the tasty treats I was able to sample. I decided to split my holiday pictures into three posts, here are some photos from our first destinations, Boston, providence and New Haven.


I don't know how local people feel about squirrels, but I love them, perhaps am even a tad obsessed. They are just too cute, this little guy was one of the first I saw.


Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston. Every single food stall looked delicious, we came back to this market a number of time.


My first ever whoopie pie and a really really good black an white cookie from Faneuil Hall Marketplace.


Sweet Cupcakes, Newbury Street Boston. This was such a pretty store, all pink and white with big display jars of sweets.


My caramel apple cupcakes was beautiful, filled with apple pieces and topped with caramel buttercream.


Cute duckies in the Boston gardens. The gardens in Boston were amazing we spent a lot of time there. Most breakfasts during our Boston stay equalled a coffee and donut on a garden bench, it was perfect.


The very pretty Provindence.


Cupcakes from Nancy's Fancies, Providence. The smores cupcakes was yummy, but the raspberry frosting was dreamy! I loved that you could choose your flavor and they iced the cake in front of you.


The store front of Nancy's Fancies. This store not only had cupcakes but a huge range of cupcake themed goodies, I bought some cute measuring spoons. Even the table tops were decorated to look like they were frosted, it was well worth the getting rained on on the walk home.


We visited a number of universities on our trip, Yale was my favorite, very impressive and pretty.


Over our holiday we ate a lot! of burgers, this one from Educated Burgher in New Haven was my favorite.


Another delicious burger at Loui's Lunch, New Haven

Just two more holidays post and I'll be back to baking, I promise.

Bride Of Frankenstein Cookies

I was so very excited to be asked to do a guest post by the lovely Kathia at Pink Little Cake. She has put together a series of posts by a group of bloggers- 28 days of sweet Halloween ideas.


Head on over to see my Bride of Frankie cookies and everyone’s amazing Halloween treats.

Be Back Soon

I’m going on holidays! It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here. I will be away for the next month visiting the east coast of America.

I’ll try and update if I can, I just know that half the pictures from my travels will be of cupcakes. If anyone has any recommendations of places to see or things to eat let me know. I’ll be heading to Boston, Providence, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

I’m super excited about experiencing my first real Halloween while I’m away, people do really celebrate it here in Australia. I’m going to eat so much candy corn.

I did my best to try and make some quick Halloween cupcakes before I leaving but with the rain and the humidity the fondant bone cupcake toppers didn’t look too pretty.


Oh well I’m sure I’ll have A billion post when I get back.

Black Forest Cake

I have a secret to tell you. Until now I have been scared of black forest cake.

As a child I loved the look of black forest cakes, they were always so impressive. My fondness for the cake was ruined by some awful tasting cherries, the danger of getting a mouthful of sour cherries in amongst the yumminess of the chocolate cake and cream really turned me off.

Boyfriend loves black forest cake and after seeing it all over the TV lately he asked if i could make one. I faced my black forest fears and made him one for his birthday.

Super Dooper Happy Birthday boyfriend!! You are the awesome-est!

I’m so pleased with how this cake turned out, everyone loved it, including me.

For the chocolate cake I used a recipe from the essential baking cookbook, It turned out perfectly, it was so very chocolaty and moist. (Buttermilk is my new favourite best friend). I decided to keep things pretty simple with the fillings, I looked through so many recipes, with so many versions in my head I just made it up as I went.


For the chocolate cake

200 grams softened butter
¾ cup caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 2/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup plain flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
½ teaspoon bicarb soda
½ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup milk

To make the chocolate cake- preheat oven to 180 degrees c. grease a 23 cm cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Sift together flours, cocoa, coffee and soda.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition, add the vanilla essence and beat until well combined.



With a metal spoon fold in the sifted dry ingredients alternatively with the combined milk and buttermilk. Stir until the mixture is just combined and almost smooth.

Pour the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.


Leave the cake in the tin 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.


For the cream filling

400 mls thickened cream
1 teaspoon cherry brandy essence
1 tablespoon caster sugar

To make the cream filling- in a medium bowl, beat together cream, sugar and essence until soft peaks form.

For the cherry syrup

1 can pitted cherries (drained with juice reserved)
1 teaspoon cherry brandy essence

To prepare syrup- in a small saucepan, boil reserved juice until reduced by half. Add brandy essence.


For the ganache

100 grams dark chocolate (chopped)
100 mls cream

To make the ganache- place chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan bring cream to the boil. Pour boiling cream over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and the mix is smooth and glossy. Cool the ganache to room temperature before spreading over cake.


To assemble the cake

Set aside about 10 cherries to decorate. Slice the top off the cake to leave a level surface. Evenly cut the cake into 3 horizontal layers. Place the first layer down onto the serving plate. Sprinkle the first layer with a little of the cherry syrup.


Spread evenly with a third of the cream, top with half of the cherries.


Carefully place on the second layer of cake, sprinkle again with cherry syrup followed by another third of cream and the remaining half of the cherries. Top with the final layer of cake.


Once the cake is assembled, pour over the chocolate ganache. Spread the ganache over the top of the cake.


Spoon the remaining cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe rosettes around the top edge of the cake. Top each rosette with a cherry.

Eat it up! Its Yummy!