Pies that is!

Hey Sweet Shopper’s Nikki (nikkiARNGwife) here with a post about one of my absolute favorite things to do…BAKE! lol So when I was thinking of what I wanted to feature for our first recipe post I knew it would have to be something “sweet” and so for days and days I went through my recipes trying to think of the perfect one. I won’t lie and say I didn’t even test drive a few..you know just to try them out. Finally it hit me…something that is perfectly sweet…a wonderful combination of cake and frosting and something that if you’re a foodie like me see everywhere in the blogosphere these days…Whoopie Pies!

There are endless flavor combinations for these little (or big) yummies but I thought I’d stick with the basic white on chocolate for today’s post. So let’s get right to it…first here’s what you need:

For the cakes:

1/2 cup dark cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg (room temperature)

1 cup milk (not pictured)

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup salted butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup marshmallow creme

Step One

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In  a large bowl (I’m using my stand mixer) combine the cocoa powder and granulated sugar.

Step 2

Add the oil, egg, milk and vanilla and mix on low speed of your mixer til smooth.

Step 3

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Then add the dry ingredients to your mixer bowl and mix again on low speed until smooth.

Now at this point you’re going to want to stick your finger in there and taste it…go on.. you know you want to..but don’t get distracted and eat the entire bowl…let’s move on shall we?

Step 4

Grab an ice cream scoop.

For reals..I use mine all the time for cookies and such…although these are not cookies..that is important to remember at this point. This batter is NOT cookie batter. It’s thin and it’s going to run when you start scooping it out..so take your ice cream scoop (or just a spoon if you’d rather) and fill it about 1/3 full of batter. Now you could use more but remember these are going to spread and rise as they cook so use your best judgement. I fill mine 1/3 full of batter and carefully spoon it out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. They end up looking like this…

Easy huh? Now place them in your preheated oven for 6-8 minutes. They cook really fast so watch them closely….and keep your fingers out of the batter while you wait 🙂

Now that they’re done you should have something that resembles this…

Note: I’ve made these several times now…my very first batch looked NOTHING like this one so if yours turn out all wonky don’t feel bad. They’ll taste just as good.

Here’s a side shot to show you how thick they are…some recipes will result in a thicker cake part..but I like them sort of thin because then your frosting to cake ratio is much better 🙂

Okay..still with me? I cool mine on a wire rack as they finish..it takes several batches to use up all the batter but like I said they cook very fast so once you’re finished with the last batch the first is cool and ready for icing..that is if you haven’t been eating them on the sly. (ahem guilty)

Now for the fun part!

Step 5

Take your butter and cut it up into your mixer like so…(I had to wash my mixer bowl after finishing up the cake part)

now cream the butter until it is smooth…

Step 6

Now add in your sifted powdered sugar..you can do this a little at a time..or live dangerously like me and dump it all in at once (which resulted in a huge mess once I started mixing btw)

and cream together til smooth…

and now the really fun part. Grab your marshmallow creme…or as I like to call it “Happiness in a Jar”

and spoon out 1/2 cup (give or take) into your butter/sugar mixture.

then lick the spoon clean…

Wait…that’s just a part I added 🙂 And then I got so distracted with the “Happiness in a Jar” that I forgot to take a photo of this step..but go ahead and mix the marshmallow creme in with your butter/sugar until nice and smooth.

Step 8

Now add the vanilla… 2 tsps to be exact…

and mix well until nice and smooth and fluffy. You should end up with something of this consistency…

Step 9 – the really really really most fun part 🙂

Take one of your cakes and smother it in frosting..and I do mean smother…don’t hold back. I promise you won’t regret it.

Now add another half of cake and Ta-Da!!! Isn’t it beautiful?

and because everything is better with sprinkles…

And there you have it. Whoopie Pies..mom tested (and tested) kid approved…