Mint Chocolate Whoppie Pie

Now, you may wonder what Whoopie Pies are doing on my CUPCAKE blog but if you've ever eaten a Whoopie Pie before you will know how similar to cupcakes they really are. Aside from the obvious difference in shape, the only other major difference is that cupcakes are slightly denser. So this is why I feel that Whoopie Pies have a legitimate place on my cupcake blog. That, and also because they are so fun to make and take photos of:)

My first attempt at Whoopie Pies went over pretty well considering the fact that I'm now baking in a new kitchen and everything is foreign to me. And I have to say that the only problems I encountered during this first attempt came from the faulty recipe itself, which came from a recipe book called Whoopie Pies that I recently bought in London and took back to NYC with me. The recipe that I tried was the mint chocolate combination. The only problem with the chocolate cake recipe was that it called for too little flour so once I figured that out (only three trays of trial and error) the rest was really easy. The other problem I came across was merely a question of taste. The mint buttercream frosting calls for 'mint extract' (which is a blend of spearmint and peppermint) where instead I would have used pure peppermint extract so that it tasted more like a peppermint patty and less like mint toothpaste. The other thing I found was that the quantity of frosting that the recipe makes is not nearly enough frosting for all the cakes that the cake recipe makes. This is easy enough to resolve since the frosting is so easy to make. You can just whip up another batch as soon as you see that you will need more. Whoppie Pies are incredibly easy and fun to make. Enjoy the modified and improved recipe below!

Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pie

Ingredients: (the cake)

1 3/4 to 2 cups all purpose flour (start with the lesser amount and add more only if needed...do a test cake first)
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 Tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Directions:Preheat the oven to 375 F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flower, coca powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. In your standing mixer, with a paddle attachment beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrap down the sides. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat for another 2 minutes.

Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the butter and sugar batter and beat on low until just combined. Scrap down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining flour mixture and the remaining milk and beat until completely combined. The batter should not be runny and should hold its form on the tablespoon which you will use to drop them onto the baking sheets. It should be light and fluffy and not dense either.

Finally, drop a tablespoon size amount of batter onto your baking sheets two inches apart. I personally like the smaller sized Whoopie Pies but you can really make them any size you want. I always bake a test first just so I know exactly how big I want to make them or if the batter has the right consistency. It's better to spend the extra 10 minutes getting it right than to bake them all and only see your mistake at the end.

Bake one sheet at a time for 10 minutes or until the cakes spring back when pressed gently. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cook completely.

Mint Buttercream Frosting

2 cups confectioners' sugar
4-5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 drops green food coloring

Directions: In a standing mixer or using a hand held mixer, whip together the butter and the confectioners' sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, salt and green food coloring. Beat on high until light and fluffy.

Once the Whoopie Pies have cooled completely, using a piping bag frost one of the cakes using a spiraling motion starting from the outside and working your way to the center. I did two layers of frosting but if you like less you can always just do one. Put the top cake on the frosted bottom one, eat and enjoy!