My Valentine, I love you. I really do. And to prove it, I have made you these red velvet whoopie pies.
Chocolate cakes filled with a marshmallow buttercream and decorated with Valentine’s sprinkles. A perfectly contained little delight to slip into your beloved’s hand with an affectionate squeeze. Is there a better way to someone’s heart? If so, I do not know it.
Is it a cookie or a cake? Maybe a little of both. Whoopie pies seem like such an old-fashioned dessert, maybe because they come from Amish country. I just imagine a Pennsylvania coal miner taking one down into the mine in his lunch pail, or a farmer walking back to the fields with an added spring in his step because his hand is cupped around one of his wife’s whoopie pies.
You can tap into that nostalgia for a bygone era by making your own whoopie pies. You don’t even need to be Amish. (Personally, I wouldn’t want to make these without electricity.) Whoopie pies are a straightforward baking project that is above all fun. Whoopie pies are not supposed to look pretty and polished. They are supposed to be rustic and homey. You can’t go wrong.
Nor do you need to buy any special equipment to make these whoopie pies. I mean, you can buy special equipment, like a whoopie pie pan, if you enjoy that sort of thing.
I happen to have a whoopie pie pan because I am exactly the sort of lunatic who has a whoopie pie pan. (Okay, I bought it when I was writing Food Swap because I created a really yummy whoopie pie recipe for that book. And now I will have it forever.)
A whoopie pie pan is helpful but not necessary.
But, if you don’t have a whoopie pie pan, you can use a regular baking sheet lined with parchment and spread the batter in circles. I actually suggest making a template and using it to trace circles on the parchment and then fill in those circles with batter. Fussy, I know, but it will ensure consistently sized whoopie pies.
(Can you believe I suggested that right after I said the whoopie pies were supposed to be rustic-looking? Oh well. I may not be consistent but at least your whoopie pies will be.)
The filling is a combination of marshmallow fluff and buttercream. I think you need both. All marshmallow fluff is too, well, fluffy. All buttercream too stiff.
I use store-bought marshmallow creme here because I think you might roll your eyes at me if I suggest making your own. It’s actually not hard to do – there is a recipe for homemade marshmallow creme in Food Swap, but that book is really all about DIY projects. This post is about an easy baking project for you and your loved ones. So pop open a jar of Marshmallow Fluff and enjoy!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Red food coloring
- 1 jar marshmallow fluff
- 6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Sprinkles for decoration
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and draw 10-12 circles on each using a template. (If using a whoopie pie pan, grease it lightly.)
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Add red food coloring to achieve the desired color.
- Spoon batter into the circles on the prepared baking sheets, leaving plenty of space in between each cake, and spread in a flat circle. Repeat with the remaining batter. If using a whoopie pie pan, fill each cavity approximately 1/2 way and spread the batter to the edges.
- Bake the cakes 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
- To make the filling, combine the marshmallow creme, butter, sifted powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer, and beat until smooth.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on bottom of one cake and top with a second cake. Repeat with the remaining cakes.
- Pour sprinkles or other decorations on a plate and roll the edges of the whoopie pies on the plate.
- Store in an airtight container.
How much salt goes into the filling?
A pinch if you want it