We spent the weekend in Seattle, registering my oldest daughter into the Seattle Culinary Academy where she wants to earn her AAS in Specialty Desserts and Breads. While there, we had to stop into Williams-Sonoma, OF COURSE, to, you know, "research." We ended up with a few things, demererra sugar, a beer can chicken stand (for my husband, who swears we NEED it) and a few new cookbooks. One entire book on chocolate cakes and the adorable "Whoopies!" by Susanna Tee. How can I resist an entire book of whoopie pie recipes when they all look so good and so fun? And my secret? I've never even had a Whoopie Pie--of any kind. What drew me to them is they remind me of a cupcake sandwich, which is really ideal, if you think about it. The portability that cupcakes bring to cake, whoopie pies bring to cupcakes. The frosting is in between the cake layers so you can just. eat. it. No frosting trying to go up your nose. No paper wrapper to discard. Just hold it in your meaty paw and enjoy its delicious cake and filling, bite after bite. With so many recipe choices, I needed to start somewhere, so asked my daughter what flavor she wanted and she picked Red Velvet with cream cheese filling. Uh, OK, that sounds good, let's start there.
[ETA:] My recommendation on the pan is this: I have the "whoopie pie baking sheets" and I don't think I love them. Yes, the cakes are all uniform in size, but they end up having a bit of an edge to the top of the cake (you can see it in the photo below) that they don't if you just bake them on a flat cookie sheet. Next time I plan on just using a measured cupcake scoop to keep them uniform and skip the special pan. Wish I hadn't bought two of them...
