makin' whoopie : part deux

It's been a while, hasn't it? During the interim this food blogger married the love of her life, then proceeded to spend two glorious weeks with said love on the island of Kauai. Planning and pulling off a wedding is no an easy feat. This, coming from a girl who relishes throwing lavish soirees. That wedding kicked my butt. Kauai healed it. And here I am. Back to cooking, writing, photographing and absolutely ready for the holidays! 

I present to you the pumpkin whoopie pie. This isn't my first time makin' whoopie. Two years ago during the holiday season I shared these decadent chocolate peppermint whoopie pies with you, surely a Christmas treat worthy of any cookie platter. Those chocolate cake, cookie combos marked my virgin whoopie baking experience. I was immediately smitten. Whoopie pies are basically confection perfection. Two moist mounds of cake are filled with heaps of frosting. And the bonus? They're cute as heck, especially miniaturized (the only way I've ever made them). Tiny whoopies also make a fantastic gift, as they're a bit more exciting than your standard cookie, but nearly as simple. 

I baked these whoopie pies up just for that reason, a little 'just because' gift for a few of my nearest. We'd made plans to slurp down some spicy hot Pho on a particularly chilly Friday evening and a I had nothing to do the day of, so on a whim I decided to whip them up a little something to take home and enjoy after our dinner together. A bit of tissue paper, a few craft paper bags, and some yarn made the package pretty. Whoopie pies inside made them delicious. Needless to say, the recipients were quite happy. After dinner, I don't think one person made it out of the restaurant lobby before tearing open their bags and enjoying at least one of the treats buried inside.

Seeing as it's not quite December and we have yet to celebrate Thanksgiving here in the states, chocolate and peppermint were off the table. I wanted whoopie's that screamed "fall!" "autumn!", and I think these gems do just that. Pumpkin spice whoopie pies filled to the brim with a maple vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. The cakes themselves not too pumpkin-y, not too spice cake-y, a perfect balance, piled high with plenty of sweet maple filling for good measure, how could these be anything but perfection? These cakes were even moister the next day, making them a great holiday choice. You'd be safe whipping these up a day ahead and keeping them stored in an airtight container. I promise you, these whimsical little treats will be sure to delight whomever you decide to share them with, that is, if you can resist the urge to hoard them all for yourself.

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies 

adapted from Bon Appetit 

Ingredients 

(Whoopie)

3 cups unbleached AP flour

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground clove

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

6 Tablespoons butter (room temp)

3/4 golden brown sugar

3/4 granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs (room temp)

15 oz pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup milk

Ingredients 

(Filling)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)

8 oz cream cheese (room temp)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon mapel-ine (maple extract) 

(or subtract a bit of powdered sugar and add a few tablespoons of pure maple syrup)

1/2 vanilla bean scraped 

1 to 2 Tablespoons half and half, cream or milk (to thin filling if needed)

Directions

(Whoopie)

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Sift first seven ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and both sugars. On medium high, mix until well incorporated (2-3 minutes).

3. With the mixer still going, slowly add your vegetable oil.

4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing 30 seconds between each.

5. Add pumpkin and mix until incorporated (scraping down bowl as needed).

6. Reduce speed to medium-low and add the flour and milk in two additions, staring with flour, milk, then ending with flour.

6. Cover bowl and chill for one hour. 

7. With a melon baller scoop chilled dough out onto a prepared cookie sheet (you need a silpat or parchment, and if using parchment oil it too, these babies are that moist, they will stick).

8. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet, transfer to parchment lined counter (my wire racks dug into their moist cakey flesh).

9. Repeat until all of your whoopies are baked.

10. Cool completely, then fill with your filling. I use my melon baller, about half full, dump onto one whoopie top with another and viola! Whoopie!

Directions

(Filling)

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. 2-3 minutes.

2. Reduce the speed to slow (or all of your sugar will escape) and add powdered sugar. Mix until creamy. Another 2-3 minutes.

3. Add maple extract, vanilla bean scrapings and milk (if desired). Mix well.

4. Fill your cakes and make whoopie!

Whip It Good : Whipped Cream Cake

I'm not a well planned food blogger. I'm not one to make Easter candy, or Valentines dessert, or Halloween cookies weeks before hand just so I can blog about them. That probably makes me kind of a lame food blogger at times, since rarely can you count on me for fabulous ideas before the respective holiday arrives. And although I may lack in planning strategies when it comes to blogging, my hope is that my posts give you some great ideas, recipes you want to make, and food you want to eat any time of the year. Case in point. My easter dessert. What we ate on easter, not before. In fact, I whipped this cake up, start to finish, in less than 40 minutes. A cake worthy of baking spring, summer, fall or winter. 

This cake is a recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum's from the book Rose's Heavenly Cakes. My original easter dessert plan was to serve vanilla bean pavlova's with stewed rhubarb, lemon curd, strawberries, and freshly whipped cream. But you see, my mother was coming over to our house for easter dinner, and if you are anything like me, when the mother is coming over cleaning the house takes on a whole new meaning. I cleaned. And cleaned. In fact I cleaned all day. And still, if probably wasn't 'mom clean'. The ham was set to go in at 4:30, and by the time I'd finished cleaning it was 3:00. I had run out of time for a proper pavlova and I desperately needed a plan b. A quick to make, quick to bake plan b that could be served with the same accompainments planned for pavlova. . . Rose came to the rescue.

Sure it looks like a bundt cake, but it's better. No butter here, can you imagine? A cake without butter? The heavy cream more than makes up for it. Whipped to a frenzy, mixed with standard cake ingredients like vanilla, eggs, and flour, the resulting batter is light, creamy, and quite unique. The best part of all? It took only 25-30 minutes to bake, half the time of any bundt cake I've ever made. Perfection in a pinch. This cake was light in texture, just sweet enough, and the perfect vehicle for all sorts of tasty toppings (kind of like the cake version of vanilla ice cream in a sundae). So the next time you run out of time for dessert, or  are craving a quick sweet fix that packs a pretty punch, please consider Rose's whipped cream cake. Surely, wonderful any time of the year.

Rose's Whipped Cream Cake 

Ingredients: 

2 1/4 Cups Cake Flour or 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons Baking powder
3/4 teaspoons Salt
1 1/2 cups Heavy cream, cold
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Superfine sugar

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 F

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk beater, whip the cream, starting on low speed, gradually raising the speed to medium-high as it thickens, until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla just until lightly combined. On medium-high speed, gradually beat the egg mixture into the whipped cream. The mixture will thicken into mayonnaise consistency (unless high-butterfat cream is used). Gradually beat in the sugar. It should take about 30 seconds to incorporate it. [Here's a slight change in how I now incorporate the flour thanks to both Marie Wolf and Hector Wong commenting on the difficulty with a rubber or silicone spatula] Detach the bowl and whisk beater from the stand.

3. Add half the flour mixture to the cream mixture and, with the whisk attachment stir and fold in the flour until most of it disappears. Add the rest of the flour mixture and continue folding and mixing until all traces of flour have disappeared. Using a silicone spatula or spoon, scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Run a small metal spatula or dull knife blade through the batter to prevent large air bubbles, avoiding the bottom of the pan. Smooth the surface evenly with a small metal spatula.

4. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted between the tube and the side comes out completely clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.

5. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. With a small metal spatula, loosen the top edges of the cake and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been coated lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Cool completely.