Whoopie Pie? More Like Oops Pie.

A Whoopie Pie is a sweet treat found here in Maine and throughout the eastern US.  It's essentially a chocolate cake sandwich - two small cakes with gritty sugary icing in the middle.  Isn't that just an Oreo Cakester, you ask?  Yes, but Oreo stole the idea from the Whoopie Pie.  When the Cakesters first came out, I bought a box of them because I thought it would be something a little different.  Two of them come in a package, and if you eat more than one you probably have a sweet tooth that's not easily satiated.  Those things could give you a cavity just by looking at them.  

Today I tried my hand at making this northern staple.  I made red velvet Whoopie Pies with cream cheese frosting in the middle.  None of my cookbooks had a red velvet cake recipe so I was left to fend for myself.  I understand that it's just chocolate cake with red dye in it, but I didn't know if there was something different that I had to do since you drop the batter on a baking sheet like a cookie.  As it turns out, not really.

After a miserable first run, I found the groove and baked to my heart's content.  I even had enough batter to make a few cupcakes.    And then I tried them.  They weren't chocolatey enough for me and something seemed kind of "off."  They were pretty flat, not the puffy cake that you might imagine.  What I need to do next time is get a recipe for Whoopie Pies that comes from a place around Portland.  Because apparently this city boasts the best one in the country - from Two Fat Cats Bakery.  They've set the standard and I'm working my way up to it.