20 Sweets in 20 Weeks - #13: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I first attempted making Red Velvet cake back in 2009 and I think it is safe to say that it was deemed a failure. I think I must have put to much baking powder in those cupcakes because they were extremely bitter. So when Red Velvet won the poll this week I was happy to be giving it another shot, but I was also worried that I would fail again. Luckily those worries were unfounded. I have now successfully made Red Velvet cake, in the form of whoopie pies!

That being said - I think I'm not a massive fan of Red Velvet cake - the flavour is a bit so-so to me, it just isn't sweet enough, or chocolatey enough, or anything really. But my goodness it sure does look pretty. In fact it looks out of this world! The bright red cake with the white cream cheese filling looks divine. And on another positive note my mum officially loved these whoopie pies - she said for her it was a flavour explosion - I guess we must have very different tastebuds? Who knows.

Anyways if you want to make some pretty whoopie pies and you want a 'not too sweet' cake then give these a try - they were extremely easy to make and very pretty to look at.


Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (from Annie's Eats)
For the cookies:
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 oz red food coloring

For the frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract (I only used 1 tsp)
2½ cups icing sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚ F and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Blend in the vanilla.  
4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated.  Repeat so that all the buttermilk has been added and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients.  Do not overbeat.  
5. Blend in the food coloring.
6. Annie piped hers to make heart shaped whoopie pies - I just used an ice-cream scoop to scoop out the batter on to the baking paper. 
7. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through (mine were a bit larger so I baked for 15 minutes).
8. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays  at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack.  
9. Repeat with any remaining batter.  
10. Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.
11. To make the cream cheese frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.
12. Annie used a piping bag to pipe the cream cheese frosting on between two of the cookies - I just used a knife to spread it on through sheer laziness. 
13. Once you have piped/spread on the cream cheese frosting on to the bottom of one cookie - sandwich it with another cookie - and voila! You are done. Now just repeat for the rest of the whoopie pies.