Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup Nestle baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• extra cocoa powder, to serve

• Vanilla frosting

• 300g butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Pink, green and blue food colouring

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Line 4 large baking trays with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl.
2. Add half the flour mixture to butter mixture. Stir to combine. Add half the buttermilk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and buttermilk until just combined.
3. Drop level tablespoons of mixture onto prepared trays, 5cm apart, allowing room for spreading. Bake, 1 tray at a time, for 8 to 10 minutes or until puffed and cooked through. Stand on trays for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining trays.
4. Make vanilla frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla together until pale and fluffy. Divide frosting between 3 bowls. Using food colourings, tint 1 portion of frosting pink, 1 portion green and 1 portion blue. Sandwich level tablespoons of frosting between cakes to make 22 whoopie pies. Serve dusted with extra cocoa powder.

Notes

• 
  These whoopie pie recipes are best made on day of serving.
  Whoopie pies have a texture that resembles a cross between a cake and a biscuit.
  Whoopie pies, which are enjoying a huge surge in popularity, are thought to have originated in Maine or Pennsylvania in the 1920s.