Red Velvet Whoopies

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons red food colouring
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

• Cream cheese filling) ))

• 75g butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 200g cream cheese, softened

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. Add food colouring. Beat until combined. 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 vinegar and 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. Cool. Repeat with remaining trays.
4. Make cream cheese filling Using an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla together until pale and fluffy. Add cream cheese. Beat until smooth and combined. Sandwich level tablespoons filling between cakes to make 22 whoopie pies. Serve.

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.

Ingredients

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 80g (1/2 cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 tsp red food colouring
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 340g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
• 330ml (1 1/3 cups) buttermilk

• Cream cheese frosting

• 125g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 50g butter, at room temperature
• 230g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar mixture
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg.
2. Stir in the cocoa, red food colouring and bicarbonate of soda to combine. Use a metal spoon to fold in flour and buttermilk, in alternating batches, until just smooth. The mixture should be a little stiff.
3. Use a 3cm-diameter ice-cream scoop to place rounds of the mixture onto prepared trays, leaving 5cm for spreading. Use your finger to smooth mixture around the edges.
4. Bake, swapping the trays halfway through cooking, for 10 minutes or until firm. Cool slightly. Place on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with remaining mixture.
5. To make cream cheese frosting: Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl until well combined. Add the icing sugar and beat until well combined. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until mixture is pale and creamy.
6. Spoon filling into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round nozzle. Pipe a dollop over a whoopie base. Pipe half the whoopies with cream cheese frosting.
7. Top with remaining whoopies and press lightly to sandwich together.