Pear and blackberry whoopie pies

Pear Gluten free Whoopie (makes 48 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups gluten-free self raising flour (self rising flour)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 tbsp of white butter (vegetable shortening)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pears, peeled & blended

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190 deg C (375 deg F).
2. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
3. Peel and core pears, place them in a blender until blended finely.
4. In a separate small bowl combine the milk, bicarbonate of soda, and vinegar.
5. Beat butter, white butter, granulated sugar and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
6. Slowly, on a low speed, beat in the eggs and buttermilk until mixed thoroughly.
7. Gradually beat in milk, soda,vinegar mixture, flour and vanilla until mixed thoroughly
8. Gradually beat in blended pears until mixed thoroughly.
9. Pipe a splodge of batter onto one of the prepared baking trays and repeat 24 times, leaving a 5cm (2") gap between each splodge. Repeat above step on second prepared tray.
10. Bake one sheet at a time for 10 minutes.
11. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then place cakes on a wire rack to cool.

Blackberry ganache filling (for 48 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
60 ml of whipping cream (1/2 cup heavy cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
200g (7 oz) of finely chopped white chocolate
50g fresh blackberries, blended

Instructions

1. Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan.
2. Remove from heat immediately and stir in chocolate until melted.
3. Stir in blended blackberries and vanilla essence until glossy.
4. Refrigerate for about 45 mins.

To decorate (for 24 5cm/2" size cakes)

Ingredients
48 Pear whoopie pies
Blackberry ganache Filling
Pink & purple pearls

Instructions

1. Spoon a teaspoon of ganache onto the flat side of cake. Spread to the edges.
2. Top with another cake, flat side down.
3. Repeat until you have 24 whoopie pies.
4. Roll whoopie pies in pearls.

Have a sweet day!

Whoopie pie supplies

This week on Wonderful World of Etsy I bring you all things Whoopie! I would love to get some bakers twine in bubble pink to wrap mine in. When I saw these cute 5' doilies I thought they would be perfect to serve whoopie pies on and to layer them in stacks.

1. Elegant pastry tray in blue - 1/12 miniature
2. Mini whoopie pies
3. One spool, pink and white divine twine, 240 Yards
4. Paper doilies - Leah (50)

Have a sweet day!

Vanilla & strawberry mallow gluten-free whoopie pies

Following on from Sunday's post, Whoopie pies, here are some I baked using the gluten-free vanilla whoopie recipe by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell from the book: Whoopie pies. I added some strawberry marshmallow fluff to the filling.







Have a sweet day!

Whoopie pies

1. Stonewall Kitchen carrot cake Whoopie pie mix
2. Whoopie pies
3. Whoopie pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell
4. Raspberry-lemon Whoopie pies
5. Classic Whoopie pies
6. Whoopie pies

This Sunday I bring you a selection of pics from my Pinterest board, "Whoopie Pies".

Ever since I saw the title "The cupcake is dead. Long live the whoopie!" in The Times and various other articles like "Move aside cup cakes, whoopie pies are all the rage now" in the Telegraph, I have been intrigued as to what they taste like. I had bought some for my partner to taste but as I have a gluten intolerance the only way I was going to know was to make my own.

A whoopie pie (gob) is a sweet baked item which is a cross between a cookie and a cake. It is made up of two discs of round, pillowy soft, sweet cake-like cushions that are sandwiched together with a sweet, creamy filling.

A firm favourite in the US since the Pennsylvanian Amish baked them as a dessert for their husband's and children's lunchboxes in the 19th century: upon finding them they would shout "Whoopie!"

Traditionally, the cake part is flavoured with cocoa powder and made with brown sugar resulting in a dark brown finish, whilst the filling is very light and fluffy, often made with marshmallow fluff or marshmallow crème and flavoured with vanilla.

I bought the book, "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell which contains a vanilla flavoured gluten-free whoopie and a chocolate flavoured gluten-free whoopie amongst other non-gluten varieties. There are also plenty of ideas for fillings so you can mix and match at your pleasure.

I thought I would make the vanilla flavoured gluten-free whoopies with the classic marshmallow crème. But, as it is an American book I needed to translate the ingredients and find them! After a couple of weeks I tracked down the last ingredient, Fluff to make the marshmallow filling. Instead of buying the original vanilla flavoured fluff I bought the strawberry flavoured fluff. It was so pretty in pink, how could I resist!?

So in the end I made the vanilla flavoured gluten-free whoopies and filled them with a strawberry twist on the classic marshmallow butter-cream filling.

For those living in the UK, you can buy Fluff online from Shiny Shack.

Have a sweet day!