pumpkin whoopie pies

Got any pumpkin puree lying around? After making two pumpkin cakes I still did! I love whoopie pies and, with their soft, moist cakeness and a beautiful squidge of lemme-eat-it-on-its-own filling in every bite, who wouldn't...

Here are my tips for making sure your whoopies come out whooptastic:

• I put way too many toothpick holes in the cakes, trying to see if they were cooked all the way through. Your tester does need to come out of the cakes clean but another sign that the cakes are cooked is that the tops will spring back a little when gently pressed.
• Make sure cakes are completely cooled before filling because if the filling warms at all, it won't do as it's told.
• Don't put too much filling in or it will squish out the sides and you'll have lopsided pies. This is very hard to do but be strong because the end result witll be beautiful whoopies and, even better, there will be leftover filling!*

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I used a recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renalto Poliafito but, thanks to Martha's all-powerful influence, it's online here! I haven't played around with different recipes much but these ones are high and a bit too easy to eat. Next time I'll definitely play around with some flavours. Like chocolate.

*Even as I wrote that I knew I would never follow it the next time I made these. Quite frankly, the recipe is extremely cruel in that it really gives you too much to fill the cakes sensibly. So:

• If you must stuff the cakes to bursting then perhaps chilling the filling for about 10 minutes would make it easier. I wouldn't chill it for too long though because it will set and that filling really does actually belong inside your mouth via pumpkin whoopies, not a plastic bowl from the fridge.