For generations, the lowly whoopie pie has been an East Coast thing — a cakelike, cream- or marshmallow-filled chocolate sandwich brought to Maine by Amish travelers, or vice versa, depending on who’s telling the story. Out here, Whoopi was a comedic movie star, not a dessert. And we were content with cupcakes.
That all changed last year.
Now whoopie pies are popping up on upscale restaurant menus, in bakeries and delis everywhere, and the chocolate classic has been joined by creative variations that spin flavors, swap fillings and play with size.
Epicurious.com editor Tanya Wenman Steel dubbed the whoopie pie a top 10 food trend in her 2010 forecast, after a staffer’s husband brought samples of Michael Recchiuti’s version — a chocolate-glazed carrot cake whoopie — back to Manhattan from San Francisco in his briefcase and the office staff went nuts.
Now, it seems, everyone’s abuzz, and those who were ahead of the curve months ago, scooping up the sweet treats at San Jose’s Cosentino’s Market or Morucci’s deli in Walnut Creek may be forgiven for looking so smug. What’s changed, though, is the creativity that is now going into these creations.
At San Francisco’s Bruno’s, the cakes are spiced pumpkin, filled with cream cheese icing. At Emeryville’s Teacake Bake Shop, it’s classic chocolate with vanilla buttercream. And Menlo Park’s Marche puts mini-whoopies on its petit four platter, along with palmiers, tiny passion fruit tarts and “whatever’s fun,” says pastry chef Adrienne Garcia.
“I had never had one, and they piqued my curiosity,” says Garcia “So I made them for the petit four plates. Bite-sized, with marshmallow fluff as the filling, or a really silky vanilla buttercream.”
And at LarkCreek Steak in San Francisco, pastry chef Jodi Bourassa’s whoopies are red velvet filled with marshmallow cream, or lemon with pistachios. Or, chocolate with peanut butter filling; or, chocolate and raspberry.
It’s not just happening here, of course. Whoopies are taking New York City by storm too — and Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta, too.
“Just yesterday, I saw Harrods in London is carrying whoopie pies. I was shocked!” says Chronicle Books food editor Amy Treadwell, whose new book “Whoopie Pies” (Chronicle, $16.95, 120 pages) hits book stores in just a few weeks.
San Francisco pastry chef Marisa Churchill, a season two “Top Chef” contestant, sees the whoopie passion as a natural outgrowth of the comfort food trend, but one with infinite possibilities.
“That’s part of the whole resurrection of the whoopie pie,” she says. “It’s fun for a lot of chefs to think about what to do with the item and then make it.”
For some that means infusing fillings with cardamom and rosewater, or adding mint to the cake-y part and rolling the finished treat in crushed peppermint. Churchill is developing a low-fat whoopie, made with Greek yogurt and buttermilk, for her “Sweet and Skinny” cookbook due out in 2011.
Meanwhile Treadwell and her co-author, Sarah Billingsley, are putting the final touches on their new cookbook. The San Francisco food writers and editors were born on the East Coast. Treadwell is from Massachusetts, and Billingsley is from Pennsylvania, which is whoopie country. They started with chocolate-marshmallow, but soon moved on to more adventuresome fare, including a jalapeno-studded cornmeal version.
“We came up with all these sweet ones, and one day thought, maybe we should have a savory one,” Treadwell says. “The filling was really difficult to figure out. I tried something slightly sweet and it was awful. But the cream cheese-bacon thing we did with chives turned out to be really good. Every time we tested all the recipes and brought them to work, people really chowed down.”
Forty whoopie recipes later, they’ve even tried green tea and mochaccino and created a mix-and-match list with suggestions for pairing fillings and cake layers.
Treadwell’s favorites include a s’mores version, made with graham flour, chocolate ganache and marshmallow cream — and The Fat Elvis.
“It’s a banana whoopie with salty peanut butter, rolled in crumbled bacon. Its delicious!” she says. “I’m sure we’ll get some purist backlash.”
Whoopie How-To
You, too, can bake these simple small cakes and use icing, ganache or marshmallow fluff to sandwich them together. Amy Treadwell and Sarah Billingsley’s new “Whoopie Pies” cookbook offers scores of combinations with amusing names, including a Fat Elvis and a Happy Pilgrim. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
