Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

You can bake these whoopies into heart shapes by shaping the dough by hand once placed on the tray. We used the dough to make one obscenely large heart shaped whoopie.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

2. Whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa in a medium bowl. Pour the buttermilk into a large, glass measuring jug then add the food colouring and vanilla. With a fork or small whisk, mix together the liquids until the colour is consistent.

3. Place the sugar and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. With the paddle attachment and set on low speed, combine the sugar and zest until very fragrant and the zest gets pulverized. (As you grind the zest you are releasing oil and flavouring the sugar. This will yield a better flavour than if you just dumped the zest into the batter.) Slowly add the butter and, on medium-high speed, cream until light and fluffy, about 5 to 6 minutes. Because of the moisture in the zest, this will not result in as light a texture as it would when creaming other batters, so you needn’t worry. Turn the speed down a notch and mix in the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next egg. Lower the speed again and add the flour-cocoa mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 3 to 4 additions. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure complete mixing of all the ingredients and that the colour is consistent throughout the batter. With a large ice-cream scoop, place scoops of batter on the prepared sheets about 3 inches/7.5cm apart.

4. Bake for 15 to 16 minutes or until the whoopies spring back when poked. Cool on the sheets for about 10 minutes before removing them to cool completely on wire racks. If you are making the obscenely large whoopie bake for 20-25 minutes or until the centre of the heart springs back.

Courtesy of Outsider Tart from their cookbook, Baked in America.