red velvet whoopie cream pies

I have a small confession to make: these are not from scratch. I cheated.

But they were still delicious.

My fiancee bought me a special pan from Williams Sonoma for Valentine's Day...

 

and it came with a rubber spatula and a box mix for red velvet whoopie cream pies

BUT it also came with a recipe for making regular/chocolate whoopie pies from scratch:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 whole egg

1 cup buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt) and set aside.

Beat brown sugar and butter together in a large bowl, then add vanilla and egg.

Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, then repeat,

and finish with the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter into each well of your greased and floured whoopie pie pan.

If you don't have a whoopie pie pan, you can use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 

Just make sure to leave space between so the cakes can spread.

Spread the batter out a little more than in this picture. Oops.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, then let cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, mix together:

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

5 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

...until light and fluffy. 

Congrats! You just made buttercream frosting!

Make little sandwiches with the cakes and whatever frosting you didn't lick out of the bowl...

and enjoy!