Whoopie Pies

About 15 years ago, my husband and I took a road trip to Cape Hatteras to vacation with some of his family. Somewhere along the way, we came across whoopie pies, which we had never heard of (coming from Western New York). After arriving at our destination, we were talking about these yummy cakes sandwiched around creamy filling and my husband’s Aunt said that her mother made them all the time and that she would be happy to share the recipe with us. That recipe, from a newspaper dated 1961, literally sat in my “recipes to try” binder through 15 years and 3 moves.


When 37 Cooks was lucky enough to have Tropical Traditions sponsor one of our challenges, I decided to dust that recipe off and give it a try. I had chosen their Coconut Cream Concentrate to work with, and thought it would work great in a buttercream filling for the pies.

Rather than making the cakes chocolate, as the recipe was written, I decided to substitute with a banana cake, hoping that a lighter cake flavor would go well with the coconut cream concentrate filling.

The result was delicious. I used the coconut cream concentrate in place of the butter in the cakes, as well as in the filling.

I had never worked with Tropical Traditions products, but now I am hooked! I can’t wait to try their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil next. Tropical Traditions is America's source for coconut oil, and many other great coconut products and I can’t wait to try them all!

Whoopie Pies
by Jennifer

Cakes:
1 cup sugar
½ cup Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup very ripe banana, mashed (about 1 medium banana)
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine sugar and coconut cream concentrate in large bowl and mix on high with hand mixer until well blended. Add vanilla, banana, egg, and milk and mix until well blended.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to coconut cream concentrate and banana mixture and mix well. Portion cakes with 2 Tablespoon scoop onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

For Coconut Cream Concentrate Buttercream:
2 sticks butter, room temperature 
1/4 cup coconut cream concentrate
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup powdered sugar

Mix softened butter with hand mixer on high until very light yellow and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add coconut cream concentrate and vanilla and mix until uniform. Add powdered sugar slowly until incorporated and then mix on high to desired consistency. Add more powdered sugar if needed.

Assemble pies by piping or spreading filling onto one cake, and top with another.