Sorry if this was posted I could not find anything. Does anybody have a recipe for making homemade oreo cakester type cookies? My son loves them but the real deal is full of trans fats so was hoping to make something just as soft and tasty but a tiny bit healthier.

Thanks

They are basically a Devil's Food whoopie pie. In fact, they are a whoopie pie. Just google them. I have one but they are everywhere and there are plenty of great whoopie books on the market. So far, all of the books are really good.

For the center, the original whoopie has a little high ratio shortening and I stay true to the original because that's what I do, authentic reproductions. But it is such a little bit that it is there for consistency. Without it, the marshmallow cream would stay sticky and be a mess for cleanup with little children. The Cakester also has shortening.

If you don't want marshmallow cream, an Italian meringue (IMBC without the butter) would be only sugar, whites, and vanilla.

My whoopies are some of my best sellers. I'm coming out with a line of gourmet whoopies in the near future. They will be some of my most decadent desserts. I have a real whoopie following. They sometimes email with odd requests and I figure it out.

Whoopies take a little time ti master. Not all internet recipes are good. That's why I suggest getting a book. They need to stay mounded but can't be dense. They resemble cake batter but have enough structure to stand alone.

I always use parchment and good cookie sheets in light color. If you don't have good pans, double them. You want the underside to be as soft as the top... like a Cakester.

By the way, for kid or teen parties, the chocolate covered Cakesters (mold at Spinning Leaf) are always the favorites. Next are covered Twinkies.

Yum..sounds delish!

scp1127 thank you so much for all the info. I will definitely try out a few recipes and experiment to find something we like. I have never had/made a whoopie pie, they are not a Canadian thing. But if they are like Cakesters they must be delish.

There are several Whoopie Pie recipe books out there, can someone recommend a good one?

Thin, yes, I have almost all of them. And the good news is that every one is a great book. There are one or two sitting in my Amazon cart to buy next, but here are my favorites:

The one I use as my base chocolate is in, Whoopie Pies, by Sarah Billingsly and Amy Treadwell. To me this is perfect. It is not overly sweet, but with the filling, it is perfect. The filling does contain vegetable shortening, which I hate, but to make it authentic, it has to be there. The marshmallow fluff would be too sticky for kids to enjoy. I try to stick with authenitcity, but if you want something similar without the shortening, an Italian meringue will be just as good, if not better in my opinion. It will taste like marshmallows. Just look up a recipe. It's essentially the same as IMBC with no butter. In this book, I refer to their other recipes to look for balance, but I have made my own for pumpkin and red velvet.

My next favorite is, The Whoopie Pie Book, byClaire Ptak. I saw this book months before it was released and it prompted me to experiment with gourmet whoopies. I am opening a retail shop soon and these will be one of the features. Again, I rarely copy a recipe, but this book has been an inspiration in just how gourmet these things can actually get.

By the way, I have experimented with every size and I think the #40 scoop, 1 1/2 tbsp, is a great single serving size. They are about 3 inches.

Another pointer... your bottom should be just as soft as the top. If you use those Wilton whoopie pans, the bottom will be crisper and you really lose flavor. I don't even think they taste like whoopies with the same recipe. I have the heart ones. Now I make a heart template on parchment that I can slide under the blank parchment. You can pipe them the same way you pipe a heart out of buttercream.

Use a light colored pan and use parchment. If your pans are thin, use two.

FYI, The Whoppie Pie book was reprinted after the first edition with this title: The Whoopie Pie Book: 60 Irresistible Recipes for Cake Sandwiches Classic and New. I think some people were upset that the previous version had British terms and metric measurements, so an American version was released months later.

Not sure if they changed anything else.

Thanks scp1127 for the info on whoopie pies. I tried an internet red velvet whoopie pie recipe. They looked beautiful but were as dry as a bone. Can you point me in the right direction for a good red velvet recipe? Also have you tried the chocolate chip and funfetti whoopie pies from Sara Billings book? Thanks.

I have an RV that I adapted from an internet recipe. To me, it most resembles Cakeman's. I'll look it up and post the link with changes.

I don't have the book you mentioned, but once you get three or four recipes to rise correctly, stay cake-like, and stay totally soft, even on the bottom, you will know a good recipe when you see it, or you can adapt a successful recipe to the flavor. Once you start, it's easy to get hooked. I think they will be as popular as cupcakes in my store. I think I mentioned it, but I actually have a group of customers who request whoopies not on the menu and I love experimenting. Don't be afraid to fail. Even bad ones will still get eaten. I found that the best way to perfect a recipe for whoopies is to immediately do it again so that you can compare notes. But that first basic book I suggested will probably give you a base for anything you want to do.

Here is my base recipe, but they are a little temperamental and not quite the texture that I wanted, so I made some slight changes and they were perfect.

http://annies-eats.com/2010/02/08/red-velvet-whoopie-pies/

Changes:

2 c plus 2 oz flour
2 or more tsp vanilla or vanilla bean paste
3/4 oz red food coloring, they will still be bright

Use your favorite cream cheese frosting

I have an RV that I adapted from an internet recipe. To me, it most resembles Cakeman's. I'll look it up and post the link with changes.

I don't have the book you mentioned, but once you get three or four recipes to rise correctly, stay cake-like, and stay totally soft, even on the bottom, you will know a good recipe when you see it, or you can adapt a successful recipe to the flavor. Once you start, it's easy to get hooked. I think they will be as popular as cupcakes in my store. I think I mentioned it, but I actually have a group of customers who request whoopies not on the menu and I love experimenting. Don't be afraid to fail. Even bad ones will still get eaten. I found that the best way to perfect a recipe for whoopies is to immediately do it again so that you can compare notes. But that first basic book I suggested will probably give you a base for anything you want to do.

Thank you, thin.

WOW! Thanks for the original question and the wonderful, specific answers by scp1127! This thread is being bookmarked as "Whoopie Pies". I'm going to check out those two books right now.

Apti, it's simple... they have a mold for the cakesters. No, I'm not too creative.

Now for the hard part... I can't find it. Last time we all looked, it was buried on their site and someone found it. I went to that thread and it shows that the page has been removed.

So can someone out there find it again? I can't, I looked.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-733692-.html&sid=d816ff3c65d762b5fe267e4a523482a9

We should call it the "snipe" cookie mold! I found it! Right after I'd sent an email asking about it (couldn't find it either), I tried the word "big" in the search box.

Wah Lah! There it is!

Here's the NEW link:

http://shop.spinningleaf.com/Big-Standard-Cookie-Mold-p/bck-1.htm

# Product: BCK-1
# Cavities: Four
# Cavity Size: 2.375" x 2.375" x 1.125"
# Plastic: Thick 1/16" Clear PETG


scp1127--do you find your "custom, scratch whoopies" fit in here ok, or do you just use the regular Oreo Cakesters from the store?

Thanks for your help, CC'ers!

Hi scp1127, Thanks for the red velvet recipe and the changes you made. I will be trying this one in a few weeks.