Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I thought I'd give my new wilton whoopie pie pans a whirl tonight by baking up my mom's recipe for red velvet cake. Because I was also making red velvet cake balls, I baked half the batter in an 8x8 pan, and the rest in my whoopie pie pans. I was able to bake 18 whoopie pie halves with the remaining half of the batter.

The recipe is interesting, calling for crisco (I'm used to seeing butter in recipes), buttermilk, and a combo of vinegar+baking soda. The cake turned out moist, light, and fluffy, with a hint of tang from the buttermilk, and just a tiny bit of chocolate flavor.

Next time, I need to remember to grease my whoopie pie tin, so that the batter doesn't cling to the sides and cause rough edges!

The frosting was also one of my mom's recipes. Her recipe calls for creaming the butter, crisco along with a cup of granulated sugar. You have to whip this mixture like crazy to get rid of the grittiness of the sugar. After getting it fluffy and smooth, I felt it wasn't quite sugary enough for my taste so I sifted in a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar. Next time, I might try making this recipe using powdered sugar from the get go.

Here's the recipe for a 2 layer cake, or roughly 18 whoopie pies (36 whoopie pie halves). Frosting recipe follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Crisco, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz red food coloring (usually about a tube)
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans. Line with parchment.
2. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, cream the sugar, crisco and vanilla together. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each.
3. Add food coloring and cocoa to mixer and mix until combined. Add flour, salt, buttermilk and mix to combine.
4. In a small bowl combine vinegar and baking soda, then immediately add to mixer. Stir to combine
5. Pour batter into cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cnter comes out clean.

Frosting recipe:

• 5 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Crisco, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Combine milk and flour in saucepan on medium heat. Cook mixture until very thick, almost paste-like, about 5-6 minutes. Stir constantly. once thickened, chill in refrigerator until completely cooled.
2. In electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment cream the crisco, butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add cold milk/flour mix and beat until fluffy and smooth. Taste and sweeten with sifted powdered sugar to taste.