Red Velvet Whoopies

I  just love food stories and this one really takes the cake. Apparently whoopies originated when Amish women, baking cakes, used the leftover batter to make these little miracles as a surprise for their husbands’  lunchboxes. When the husbands opened up their lunchboxes after a hard morning’s work on their land, they’d shout “Whooppee!”

Red Velvet Whoopies

Makes 18 whoopies (sandwiched)

Making the whoopies
2⅓ cups cake flour
2 tablespoons cacao, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100 g soft butter
1 cup castor sugar
1 tablespoon red food colouring
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
175 ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

For the icing
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
½ of a 240 g tub cream cheese
125 g soft butter
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
extra icing sugar for dusting

Sift the cake flour, cacao, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl. Cream the butter and castor sugar n a separate bowl and add the food colouring and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the eggs, to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well. Beat the buttermilk and vinegar into the mixture. Spoon batter into the holes of three 12 hole pattipans. Bake for 12 minutes in a preheated oven of 170ºC. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Make the icing: Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and butter. Add the cider vinegar and mix until you have a smooth batter. Sandwich whoopies together with the cream cheese icing. Dust with icing sugar.