Banoffee Whoopie Pie

There’s something about a whoopie pie that I just adore. The moist, squishy sponge is unlike anything else you’ll taste and with the added fluffy filling, they’re perfect for deconstructing your favourite bakes.  While this is probably my favourite out of all the whoopie pie recipes I make, it’s also the richest and I often slice them in half and share them with someone else! If you can eat an entire one by yourself, then you have my respect!

Ingredients

Sponge batter

• 1 large egg
• 5¼ ounces / 150g golden caster sugar
• 4½ ounces / 125g plain yoghurt
• 1 fluid ounce / 25ml whole milk
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 2½ ounces / 75g unsalted butter, melted
• 9¾ ounces / 275g plain flour
• ¾ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 small bananas, peeled

 Cream filling

• 4 ounces / 110g unsalted  butter, softened
• 6½ ounces / 185g icing sugar
• 5 ounces / 145g Vanilla Fluff (see Trivia below)
• 1½ tablespoons of caramel sauce

Method

In a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the egg with the sugar until light and fluffy.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the yoghurt, milk and vanilla and then slowly add this to the egg mixture until fully combined.

Slowly add the melted butter to your batter, scraping down the sides to make sure everything is combined.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a separate bowl and then add a  large spoonful at a time to your batter, still on a low speed, until fully combined.

Switch off the mixer and break off small pea sized pieces of banana and add to the mixture.  Mix with a large wooden spoon and then put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your oven to 170°C (150°C fan) / 338°F (302°F fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

Take your batter from the fridge and spoon nine equal sized mounds (a very generous heaped tablespoon should do it) a good distance apart on each of your trays, giving you 18 mounds in total.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until they’re springy to the touch but before they catch at the edges.

Remove to a wire rack to cool while you make your cream filling.

In a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, combine your butter and icing sugar until fluffy.

Add the vanilla Fluff and mix on a high speed until fully combined.

Still on a high speed, add your caramel sauce and mix until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides to ensure you have mixed all the ingredients.

Refrigerate the filling for 30 minutes before adding a generous heaped tablespoon to one of the flat sides of the sponges and sandwiching with another sponge.

Do the same with the remaining sponges.

Trivia

Vanilla Fluff, also known as marshmallow crème, is an American confectionary which began appearing in recipe books in the late 1890s. In the early years of the 20th century, the Canadian-born American confectioner Archibald Query (1873-1964) began selling his version of it door-to-door in Somerville, Massachusetts. When access to sugar, one of the essential ingredients, began to dry up in the First World War, he sold his faltering business to candy makers H. Allen Durkee and Fred Mower for $500. They re-branded it Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff in 1917 distributing through stores. The Durkee-Mower company continues to be one of the major manufacturers today.