Chocolate Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Chocolate strawberry whoopie pies, two rich and decadent chocolate cake discs that are sandwiched between a light and fruity strawberry whipped cream frosting! I wouldn’t be joking when I tell you that these do not last long!

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About This Recipe

These chocolate strawberry whoopie pies are made up of two components, the chocolate cake and the strawberry frosting. The chocolate cake batter is slightly thicker than a regular chocolate cake batter, this helps it to keep it’s shape. The cake is rich, decadent and super chocolatey. As for the frosting, I decided to make a whipped cream frosting instead of a buttercream frosting because the cake is already so rich, so light and fluffy frosting goes really well with it.

The whipped strawberry frosting is made using strawberry Jell-O instead of fresh strawberries. This make it super easy to whip up and also makes the frosting quite stable. But if you still wanted to incorporate fresh strawberries into the dessert, you could add diced strawberries in the center of the whoopie pie along with the frosting.

Ease: this chocolate strawberry whoopie pies recipe is a very beginner friendly recipe, and the ingredients used are also very simple and easily available. Plus they come together in minutes, so you do not have to wait long to enjoy these delicious treats!

What are whoopie pies?

A whoopie pie is a classic New England dessert that consists of two soft chocolate cake-like cookies sandwiched with fluffy, marshmallow filling. Traditionally, they are filled with a marshmallow filling, but different kinds of fillings may also be used in some recipes. Why are they called whoopie pies? It’s believed that whoopie pies were first made from leftover cake batter, and Amish legend has it that, when children and even farmers would find the delicious treat in their lunch pail, they’d yell out “Whoopie!,” hence the name.

What You Need To Make Chocolate Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Ingredients for chocolate strawberry whoopie pies

Flour: I used regular all purpose flour, I have NOT tried this recipe with nay other type of flour.

Cocoa powder: use unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder for the most intense chocolate flavor. The better the quality of your cocoa powder the better and more rich the flavor of the chocolate cake will be.

Sugar: this is for the sweetening the chocolate cake.

Butter: I highly recommend you use softened butter, this will make it so much easier to beat with the sugar. Also Use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt in the cake. Here’s a tip to quickly soften butter!

Buttermilk: use room temperature buttermilk for the best results. The acids in the buttermilk react with the baking soda causing the cake to rise and become super soft and fluffy. Don’t have buttermilk? No problem! You can make it at home with just 2 ingredients and 1 simple step!

Baking powder/soda: these are the leavening agents, which will make the cake fluffy rather than dense. Always make sure you baking powder/soda are not expired before you start baking!

Salt: adding a tad bit of salt to anything sweet helps to balance the overall sweetness of the dessert and really brings out all of the flavors.

Egg: again, use a room temperature egg for the best results (why should you use room temp ingredients when baking?). Eggs are the binding agent in cakes, they create structure and stability to the cake.

Coffee: coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, making it more intense.

Heavy Cream: this is for the strawberry whipped cream frosting. Use chilled heavy cream that has a fat percentage of 35% or higher, otherwise the cream will not beat into stiff peaks.

Powdered sugar: this is for sweetening the frosting.

Strawberry Jell-O: you can use any brand of strawberry flavored gelatin powder.

How To Make Chocolate Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Step 1: Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg and brewed coffee and beat to combine. Lastly add in the butter milk and combine. At this point the mixture will look curdled and separated, but everything will come together once the dry ingredients are added.

Step 2: Add in the dry ingredients and fold until fully combined. You should have a smooth and slightly thick chocolate cake batter.

Step 3: Use a cookie scoop (or a spoon if you don’t have one) to scoop the batter onto 2-3 baking trays lined with parchment paper. If the scoops aren’t so smooth, you can use wet fingers to fix they’re shape. Make sure to leave a good amount of space between each scoop, because the cake will rise and expand. Bake these in an preheated to 190 °C / 375 °F for 10 minutes, once baked let them cool down completely before adding on the frosting.

Step 4: Prepare the strawberry whipped cream frosting. In a large bowl, combine cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, you can add more or less depending on how sweet you want your frosting to be, and the strawberry Jell-O. Whip this on high speed until stiff peaks form. You could also add a few drops of pink food coloring if you’d the frosting more pink.

Step 5: Divide all of you cake discs into pairs then use a piping bag to pipe the strawberry frosting onto the inside of one of the chocolate cake disc (or you could just use a spatula to spread on the frosting), and use another to cover it making little cake sandwiches! Repeat this step until you’ve used all of you cake discs. If you have any extra cake disc that has no partner than you could frost that as well and have it without the top!

Storing/Freezing The Chocolate Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Store any leftovers in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, then transfer to the refrigerator and store for up to 2 more days. Although I recommend you enjoy these when they’re fresh!

The chocolate cake discs can be made ahead of time and frozen. Warp the cooled cake discs in a layer of plastic wrap and then in a layer of aluminum foil for extra protection. Freeze for up to 2 months, thaw at room temperature. You could also microwave the defrosted cake for 10-20 seconds to warm it up a bit.

Pro Tips

If you have a convection oven (oven with a fan setting), reduce the temperature by 20 degrees.
Here’s an easy hack to quickly soften butter: cut the butter into small cubes and place them onto a microwave safe bowl, then microwave at 20% power in 10 second intervals until the butter has softened (it should take about 20 seconds in total).
Measure you flour correctly! Adding too much or too little flour will change the texture of the cake dramatically. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off using the back of the spoon. Or use a scale for precise measurements.
Don’t skip the coffee, this is what brings out the rich flavor of chocolate in this cake recipe, many recipes just use water but coffee really enhances the intensity of chocolate, if that makes sense!
Use wet fingers to smoothen the rough edges of the cake batter scoops before baking them to ensure you get beautiful circles.
You could also add diced fresh strawberries into the center of the whoopie pies with the strawberry frosting if you want more strawberry flavor.
If the cake discs are a little wonky once they come out of the oven, use a cookie cutter to fix them up. Use a cookie cutter that’s larger than the cake and just spin it around very gently. You could also use a small bowl if you don’t have a cookie cutter that’s big enough.

FAQ’s

How can I make buttermilk at home?

It’s super easy, just add 1 tablespoon of vinegar for every 1 cup of milk. Let it sit for a few minutes and it’s ready to use! So for 1/2 cup of buttermilk (which this recipe calls for) add 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar to 1/2 cup of milk.

Why is my heavy cream not beating into stiff peaks?

There are different factors which could cause this, but these are the 2 main causes: Your cream is not cold enough, or the cream you’re using has a fat percentage that’s lower than 35%. If you have the first problem, simply refrigerate the whipping cream until it’s nice and cold, then whip it up. For the second problem, well you’re going to have to switch to a cream with a fat % of 35 or above.

Can I make the chocolate cake using gluten-free flour?

I have never made this recipe with gluten-free flour, so I have no idea if it would work or not. But if you do, please let me know how it goes!

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