Very berry whoopies
Forget about cupcakes, whoopies are the latest craze! Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and sandwiched with intensely fruity and vibrant raspberry butter-cream.
Decorate the tops with glace icing and let you or your kids’ imagination go wild with fresh raspberries, sugar sprinkles, sliced mini marshmallows or sugar flowers.
Makes 20
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
Whoopies
275 g (10 oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
175 g (6 oz) caster sugar
75 g (3 oz) butter, melted
150 g (5 oz) Greek yogurt
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
100 g (4 oz) raspberries
100 g (4 oz) butter, at room temperature
250 g (9 oz) icing sugar (no need to sift)
5 tablespoons raspberry puree
To decorate
200g (7 oz) icing sugar, sifted
6-7 teaspoons water
Selection of fresh raspberries and sugar sprinkles, mini marshmallows, sugar flowers to decorate
- Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl then stir in the sugar.
- Mix the melted butter, yogurt, eggs and vanilla together in a separate bowl until smooth then beat into the dry ingredients until creamy.
- Spoon into a large piping bag and pipe or spoon 40, 4 cm (1 ½ inch) wide, domed circles on to three baking sheets lined with non-stick baking paper. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
- Bake in batches at 180°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4 for 10-12 minutes until golden and crisp to the touch. Leave to cool on the paper on a wire rack.
- To make the filling, puree the raspberries in a liquidiser or food processor then press through a sieve and discard the seeds. Beat the butter and half the icing sugar together until soft. Gradually beat in alternate spoonfuls of raspberry puree and the remaining icing sugar until smooth.
- Sandwich the whoopies together in pairs with a spoonful of the raspberry buttercream.
- For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl then gradually mix in enough water to make a smooth icing that can be spread. Spoon a little on to the top of each whoopee then spread over the tops with a knife. Decorate with fresh raspberries and sugar sprinkles, slices of mini marshmallow, or sugar flowers. Leave to set for 15 minutes then arrange on a serving plate.