Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Picture courtesy Bon Appetit

We started a baking club at my office. Every month or so, we have a theme and people bring in a dish along that theme. For our inaugural event, the theme was pumpkin.

Now everyone in the office knows I bake a lot, so I really had to bring it. Something delicious but not too fancy. Something sweet and fall but not too predictable. Something like a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie with Maple Cream Filling.

You can feel free to admit that you now wish you worked in my office.

Eat Rating: Most responses went something along these lines: "This is so wrong. But so good."
Difficulty: Medium

Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2009

Filling:
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
7 oz. marshmallow fluff (about 2 cups)
3 tbsp maple syrup

Cake:
3 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground cloves
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk

Combine and sift all the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg). In a bowl or Kitchenaid, beat the butter with the brown and granulated sugars. Add in the oil, then the eggs one at a time, beating between each. Add in the pumpkin puree, then 1/2 of the dry ingredients, the milk and then the remaining dry ingredients. You should have a thick, cake batter.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spoon 2-3 tbsp of batter onto the parchment paper, fitting 12 cakes per sheet. Bake 20 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Remove cakes from cookie sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack. Repeat until you run out of cake batter. You should get about 46 to 48 small cakes.

Once the cakes are cool, make the filling. Add the sugar and butter to a bowl or Kitchenaid and beat until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the marshmallow fluff and maple syrup and then beat until well combined. Spoon 1 to 2 tbsp of filling onto a cake, then top with another cake. (Note: Don't try to put more than 2 tbsp of filling between the cakes. It will just ooze out and make a mess. You will probably have some leftover filling. Don't sweat it)

Serve to your friends and become instantly popular.