Whoopie Cake!

For those of you who don't know, I love celebrating. I'll celebrate almost anything because I just like an excuse to bake, host parties, decorate, etc. Imagine my dismay when I learned that Joe is pretty anti-birthday. To be fair, he isn't anti- other people's birthday, just his own. That said, I wasn't going to let him get away with not even getting a cake, so I set to work trying to figure out what he would most appreciate (since he wouldn't offer any suggestions).

One thing I knew he loves was Whoopie Pies (you know, the dessert made out of mini chocolate cakes with marshmallow fluff based filling). His grandmother had a recipe for them and he took over the task of making them this past Easter. It was so cute watching him bake and he positively scarfs the things down. I also knew that he really likes cheesecake (there was a time when we first started dating that we were always at the Cheesecake Factory). In a moment of sheer genius, I decided to combine the two.

While I figured I would be able to find a recipe online for whoopie pies, I wanted it to be his grandmother's recipe in particular. That said, I won't post it here. I'm sure it's not some super secret family recipe, but I still don't feel like it's mine to pass around. If you're interested in replicating this cake, I'm sure any whoopie pie recipe will do the trick.

Essentially I decided to turn the whoopie pie into a three layer cake with a lower layer of cheesecake filling and an upper layer of traditional whoopie pie filling! I did a test run the weekend before Joe's birthday to take to a friend's party and the cheesecake was a little hard, so the recipe below is the version I used the second time, which was much softer.

For the cheesecake, I just did a super simple crustless cheesecake. I took a round cake pan (because I didn't need the cheesecake to be pretty) and added a little bit of margarine so the cake wouldn't stick. Then, because I wanted it to be thin, I just did half of what I would normally do for a cheesecake. I used one package of cream cheese, one egg (the full recipe calls for three if anyone is looking to double this and make a full cheesecake), probably around 1/3 c. of sugar, and what likely amounts to around 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Super easy. The biggest thing is to make sure the cream cheese is out at room temperature for long enough to get soft so that you don't need to use a mixer. Using a mixer can cause over-mixing and make the cheesecake tough and less creamy. I like to be able to just mix mine together with a spoon and then put it into the pan. I baked it at around 325 degrees (lower than I would do most cheesecakes) for around 30 minutes. Then I put the whole pan, covered in plastic wrap, in the fridge for a day.

Then I took the cake portion of the whoopie pie recipe and used it to make three thin layers of cake.* They weren't all exactly even in thickness, so I used the thickest layer as the bottom and the thinnest layer for the top so that the fluff-based filling didn't get squished out everywhere.

*Side note: While I am not posting that recipe here, one suggestion I will share is to cook the cakes a little less than you would think to cook other cakes. The recipe I had was meant to be used for the smaller portions and therefore the big portion had a tendency to be a little dry in the test run. By baking them for a little less time and them wrapping them individually in plastic wrap while I kept them overnight, they stayed nice and moist.

To begin assembly I took the bottom layer and put a very thin layer of fluff filling, basically for use as cement to hold the cheesecake in place (something else I learned from my test run the weekend before), then I added the cheesecake. This time it turned out very creamy and actually split apart a couple of times. Because it was so creamy I was able to use a knife to smooth it out a bit and then put another very thin layer of fluff filling on top of it to hold it together.

I put the next layer of the cake on top of that and then slathered on the remaining fluff filling and the final layer of cake. I wrapped it all in plastic wrap and carried it to Joe's, where it stayed in the fridge for another few hours before the big reveal.

The final product after it was unwrapped at Joe's.

Held up pretty nicely this time. The cream colored layer on the
bottom is the cheesecake,while the upper layer is fluff-based filling

Joe loved it! It luckily held up very well and the refrigerator didn't dry out the cake too much. It was delicious a couple of days later too, so it keeps fairly well in the fridge if covered tightly with plastic wrap. His family loved it too, so I'll likely be making it again in the near future. I'm still trying to come up with a good name for it. Whoopie Cake is pretty encompassing, but there is no indication that a fully baked cheesecake is inside. Whoopie Cheesecake doesn't really give you a complete picture either because it sounds like some random version of a cheesecake. Whoopie Cheese Pie just sounds disgusting. Suggestions? In the meantime, I'll stick with Whoopie Cake.

Peanut Butter Success!

I woke up Saturday morning ready to make the Peanut Butter Mocha muffins for Joe. I had all my ingredients and couldn't wait to get started.

Then I realized the problem with cooking, or rather baking, for a man in his apartment; there were no measuring spoons and only a couple of measuring cups. I had known in advance to bring a muffin pan, but I hadn't imagined there wouldn't be measuring devices. I used my experience in the bakery of Western Sizzlin' to eyeball most things and crossed my fingers. To measure my liquids I used a shot glass. Oh to cook in a bachelor pad.

Regardless, the muffins came out pretty okay. They weren't as moist as I had hoped, but I'll add a bit more applesauce next time. I also thought they could have used a bit more coffee, but Joe said they had a nice amount of mocha flavor, so I may not mess with that part of the recipe. All in all, not bad.

Mocha Peanut Butter Muffins!

Joe doesn't like eggs. It's quite a bummer for me given that I'd consider eggs one of my favorite foods. I love them fried, poached, deviled, scrambled, you name it. I am, however, learning to deal with it. I say that totally lovingly. He would be absolutely fine if I made myself eggs while he had toast and peanut butter (his morning staple), but I feel bad not eating what he eats. I'll get over that eventually and just start making myself eggs, but in the meantime I'm getting creative.

This Saturday he's spending the day with his friend Sean, which includes taking the train to Lawrence, MA. I think it's great that he has these "guy days" with Sean (they've been friends since they were kids), but it definitely bums me out to not be around him. This is also something I'm getting used to (I have all SORTS of solo weekend plans for the summer and am also hoping for more girl days with the ladies). That said, I want to make him breakfast before he leaves this Saturday, partly because I want to do something sweet for him and partly because I want him to think of me all day. Sneaky, I know.

He eats a lot of peanut butter, as I've alluded, and he loves coffee. The other day when I was asking him about foods (he also doesn't like strawberries [or most other berries], seafood, had never had fajitas until I made them, etc.) and he asked if I could make mocha muffins like they have at the grocery store. Now I've never made mocha muffins, but I figured I'd try searching the internet and see if I could find a good recipe. The one I found is perfect for him: Mocha Peanut Butter muffins!

I'll go ahead and post the recipe now, but I'll definitely update with a review afterward:

2 cups all purpose flour (can use some whole wheat too)
1/2 stick butter, room temperature

4 Tbsp. applesauce
1/2 cup peanut butter, divided
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup brewed coffee, room temp
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl mix the butter, applesauce, 1/4 cup peanut butter and sugar with a hand or stand mixer. Add the eggs, vanilla and room temperature coffee. In a separate bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the dry mix to the wet mix. Stir only until incorporated. Add about 1/3 cup mix to each muffin tin, filling almost all the way to the top. Top with about 1 tsp of peanut butter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean. Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan then finish cooling on a wire wrack.

I'm super excited to make them and report back about how they turn out! Fingers crossed!!