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Black and Orange Halloween Whoopie Pies

Black and Orange Halloween Whoopie Pies
Halloween celebrations come in all shapes and sizes, from massive haunted houses that attract visitors from all over to small parties that involve friends, family and costumes. Some elements of Halloween are always the same, no matter what size party you are throwing, and that includes the fact that black and orange are unquestionably the signature colors of the holiday. Adding a splash of black and orange to your cakes and other creations is an easy way to turn an ordinary dessert into a spooktacular one that is worthy of any Halloween gala. These Black and Orange Halloween Whoopie Pies are a great treat to celebrate Halloween with. They’re easy to make and look – and taste – fantastic when they are all put together.

The cakes are made with cocoa powder for the black color and orange food coloring for the orange. You use the same batter for both cakes, dividing it and adding the coloring to each portion before baking. Since the colors are baked in to the cookies, you don’t need to do any extra decorating before serving them, which makes them a good choice when you want a party treat but are a little pressed for time. The cakes are firm enough that they are easy to handle without falling apart, yet they are still soft and tender when you bite into them. You get a good vanilla flavor from the orange cakes, but there is also a nice punch of chocolate from the cocoa cakes that makes the whoopie pies a little bit more exciting. They’re not too sweet and really work well with the vanilla cream filling, which binds the two cakes together.

The pies can be prepared a day or so in advance and stored, filled, in an airtight container. After storing them, the cookies and the filling will melt together a little bit more. I find that some people love them when they are very fresh and some people love them just a bit more on the second day. The recipe makes a big enough batch that you should be able to try them both ways, but it can always be doubled if you need enough for a really big crowd!


Black and Orange Halloween Whoopie Pies

Black and Orange Halloween Whoopie Pies
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp coffee or water, warm
orange food coloring

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and almond extract until well-combined. Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the buttermilk. Stir in remaining flour, mixing just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Divide batter, transferring half of it into a second bowl. To the first bowl, add orange food coloring and whisk until batter is bright orange and the color is uniform.
In a small bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and coffee/water until cocoa powder is dissolved. Add this mixture to the second portion of batter. whisking until batter is a uniform chocolate color.
Drop tablespoonfuls of batter, making them as round as possible, onto prepared baking sheet. You should have 30-32 individual cookies.
Bake for 10-13 minutes, until cookies are set and spring back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack completely before filling with Vanilla Buttercream Filling (Recipe below).

Makes 15-16 sandwiches.

Vanilla Buttercream Filling
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp milk
2-2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, beat all ingredients together until frosting is thick and smooth. If frosting is too thick to pipe easily, add in an additional teaspoon or two of milk. If frosting is too thin, gradually add additional confectioner’s sugar.

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2 Comments
  • I am so glad that I came across these! They are fantastic! I never would have thought to do multi colors like that, but it works 🙂

  • I love that these are simple and so cute for Halloween! You don’t need things to be covered in candy corn to know it’s a Halloween dessert 🙂 these are brilliant!

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