These Red Velvet Whoopie Pies showcase your classic red velvet cake in sandwich form. These are two moist, flavorful, and delicious disks of red velvet cake filled with cream cheese frosting. The cake is made in one bowl with simple ingredients, and the cream cheese filling can be whipped up in 5 minutes!
I have become a huge fan of red velvet. It has such a unique flavor, is so moist and fluffy, and that pop of red is just so fun. If you’re like me and love red velvet, check out Red Velvet Cupcakes if you’re looking for another 30 minute bake, my Red Velvet Layer Cake for a large celebration, or Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies for a twist on a classic candy cookie!
Tell Me About This Recipe
- Whoopie pies are two moist, fluffy, and flavorful cake disks filled with frosting
- These are made with a 4-ingredient, super simple frosting. It is made with cream cheese and marshmallow fluff to perfectly pair with the classic red velvet cake flavor!
- The whoopie pie cake disks are made in a bowl with a whisk in just 25 minutes
Whoopie Pie Ingredients
PLEASE NOTE: the full recipe and instructions can be found in the recipe card below
- All Purpose Flour: Regular, all purpose flour creates a light and fluffy red velvet cake! You absolutely NEED to measure your flour correctly- either by measuring in grams or by spooning flour into your measuring cups and leveling the tops with a spoon or knife. If you scoop and pack your flour into measuring cups, you will end up with dry, dense whoopie pies!
- Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder is where your classic red velvet flavor comes from.
- Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil is the fat in this recipe and helps to create moist cake slivers.
- Granulated Sugar + Light Brown Sugar: A combination of plain granulated sugar and light brown sugar adds moisture, structure, and sweetness to these red velvet whoopie pies.
- Eggs: You’ll need one large egg at room temperature for this recipe! Place your egg in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using if you forget to leave it out ahead of time!
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is so important for red velvet, specifically. It reacts with the leavening agents, vinegar, and food gel to help with a light texture and deep color. You’ll want your buttermilk to be at room temperature.
- Distilled Vinegar: Use distilled vinegar in red velvet batter to help with rise and color!
- Red Food Gel: I highly recommend using food gel rather than liquid food dye. You’ll need just a couple of drops of food gel, where you will likely need quite a bit of liquid food dye to achieve a deep red color. My go-to red is Super Red from Americolor . I normally need less than a teaspoon of it to get a really nice red color.
Process
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: Whisk dry ingredients together with a whisk: all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
Step 3: Whisk vegetable oil, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract together until smooth.
Step 4: Carefully, mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat only until you see the ingredients disappear into the batter. You should not see any flour mixture poking through.
Step 5: Mix distilled vinegar and red food coloring into the batter.
Step 6: Divide the batter into slightly larger than 1/2 tablespoon size dollops onto your prepared baking sheet. Ensure the batter is at least 2 inches apart.
Step 7: Bake whoopie pies until slightly soft and set on top, domed, and until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Step 8: Prepare cream cheese frosting by beating room temperature butter and cream cheese together on high speed until smooth. Beat powdered sugar into the frosting until combined on medium speed. Then, add marshmallow fluff into the frosting on high speed, beating for about 3 minutes until smooth, soft, light, and velvety.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make this recipe ahead of time. The whoopie pies last in the fridge for up to 4 days. However, you can freeze the unassembled red velvet cake disks individually wrapped for up to 5 months or the fully assembled whoopie pies for up to 4 months. Place the whoopie pies in the fridge about 12 hours before serving.
Whoopie pie filling is traditionally soft and velvety. To accomplish this texture, we add marshmallow fluff or creme. Additionally, to honor the red velvet flavor, cream cheese is used in addition to butter and powdered sugar to add that classic tang!
You do NOT need a whoopie pie pan for these! In fact, the recipe guides you to use cookie sheets lined with parchment paper!
Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting
This Cream Cheese Frosting takes 4 ingredients total and 5 minutes of your time! It’s the perfect filling for these whoopie pies because it is super simple, adds the perfect amount of sweetness, has a subtle tang from the cream cheese, and pays homage to the classic red velvet + cream cheese pairing! To make the frosting:
- Mix room temperature butter and cream cheese together on high speed until smooth
- Add powdered sugar to the mixture and carefully beat until combined
- Stir powdered sugar into the frosting and beat for 2-3 minutes until light and velvety
Expert Tips and Tricks
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Room temperature ingredients allow the batter to come together properly and ensures that the ingredients properly incorporate. In this recipe, you’ll need a room temperature egg and room temperature buttermilk
- leave egg out 1-2 hours before baking or place it in a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes before using
- leave buttermilk out 1-2 hours before baking or microwave for 10-15 seconds
- Whoopie Pie Size: Do not make the whoopie pie batter dollops larger than 1 tablespoon. The recipe recommends slightly larger than 1/2 tablespoon measurements. Larger whoopie pies will not dome properly, meaning you could end up with flatter cake sandwiches!
- Storing: My most important tip on storing these is to individually wrap them. Plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or even plastic zippable bags will ensure that the whoopie pies do not stick to the surface they are placed on or to each other.
Related Recipes
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Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: about 20 whoopie pies 1x
- Category: red velvet, whoopie pies, cake
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Easy Red Velvet Whoopie Pies are cake sandwiches stuffed with cream cheese filling! They are moist, fluffy, quick to make, and unique to serve!
Ingredients
For the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
- 2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons (15g) cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup (134g) vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup (158g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup (180g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon distilled vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon red food gel (may need more depending on brand)
For the Marshmallow Cream Cheese Filling
- 1/2 cup (110g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 oz (120g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) powdered sugar
- 2/3 cup (66g) marshmallow fluff/ marshmallow creme
Instructions
For the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper to ensure the whoopie pies come off of the pan cleanly after baking and cooling.
- In a medium bowl, whisk all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder together until combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk vegetable oil, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, room temperature buttermilk, room temperature egg, and vanilla extract together until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients to your large bowl of wet ingredients and whisk until you see all pieces of the flour mixture disappear into the batter. The batter will be thick and may look slightly lumpy, but you should not see any of the dry ingredients along the sides of the bowl or poking through the batter.
- Add the distilled vinegar and red food gel to the batter. Whisk until incorporated but try to add the food gel in as few additions as possible to prevent overmixing the batter. Doing so could lead to flatter and drier whoopie pies.
- Spoon the batter into slightly larger than 1/2 tablespoon dollops at least 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheets. The cake disks will rise and spread as they bake, so make sure there’s enough room between your circles of batter.
- Bake the whoopie pies for 7-10 minutes or until the tops look domed, centers look just slightly soft but set, the tops spring back when quickly poked in the center, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the whoopie pies to cool on the sheet pans for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a parchment or plastic wrap-lined plate. The whoopie pies are sticky and will likely get stuck to each other or any surface without parchment or cling wrap.
- Let the whoopie pies fully cool before filling.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or in a stand mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, beat room temperature butter and room temperature cream cheese together on high speed until smooth. This should take about 3 minutes of mixing to add air to the frosting.
- Carefully, mix the powdered sugar into your frosting in multiple, small additions to avoid spilling. Beat on medium speed until fully smooth and incorporated.
- Add marshmallow fluff to the cream cheese frosting, making sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula before continuing to mix. This will ensure all of the ingredients are properly incorporated with one another. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes to create a light, airy, and velvety frosting.
For Assembly
- If desired, transfer frosting to a piping bag, large zippable bag that you can cut the corner off of, or a parchment triangle for greater control.
- Top half of the whoopie pie disks on their flat side with frosting.
- Place one whoopie pie disk flat-side-down on top of the frosting to create a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cake pieces to create whoopie pies.
- Store whoopie pies individually wrapped in cling wrap, layered between pieces of parchment paper in an airtight container, or in a single layer on a parchment-lined plate or baking sheet that is covered with cling wrap or aluminum foil in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Keywords: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, Cake Sandwiches, Cream Cheese Filling
I loved these Whoopie Pies! And so did everyone at the potluck I attended. The cakes were soft, airy, and delicious. The filling was even better!! Best Whoopie recipe I’ve found!
★★★★★
Yay! Thank you so much for trying and sharing, Sabrina!