These decadent Cake Mix Whoopie Pies are so easy to make using store bought cake mix! With a homemade frosting, you'll love every bite of these sweet and chocolatey treats.
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A light frosting sandwiched between moist and tender chocolate cakes--what could be tastier? These handheld desserts are great for bake sales, parties, special occasions, or an anytime treat!
Why this Recipe Works
With simple prep and a short ingredient list, these 20-minute homemade whoopie pies are ideal when you want a soft and comforting dessert! They're made with chocolate cake mix for a convenient shortcut like these Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies.
Just like my Brownie Cookies or these Espresso Brownies, this is a must-try treat for any chocolate lovers!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour: All purpose flour is necessary for both the cake halves and to thicken the frosting.
- Milk: Like the flour, you'll use milk for the cake batter and the homemade whoopie pie frosting.
- Chocolate Cake Mix: Choose whatever brand you like to bake with--I opted for the Pillsbury brand Moist Supreme Chocolate variety.
- Eggs: Help bind together the batter and lead to soft and fluffy whoopie pies.
- Butter: Melted and slightly cooled.
- Vegetable Shortening: This acts as the base of your frosting and gives it a rich and creamy texture.
- Granulated Sugar: For sweetness.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds a bit of additional sweet flavor to your frosting.
How to Make Cake Mix Whoopie Pies
- Step 1: In a small saucepan over medium heat or medium-high heat, whisk together the flour and milk.
- Step 2: Once it reaches a paste consistency, remove it from the heat and set aside.
- Step 3: In a large bowl, combine cake mix with flour.
- Step 4: Add in the eggs, milk, and melted butter and mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Step 5: Drop batter onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet using a small cookie scoop and gently press them into flatter circles. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and let them cool.
- Step 6: Meanwhile, add the shortening and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until combined.
- Step 7: After you cream together the sugar and shortening, add the cooked flour mixture and the vanilla extract.
- Step 8: Whip until the frosting is thick and fluffy, about 8 minutes.
- Step 9: Arrange half of the cookie cakes upside down on cookie sheets, then pipe a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of filling onto each.
- Step 10: Finish the whoopie pies by adding the other half of the sandwich cookies and gently press down.
Recipe Tips
- Resist the urge to over stuff the whoopie pies! If there's too much frosting, it will overflow and the whoopie pies will be messy to eat.
- Don't skip the first steps with heating the flour and milk. Because the frosting is uncooked, the flour needs to be heat treated first to prevent salmonella and other bacteria. The flour helps stabilize the frosting so it doesn't get runny or liquidy.
- Add other flavors to the filling like hazelnut extract, mint extract, or even a bit of peanut butter. You could even make these double chocolate whoopie pies by adding a bit of cocoa powder.
- If you don't have a piping bag, you can also spoon your frosting into a plastic bag with the corner snipped off, or use a knife or offset spatula to evenly spread the frosting.
- For some extra presentation points, rolls the exposed frosting edges in some sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs, mini chocolate chips, or little candies of your choice!
- Other filling options include marshmallow fluff or cream cheese frosting.
Recipe FAQ's
The answer is that whoopie pies are a little bit of both! This sandwich dessert features two thin chocolate "cookies" or "cakes" with a cream, frosting, or marshmallow filling between them. The result is a unique treat that's fluffy, moist, and irresistible!
Keep your whoopie pies in an airtight container or tightly wrap them individually with some plastic wrap. At room temperature, they're best in the first day or so. You can keep them in the fridge for 4 to 5 days as well.
If you're making these for a bake sale or need to take them on the go, pop them in the fridge for a bit before you transport them. Allowing them to chill helps cake mix whoopie pies firm up, which will prevent any squishing or smooshing while they travel.
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Cake Mix Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
Prep the filling thickener
- 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
Whoopie Pies
- 1 18.25 oz box of Chocolate Cake mix*(I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme Chocolate Cake)
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter melted and somewhat cooled (see note below)
Filling
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small saucepan on medium/medium-low heat, add the 5 tablespoon flour and 1 cup milk together. Whisk these ingredients until combined, and continue whisking while it heats up, about 4-6 minutes. see notes
- Around minute 3 or 4, the mixture will start to resist and become very thick; continue stirring. When it starts to look like a paste/glue, remove from heat and stir to remove any remaining lumps. Set aside and allow to cool while you make your whoopie pies.
Make the pies
- In a large mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients- the cake mix, and additional flour.
- Then add in the 4 eggs, ½ cup milk and ½ cup melted butter.
- Using a wooden spoon or heavy-duty spatula, mix these ingredients until combined and no dry mix spots remain.
- Using a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop or spoon, scoop out a whoopie pie onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch or more between pies.
- Using the back of the scoop, gently push the batter around slightly to form the pie.
- Cook for 10-11 minutes, until the cakes are cooked through but not dry.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and then transfer each pie to a cooling rack. Repeat until all the cookie cakes have been baked and let the cakes cool completely.
Make the filling
- In a large mixing bowl add the shortening and granulated sugar and using a hand mixer beat on medium speed until combined.
- Add the cooked flour mixture to the shortening /sugar mixture, and add in the 2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Whip on high speed for 8 minutes, or until light and doubled in size. Making sure to scrape down the sides.
- Add your whipped filling into a piping bag or fitted with your favorite cake decorating tip o build the whoopie pies. *See notes
Build your whoopie pies
- Take your cooled whoopie pies and line the bottoms on a tray.
- Starting in the center, pipe about 1 to 1.5 tablespoon of filling, around the surface of the bottom piece.
- Take the top piece of the whoopie pie and place it on the filling, gently pressing the filling out to the edge of the cake.
- Repeat with your remaining cakes, filling on the bottom whoopie pie and topping with another cake.
Notes
- The all-purpose flour in the filling helps keep the frosting stable so it doesn't run out of the cookie cakes. It's important to heat-treat the flour so you aren't eating raw flour in order to prevent the chance of salmonella.
- You can also add the filling to a ziplock baggie and cut the corner out to squeeze the filling onto the cookie cakes. Or simply use a butter knife to even spread the filling on.
- It is best to fill and create the whoopie pies when the filling has just been made. Leftovers can be refrigerated yet this recipe is best enjoyed right after making!
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