After hearing this month’s Recipe redux theme, my husband’s response was,
‘You mean we get to make cupcakes?! ‘
I immediately knew which camp I was in. April’s theme was posed as a cupcake conundrum: Are you over the cupcake trend or do you think cupcakes never go out of style? Our challenge was to either show our most delicious ‘Re-Duxed’ mini-cake creation or share a favorite hand held dessert destined to be the next big trend. I personally think cupcakes will never go out of style, but the hand held dessert my family usually requests isn’t cupcakes, but whoopie pies. So I resolved to combine the two and bring you the whoppie pie cupcake!
Before I started baking, I thought this challenge was going to be a piece of cake! I started with a traditional family recipe for whoopie pies, decided on my ingredient substitutions, baked the cupcakes and I was cruisin’ along. But things got tricky when I went to ice the cupcakes with a healthy frosting. Yeah, that’s what I thought, it’s an oxymoron, right? The first batch of frosting I made was too runny and I was unable to pipe it onto the cupcakes as I had originally envisioned. The second batch was too sweet, even for the taste testers claiming to have a sweet tooth! Finally, on my third attempt at a crowning achievement for my two dozen cupcakes, I was on to something! The result was a fat free icing that was not as creamy as a rich butter cream frosting, but in my opinion, the light taste and nutrition profile more than made up for this shortcoming.
And so there you have it, the whoopie pie cupcake. It’s both cute and tasty, and here’s the icing on the cake: each cupcake is only 149 calories, and contains 3 grams fat, 0 grams of trans fat, and 15 mg cholesterol.
Nutritional profile Traditional Whoopie Pie (1 whoopie pie) 236 calories, 10 grams fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 1 gram trans fat, 24 mg cholesterol, 34 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein
Nutritional profile Redux Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cupcake: 149 calories, 3 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 28 grams carbohydrate, 4 grams protein
Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this post for my colleages’ answers to this fun challenge!
What’s your favorite hand held dessert?
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cupcakes with Orange Zest (makes 2 dozen)
Ingredients
for the cupcakes
- 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 T low fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup buttermilk
for the frosting
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 5 teaspoons cornstarch
- salt, dash
- 1 cup skim milk
- 4 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
for the cupcakes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar; add vanilla, Greek yogurt, buttermilk and mix to combine. Pour wet mixture into dry; whisk until just combined. Fill cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.
for the frosting
In a 1 1/2 quart saucepan combine 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add skim milk, and 4 well beaten egg whites all at once. Cook and stir mixture until it is thick and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in orange zest. Cover and refrigerate until cool. Pipe frosting on cupcakes in a plain swirl using a pastry bag without tip.
Diane this frosting is genious! I’ve never thought to make a light one using cornstarch to make it thick. Your story of how you got there was interesting! I’m totally pinning now…and plan to make this weekend!
You are funny! I was happy with the result. My husband would have been just as happy with Cool Whip! (BTW Cool Whip would be a good alternative.)
Whoopie Pies are only starting to make their way into bakeries (and bellies!) here in Australia. I am yet to try one – so your recipe will be a great transition!!
It’s funny, I ate my first whoopie pie 25 years ago in Lancaster, PA. Now they are just starting to appear in North Carolina. Australia is in for a treat! Hope you enjoy my recipe. It is a bit easier to make cupcakes than whoopie pies.
Ha, I love your husband’s comment to this month’s theme. And man, talk about dedication to get this recipe right! So creative to do a whoopie pie & cupcake mash-up which totally speaks to me because I’m pro-cupcake and pro-mini dessert 🙂
Yes Deanna, I think I have had my fill of cupcakes. I didn’t mention in the post, but I made the cupcakes twice so I could use up all that extra frosting! So worth it though.