30 Minute Meals
Whoopie Pie Recipe (Classic Chocolate)
Prep
20 minutes
Cook
10 minutes
Yield
10
🍫 This classic whoopie pie recipe makes soft chocolate cakes with creamy filling! Easy chocolate whoopie pies ready in 30 minutes with hemp heart nutrition boost!
This easy, creamy, chocolate whoopie pie recipe is such a delicious treat to make this holiday season or anytime because it features soft, cake-like chocolate rounds sandwiched with rich vanilla filling. These classic whoopie pies are boosted with Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, so you get 10g of protein and 12g of omega-3 and 6-omega in every bite. Whether you’re making chocolate whoopie pies for a party or just because you’re craving something indulgent, this classic whoopie pie recipe delivers bakery-quality results in just 30 minutes.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Whoopie Pie Recipe
- Lightning Quick: Make these in just 30 minutes from start to finish, so you’re not spending hours baking in your kitchen.
- Intensely Chocolatey: The outer whoopie pie cakes are rich, fudgy, and deeply chocolate-flavored because they use both cocoa powder and melted chocolate.
- Perfectly Creamy: The vanilla hemp heart filling in the middle adds the perfect balance of sweet creaminess to rich chocolate.
- Secret Health Benefits: Hemp hearts add protein and omega-3 and omega-6 to the icing without changing the flavor at all.
🍲 Ingredients
Hemp Hearts – The sneaky, secret ingredient in this whoopie pie recipe is Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, and they don’t change the flavor at all but add incredible nutritional benefits. Hemp hearts are the shelled inside of hemp seeds and the most nutritious and tender part, so you can eat them on their own, blend them into baked goods like this, or sprinkle on top of salads and smoothies. They’re packed with complete protein (all 9 essential amino acids), omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids for heart and brain health, and high in nutrients like magnesium for muscle function, zinc for immune support, and iron for oxygen transport.
Chocolate (Semi-Sweet and Dark) – This recipe uses both semi-sweet and dark chocolate because the combination creates perfect balance. Semi-sweet chocolate adds sweetness and smooth texture, while dark chocolate provides deeper cocoa flavor with slight bitterness, so together they create a well-rounded, complex chocolate taste that’s not too sweet or too bitter. You can use whatever chocolate you prefer, but this combination delivers the most sophisticated flavor.
👩🍳 How to Make This Whoopie Pie Recipe
Prepare Ingredients:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper, so the delicate cakes don’t stick and you get easy cleanup.
2. In a small pot, melt together the semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, and unsalted butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until completely smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool slightly because adding hot chocolate to eggs can scramble them.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
Make the Whoopie Pie Cakes:
4. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the eggs and both sugars, whisking briefly just to break up the eggs.
5. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the egg mixture on high speed for 3-4 minutes until it becomes light, fluffy, and pale in color because this incorporates air for cake-like texture. Reduce speed to low and slowly stream in the melted chocolate and butter mixture, mixing until thoroughly combined and glossy.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and mix on low speed just until combined with no flour streaks remaining, but don’t overmix or the cakes become dense. Fold in the Manitoba Hemp Hearts at the end until evenly distributed. The batter will be soft and pourable like brownie batter rather than stiff cookie dough.
7. Using a standard cookie scoop (approximately 2 tablespoons), scoop the batter onto the prepared baking trays about 3 inches apart because they spread during baking. Be sure to scoop and bake immediately so the batter doesn’t sit long, which helps achieve that nice glossy top on the finished cakes.
8. Bake for 9-10 minutes until the cakes are set on the edges but still soft in the middle. They should spring back lightly when touched, but they’ll continue to firm up as they cool.
9. Allow the whoopie pie cakes to cool on the baking trays for 1-2 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely because they’re very delicate when hot.
Make the Hemp Heart Filling:
10. To make the icing, add the hemp hearts and milk to a blender and blend together on high speed until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides 2-3 times to ensure everything is pureed. Set aside.
11. In a small bowl, add the softened butter and whisk with a hand mixer on high speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, then whisk on medium speed for 1 minute until combined. Pour in all of the hemp heart cream and whisk on high speed until completely incorporated, light, and airy. Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip for easy assembly.
Assemble and Serve:
12. Pipe the icing onto the flat bottom of one cooled cake, covering in a circular motion around the edges and filling the middle generously. Place another cake on top with the flat side down, sandwiching them together and pressing gently until the filling reaches the edges. Repeat with remaining cakes and filling.
13. Set each assembled whoopie pie onto a tray or plate and allow them to rest in the fridge for 10-15 minutes so the filling firms up slightly for cleaner bites.
14. Serve the whoopie pies with a dusting of powdered sugar and a sprinkle of Manitoba Hemp Hearts on top if desired. Enjoy immediately or keep chilled until ready to serve!
Traditional Marshmallow Fluff Filling (Alternative):
Beat ½ cup softened butter until fluffy, then add 1½ cups marshmallow fluff and beat until combined. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. This traditional filling is sweeter and softer than buttercream.
Mini Whoopie Pies:
Use a 1-tablespoon scoop instead of 2 tablespoons and bake for 7-8 minutes because smaller cakes cook faster. These make perfect bite-sized treats for parties.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Batter Consistency: The batter should be soft and pourable like brownie batter, not stiff like cookie dough, because this creates the signature cake-like texture.
- Uniform Size: Use a cookie scoop for perfectly even rounds that bake uniformly and create matching pairs.
- Don’t Overbake: Remove when edges are set but centers still look slightly soft because they firm up during cooling.
- Chill Before Serving: Refrigerate assembled whoopie pies 15-30 minutes so the filling sets and they’re easier to eat without squishing out.
🗒 Variations
- Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: Replace ½ cup chocolate with ½ cup pumpkin puree and add pumpkin pie spices for fall-flavored whoopie pies.
- Red Velvet: Reduce cocoa to 2 tablespoons and add red food coloring for red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese filling.
- Chocolate Edges: Roll the filled edges in mini chocolate chips or cocoa powder for classic bakery-style presentation.
- Salted Caramel: Drizzle assembled whoopie pies with salted caramel sauce and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
🗒 Substitutions
- Dairy-Free: Replace regular butter with vegan butter like Earth Balance and use plant-based milk in the filling, so the recipe becomes completely dairy-free.
- Gluten-Free: Use your favorite 1:1 gluten-free flour blend because most work well in this recipe without other adjustments.
- Buttermilk Version: Replace milk with buttermilk for tangier, more tender cakes, or make dairy-free buttermilk by mixing plant milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar.
- Without Shortening: This recipe uses only butter for richness, but traditional recipes often use half butter and half shortening for stability.
🍽️ Best served with
- Brown Butter & White Chocolate Snickerdoodles
- Ferrero Rocher Cookies
- Red Velvet Cookies
- Holiday Sugar Cookies
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store whoopie pies in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days or refrigerated for 4-5 days because the filling stays fresher when chilled. For longer storage, freeze unfilled cakes and filling separately for up to 2 months, then thaw and assemble when ready to serve. You can also freeze assembled whoopie pies for 1-2 months, but wrap each one individually in plastic wrap first so they don’t stick together. Thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
🤔 Common Questions
Traditional Maine-style whoopie pies use marshmallow fluff mixed with butter and powdered sugar, while Amish-style versions often use vanilla buttercream. Marshmallow filling is lighter and sweeter, but buttercream is more stable and holds up better at room temperature.
Whoopie pies are technically cakes because they use a cake-like batter with buttermilk or milk and have a soft, tender crumb. They’re sometimes called “gobs” or “black-and-whites” depending on the region.
Use a cookie scoop for uniform portions, don’t overmix the batter, and bake immediately after scooping so the batter doesn’t sit. Also, make sure your baking powder is fresh because old leavening causes irregular rising.
Yes! This recipe uses only butter for rich flavor, though some traditional recipes use half shortening for firmer filling that holds up longer at room temperature.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for 4-5 days or freeze for 1-2 months. Freeze components separately or wrap assembled pies individually because they’re delicate and stick together.
Maine whoopie pies traditionally use marshmallow fluff filling and are slightly smaller, while Amish whoopie pies from Pennsylvania typically use vanilla buttercream and are larger. Both use chocolate cakes, but regional variations exist.
Yes! Bake the cakes up to 2 days ahead and store unfilled in airtight containers, then make the filling and assemble the day of serving so they taste fresh.
Whoopie Pie Recipe (Classic Chocolate)
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Brownie Whoppie Pie:
- 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate
- 2/3 cup dark chocolate
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ tbsp vanilla
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 5 tbsp cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts
For the Vanilla Hempseed Icing:
- 2/3 cup Manitoba Harvest Hearts
- 2 – 3 tbsp milk or plant-based milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter soft
- ¾ cup icing sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a small pot, melt together the semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, and unsalted butter over low heat. Transfer to a bowl. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the eggs + sugars.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, mix on high speed for 3 – 4 minutes; until light, fluffy and pale in color. Reduce your speed to low, and slowly stream in the melted chocolate + butter mixture, until thoroughly combined.
- Mix in the dry ingredients, until combined. Add the Manitoba Hemp Hearts at the end. The dough will be soft like a brownie batter.
- Using a standard cookie scoop (approximately 2 tbsp worth), scoop the cookies onto the baking trays about 3 inches apart. (Be sure to not let the cookie dough sit long before scooping or baking, to get that nice glossy top!)
- Bake for 9 – 10 minutes, they will be set on the edges + soft in the middle.
- Allow to cool for 1 – 2 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.
- To Make the Icing, blend, add the hemp hearts and milk. Blend together on high speed until smooth + creamy. You will have to scrap down the sides a couple of times. Set aside.
- Next, add the soft butter to a small bowl, and using a hand mixer, whisk on high speed for 2 minutes, until light + fluffy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla- whisk on medium speed for 1 minute. Add all of the hemp heart cream and whisk on high speed until completely incorporated, light + airy. Transfer the icing to a piping bag with a large round/star tip. Pipe the icing onto the back of one cookie, coving in a circular motion around the edges and filling the middle. Place one of the other cookies on top, sandwiching them together. Repeat these steps.
- Set each whoopie pie onto a tray or plate. Allow it to rest in the fridge for 10 – 15 minutes prior to serving.
- Serve the whoopie pies with an icing sugar dusting + sprinkled Manitoba Hemp Hearts (optional). Enjoy!!
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