Soft Chocolatey Cake Sandwiches (Printable)

Soft chocolatey cake sandwiches filled with luscious vanilla cream, a beloved classic treat from Pennsylvania Dutch tradition.

# What You'll Need:

→ Chocolate Cakes

01 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
03 - 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
04 - 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
05 - 1/2 teaspoon salt
06 - 1 cup granulated sugar
07 - 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
08 - 1/2 cup vegetable oil
09 - 2 large eggs
10 - 1 cup buttermilk
11 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

→ Cream Filling

12 - 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
13 - 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
14 - 1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
15 - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 - Pinch of salt

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
03 - In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, and oil until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
04 - Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the wet ingredients, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix gently until just combined.
05 - Drop 2-tablespoon mounds of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
06 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until cakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool for 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
07 - Beat butter until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, then mix in marshmallow creme, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat until fluffy.
08 - Spread or pipe filling onto the flat side of half the cakes. Top with remaining cakes to form sandwiches.
09 - Refrigerate assembled pies for 30 minutes to set the filling and enhance texture.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • They're soft and pillowy, nothing like the dense cake cookies you might expect.
  • The marshmallow filling is impossibly fluffy and tastes like the best part of frosting.
  • They come together faster than you'd think, and the smell alone is worth the effort.
02 -
  • If your filling looks grainy or broken, your butter wasn't soft enough; you can't fix it by mixing harder, so start over with room-temperature butter.
  • These cakes are small on purpose—the ratio of cake to filling is the whole magic, so don't try to make them bigger or you'll lose what makes them special.
  • The chilling step isn't optional; warm whoopie pies are delicious but fragile and fall apart when you bite into them.
03 -
  • Use an ice cream scoop to drop batter—it ensures every cake is exactly the same size and bakes evenly.
  • If you want the filling to taste like marshmallow rather than powdered sugar, use less sugar and more marshmallow creme than most recipes call for.
  • Room-temperature ingredients mix faster and smoother; pull your eggs and butter out about an hour before you start.
Return