{"id":8399,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8399"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:15","slug":"whoopie-pie","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/whoopie-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoopie Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When two round cakes sandwich a white filling, their flat bottoms face inward and their domed tops face outward. The whoopie pie is a portable American treat known for its soft cocoa cake and sweet filling. Despite the name pie, it uses no thin pastry shell. From the legend that traces its name to a cheer on opening a lunchbox, to Pennsylvania\u2019s black moons and gobs and its designation as Maine\u2019s official treat, it has different names and histories from region to region.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A whoopie pie dusted with powdered sugar (September 1, 2007; location unknown). Two domed rounds of cake sandwich a white filling. Photo: Arnold Gatilao \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Full-size image obtained. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Baking batter dropped onto a sheet into soft little cakes<\/h2>\n

The batter uses flour, cocoa, sugar, eggs, milk, fat, leavening and so on. Mixing the fat, sugar and eggs, then adding the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, gives a soft batter that can be dropped onto a baking sheet. It is flavored with vanilla and placed in equal portions, spaced apart.<\/p>\n

As the batter spreads in the oven and rises slightly, it becomes small cakes with domed tops and flat bottoms. Rather than being dried hard into cookies, they are baked to have just enough spring to hold their shape and a soft texture when bitten. Two baked halves are cooled and put together with their flat bottoms facing inward.<\/p>\n

A white filling made with fat, sugar and marshmallow<\/h2>\n

The filling is a cream of fat and sugar mixed together, or a cream combined with marshmallow spread. The recipe (the ingredient proportions and method) \u201cKyle\u2019s Whoopie Pies,\u201d published by King Arthur baker Sue Gray, combines shortening, powdered sugar and marshmallow spread with salt and vanilla. Unlike whipped fresh cream, it is a filling based mainly on fat and sugar. It is mixed well until light and sandwiched between the cooled cakes.<\/p>\n

Without piping the cream too thickly all the way to the edges, the two halves are pressed lightly together. Fat melts easily if the filling goes onto hot cake, so it is important to cool the cakes before sandwiching. A ring of white cream shows between the two brown cakes, and every bite brings cake and cream together.<\/p>\n

There are also home-style versions that use store-bought solid marshmallows as the filling. In the method from Kyoritsu Foods, a Japanese maker of confectionery ingredients, marshmallows with their surfaces moistened with water are placed on cocoa cake that has been baked and cooled. They are warmed briefly in a microwave to soften, and then the other cake is placed on top. Instead of mixing them with fat to make a cream, this method softens the marshmallows themselves and sandwiches them.<\/p>\n

The lunchbox naming legend and spread through advertising<\/h2>\n

A commonly told explanation of the name is a family story about baking leftover cake batter, filling it with cream and packing it into lunchboxes. When the children or husbands opened their boxes, they shouted \u201cWhoopie!\u201d with delight, and that is how it got its name, the story goes. It is a lunchbox legend told in connection with Amish households.<\/p>\n

Marshmallow Fluff, used in the white filling, is also a product whose uses the manufacturer Durkee-Mower promoted to households. The company launched a radio program in 1930 and distributed a cooking booklet, the Yummy Book, which had been previewed in a serial comedy as a scholar\u2019s \u201cmystery book.\u201d It was advertising that linked a commercial sweet spread with home baking.<\/p>\n

Also in Massachusetts, the Berwick Cake company of Roxbury made \u201cWhoopee Pie\u201d a product. An advertisement promoting it as a 5-cent cake sought dealers to carry it along with the company\u2019s \u201cDevil Dogs\u201d and other items. Besides family lunchboxes and small shops, there was also a commercial route by which company-made confections were distributed to other retail outlets.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A red velvet whoopie pie (June 6, 2012; location unknown). Red cake paired with a white filling. Photo: Home Cooking Secrets \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Full-size image obtained. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A shop that uses home-grown pumpkins in its cakes<\/h2>\n

Bird-in-Hand in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, sells whoopie pies as a Pennsylvania Dutch treat. The shop, run by the Smucker family, makes large chocolate cakes sandwiching a vanilla filling, as well as pumpkin, peanut butter, red velvet and other varieties. It explains that its pumpkin products use pumpkins harvested from its own fields.<\/p>\n

The shop also sells them packed in boxes as gifts together with other regional treats such as shoofly pie. Here one can see the connection between farm and shop, with the harvest from the fields put to use in the cakes.<\/p>\n

\n\"Small\n
Small whoopie pies the photographer made for an Oscars party at home (March 7, 2010; location unknown). Chocolate cakes sandwiching mint buttercream. Photo: Clever Cupcakes \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Downsized version from Commons obtained. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Black moons and gobs: differences in name and formulation<\/h2>\n

Emily Kovach, who reports on local food, shares the memories of Elizabeth Halen, owner of Flying Monkey in Philadelphia. Her family called them \u201cblack moons,\u201d and reportedly ate them instead of a big cake on the siblings\u2019 birthdays. The shop\u2019s formulation also uses butter rather than shortening, which Halen herself explains makes their shelf life shorter.<\/p>\n

In Johnstown, in western Pennsylvania, a similar treat is called a \u201cgob.\u201d The gobs of Dutch Maid Bakery, covered by Beth Kracklauer in 2009, featured a yellow filling and a clear wrapper printed with a sailor. The shop\u2019s Tim Yost is reported to have bought the recipe and the rights to the name from local Harris & Boyar in 1980. The name \u201cgob\u201d is said to come either from lumps of coal in the mines or from slang for a sailor, but which of these is the origin of the name is unclear. Among Amish households, the black moons of the east and the commercial products of the west, the names, fillings and recounted histories differ, even though each sandwiches a filling between two cakes in a similar way.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctreat\u201d chosen by Maine<\/h2>\n

Several states, including Maine and Pennsylvania, have claims to being the birthplace of the whoopie pie. Labadie\u2019s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine, states that it has made them since it opened in 1925. The shop\u2019s combination of ingredients\u2014cocoa, buttermilk, flour, sugar and vanilla\u2014has been handed down.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Maine designated the whoopie pie its official state treat. State law defines it as a baked good consisting of a creamy filling sandwiched between two cakes. Its category of designation also differs from that of wild blueberry pie, the official state dessert. A festival is held in Dover-Foxcroft, and the whoopie pie is enjoyed both as a homemade treat and as an item from commercial bakeries. An everyday treat has also become something that represents the region.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the year it was chosen as the official treat, a giant whoopie pie was also made. It was cut up and sold, and the proceeds went toward the cost of sending Maine treats to soldiers deployed overseas.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A strawberry milk whoopie pie with vanilla ice cream sandwiched inside (June 10, 2012; location unknown). A variation using a cold filling. Photo: F_A \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>. Downsized version from Commons obtained. No alterations to the content and no cropping by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A range of flavors and a portable single-serving form<\/h2>\n

Besides cocoa with white cream, some versions use pumpkin, mint chocolate, banana, strawberry and more. Rather than a large cake to be cut into slices, it is a portable form of cake, complete as a single serving from the start.<\/p>\n

Broken open, the inside shows fine, cake-like air pockets, unlike the stretchy structure of bread. Biting into the soft cake, you taste the sweetness of the white filling together with the bittersweet aroma of cocoa.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Buttermilk<\/strong>: Traditionally, the liquid left after making butter. Cultured products are also used in baking.<\/p>

Marshmallow spread<\/strong>: A soft, aerated, marshmallow-flavored spreadable confectionery ingredient.<\/p>

Treat<\/strong>: An English word for sweets and the like eaten as a reward or for enjoyment.<\/p>

Labadie\u2019s Bakery<\/strong>: A bakery in Lewiston, Maine, United States. It tells of its early production of whoopie pies.<\/p>

Maine<\/strong>: A state in the New England region of the northeastern United States.<\/p>

Shortening<\/strong>: A fat used in baking. Vegetable shortenings are used in creams and batters.<\/p>

Sue Gray<\/strong>: A baker at King Arthur who published the \u201cKyle\u2019s Whoopie Pies\u201d recipe.<\/p>

Pennsylvania Dutch<\/strong>: A name for the German-speaking residents of Pennsylvania and their culture.<\/p>

Bird-in-Hand<\/strong>: Businesses in Lancaster County, including the Smucker family\u2019s bakery.<\/p>

Berwick Cake company<\/strong>: A cake company formerly located in Roxbury, Massachusetts. It ran an advertisement seeking dealers for its Whoopee Pie.<\/p>

Elizabeth Halen<\/strong>: Owner of Flying Monkey in Philadelphia. She spoke about her family memories of black moons and her butter-based formulation.<\/p>

Tim Yost<\/strong>: The operator of Dutch Maid Bakery in Johnstown, who carried on the making of gobs.<\/p>

Red velvet<\/strong>: A cake characterized by its red crumb.<\/p>

Kyoritsu Foods<\/strong>: A Japanese food manufacturer that handles confectionery ingredients and other products. The main text introduces its home-style method of sandwiching solid marshmallows.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u2022 Maine Atlas \/ Stephanie Bouchard, \u201cWhoopie Pies\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Claims by multiple states; Labadie\u2019s 1925 date is the bakery\u2019s own claim; festival, range of flavors, regional production.\n\u2022 Sue Gray \/ King Arthur, \u201cKyle\u2019s Whoopie Pies\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Adding flour and milk alternately, dropped batter; filling of shortening, powdered sugar and marshmallow; cooling and assembling flat side to flat side; large and small sizes.\n\u2022 Bird-in-Hand, \u201cShop\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Own sales under the Pennsylvania Dutch name; large size, pumpkin, peanut, red cake, gifts.\n\u2022 Bird-in-Hand, \u201cBakery & Cafe\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Products using pumpkins from its own farm.\n\u2022 Maine Revised Statutes Title1 \u00a7225<\/a> \u2014 Enactment as the state treat in 2011; two-cake structure.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u2022 Durkee-Mower: History of Marshmallow Fluff<\/a> \u2014 Advertising that developed from a 1930 radio program and serial comedy into a booklet.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u2022 Eric J. Taubert: Maine\u2019s Best Whoopie Pies<\/a> \u2014 The legend of the lunchbox cheer; the author\u2019s report on his own research into the first three editions.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \u2022 Emily Kovach \/ PA Eats: PA Food Icons: Whoopie Pies<\/a> \u2014 Interview with Elizabeth Halen herself; black moons, birthdays, butter and shelf life.<\/p><\/li>

  5. Beth Kracklauer \/ Saveur, \u201cHometown Hero\u201d (2009-07-13)<\/a> \u2014 Johnstown gobs, the yellow filling and sailor wrapper, the 1980 transfer of the rights and recipe, two theories about the name.<\/li>

  6. \u2022 Note on Berwick sources: The advertisement clipping image published on New England Innkeeper was examined firsthand this time. \u201cBERWICK WHOOPEE PIE,\u201d \u201cTHE LARGEST SELLING 5c CAKE,\u201d the call for dealers and the Roxbury address were read. The clipping shows no newspaper name or date; the year 1931 is based on the description given by the person who posted the image. A definitive 1928 launch or trademark registration has not been confirmed in the original registers.\n\u2022 Note on the booklet: Taubert reports that whoopie pies do not appear in the first three editions of the Yummy Book. The originals of those three editions have not been read this time. The year 1930, when the booklet began, is not treated as the year of this treat\u2019s first appearance in print or of its transmission from the Amish. Labadie\u2019s 1925 date has likewise been kept attributed as that bakery\u2019s own history.<\/p><\/li>

  7. Kyoritsu Foods, \u201cWhoopie Pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Kyoritsu Foods\u2019 ingredients and steps, lines 31\u201373. An example in which store-bought marshmallows are placed on cooled cocoa cake, moistened, warmed briefly to soften, and sandwiched.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The whoopie pie is an American treat in which sweet cream is sandwiched between round cakes. The typical version has two cocoa-colored rounds and a white filling, and from the side it looks like a small sandwich. Despite the name pie, it uses no thin pastry shell. A single palm-sized piece brings together soft baked cake and cream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7380,"menu_order":170,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Whoopie pie","subtitle":"Two soft rounds sandwiching white cream","topics":"Dropping rounds from a spoon and baking\uff0fAdding a light white filling\uff0fA familiar treat in Maine","country":"United States","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["chocolate","cream","egg"],"texture":[],"occasion":["celebration"],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[154],"class_list":["post-8399","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t