Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These are my seasonal treat to make your Hallowe'en happy. They have quite a subtle flavour, with a dash of pumpkin, a hint of warming cinnamon, and a lovely texture. You could easily eat them as small individual cakes, or you could sandwich them together to make the whoopie pies like I did. I used a basic buttercream filling because the usual marshmallow one used in whoopie pies isn't veggie (unless you can get vegan mallows, which are pretty hard to come by in the UK). The buttercream made the cakes a bit birthday-cake-ish, which I liked, but it could overwhelm the gentle autumnal flavours. Still, buttercream is delicious, so who cares?!

Makes: A lot of cakes! You will probably need to bake in 2 batches.

Ingredients:

120ml vegetable oil
200g brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
200g pumpkin puree (I used Libby's canned)
250g plain flour - sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon

For the buttercream:

150g icing sugar

150g butter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment
2. Whisk together the oil, sugar and vanilla until combined
3. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until creamy then add the egg and combine
4. Sift the flour, raising agents and spices in to the pumpkin mixture and fold until fully combined
5. Spoon mixture onto the trays in small spoonfuls, leaving room for them to spread slightly
6. Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until the mounds spring back when lightly pressed
7. Remove the whoopies from the oven and leave to cool

8. Beat the butter and sugar together until you have a thick cream

9. Sandwich 2 cakes together with the buttercream