First Impressions of the Great British Baking Show
I binged the Great British Baking Show this week after my friend, Emily, suggested it. It’s excellent and I really enjoyed the series (catch it on Netflix streaming.) A few things struck me.
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First, some of the bakes featured on the show were completely new to me. I’d never heard of a Savarin cake before this week — but now I really want to try it (quick description: it’s a tube cake that uses yeast, generally soaked in a liquor syrup with cream or custard in the middle.) There was also a hot water crust(!?) for the pie challenge and Victoria sponge featured in the “basics” challenge. I am inspired to pick up a British baking cookbook!
I was also impressed by the camaraderie of the contestants on the show. They really liked each other a lot and supported each other each week. There were several instances where competitors on the show helped each other at the end of a bake so they could get their pastries finished in time. That’s unheard of in American reality shows where you most often hear comments like: “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win!” And as viewers we say, “Well, it makes good TV!” But honestly, I enjoyed watching all of these very nice and kind people bake their way through the competition … because they WERE nice and I LIKED them.
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Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, FTW?
Anyway, watching this show was perfect timing because we had a bake-off at work today for our annual Halloween party. I’m super competitive and, as usual, I was sure that my pumpkin whoopie pies were a disaster and I was going to lose. However, my bake-off entry came together nicely in the end—even if they weren’t as neat as I’d hoped. Most importantly these mini whoopie pies tasted wonderful with their pumpkin and warm spices. The light, airy, and not-too-sweet icing was a perfect filling. And the surprise of salted caramel didn’t hurt the flavor at all!
Winners are announced tomorrow, but my exit pollsters told me they heard lots of votes for my pumpkin whoopie pies. And really, I’m already a winner because now I have this great new recipe. (Who am I kidding? I REALLY want to win!) [Editor’s note: I did win!]
Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Icing and Salted Caramel
Ingredients
Cakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Icing
- 8 oz block cream cheese (not whipped!) softened
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 8 oz Marshmallow Fluff
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter cut into 6 pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or lightly greasing. I prefer to use parchment.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until very light and fluffy. I usually let this go for 7-10 minutes at medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time until each is incorporated into the mixture. Add the pumpkin and vanilla. The pumpkin makes the mixture look curdled. It’s not. It’s fine. Really.
- Mix in the flour mixture on low speed until most of the flour is incorporated. Then finish mixing by hand until all of the flour is incorporated (this is so that you don’t over work the flour.)
- Using a tablespoon or small disher (my preference), drop batter onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. You should get 72 cakes (I had to bake in two batches.) Bake the cakes for 10-13 minutes — until the cakes are dry on the top and bounce back when you lightly touch them. When you pull them from the oven, let them sit for a few minutes and then move them to wire cooling racks. Let the cakes cool completely before filling.
Cream Cheese Icing
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until thoroughly combined — will be a smooth, creamy consistency. Add the Fluff and mix until combined, glossy, and fluffy.
Salted Caramel Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Heat over medium-high heat. When the mixture starts to boil, reduce the temperature to medium heat. Do not stir at this point. Watch the pot until the sugar starts to turn light brown.
- At this point, the caramel should be very close to done and you should keep all eyes on your caramel sauce. Once the mixture reaches a dark, caramel color, turn the heat off. Add the cream and stir well with a silicone spatula — be careful as the cream will bubble up.
- Once the cream is incorporated, add the butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix until the butter is melted and combined. Move to a jar to cool. The caramel sauce will thicken as it cools and you want it to get thick, but spreadable before putting together the whoopie pies.
Building the Whoopie Pies
- Once the cakes are cooled and caramel is thick but spreadable, it’s time to make the whoopie pies. Use a small disher (my choice) or tablespoon to scoop icing on one cake. Use a small spoon to spread about a teaspoon of caramel on another cake. Sandwich the two together, and you have your first pie. Do this 35 more times!
- Store these in the fridge until ready to serve (take them out half an hour before you serve so the cake can warm up — cold cake is the worst.)
Notes
- This caramel recipe makes more than you really need for the whoopie pies, but there are worse things than having half of a jar of salted caramel sauce in your fridge. I won’t tell if you eat it straight from the jar with a spoon!
- Working with sugar like this for the caramel sauce can be scary, so no judgement if you use a jarred caramel sauce. But if you are brave (though haven’t worked with caramel before), take a look at this video before you start.
- Generally, I really like using a small disher to portion batter and icing. The disher makes it easy to get perfect portions and the spring element helps release ingredients easily.
Things you might want for this recipe:
Dishers/Scoops: In my opinion, these are a must-have kitchen tool. They make scooping cookie dough so much easier and neater than scooping with a regular spoon. And they make perfect portioning a breeze. Dishers are awesome for scooping doughs and batters, but I absolutely love using a them for making meatballs, too.
Sheet Pans: Most likely you have plenty of cookie sheets, but I swear by these basic aluminum sheet pans. They are inexpensive and lightweight. And I like that they have a fairly high lip so they are useful for baking cookies OR roasting juicier items (no dripping onto your oven floor!) These are very standard professional kitchen items, but also super helpful in the home kitchen.
Sheet Pan Racks: These racks are awesome for cooling baked goods, especially big batches of cookies (or say, 72 pumpkin whoopie pie halves!)
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