Banana Puddin’ Whoopie Pies

It’s fitting that I ended up using the filling from my last (truly last) batch of macarons for my first batch of whoopie pies since that was the terrible, no good, very bad batch that gave me the whoopie (!) pie idea.  I decided to make vanilla cakes since my leftover filling was a thick banana pudding.  Don’t worry, I’ll go classic and make some chocolate cakes next time.

I used the vanilla cake recipe here, and they came out looking almost exactly like that picture.  What?  A recipe that comes out how you expect it to?  Insanity!  They also came together super quickly and most important: easily.  I had these whipped up, baked, and cooled in about an hour.  It was a refreshing change from my macaron attempts, and it reminded me why I love this baking thing.  I didn’t cry.  I didn’t yell at my boyfriend.  I didn’t whine and hrmph all over the place. (Yes, I’m ashamed to admit these are all things that happened when making macarons.)

Lindsey + Whoopie Pies = made to be.

The leftover pudding was a little thick.  Ok, so it was concrete-like.  A spoon would’ve stood straight up if I had tested it.  So I whipped a little cream (my boyfriend was beyond impressed with this: “you just…whip it?”) and mixed the pudding in and voila!  Delicious banana cream pie kind of filling.  After sitting in the fridge for a day and coming back to room temperature, the cake stayed wonderfully moist and started to meld with the filling, which was the total textural opposite from the filling on Sweet Mandy B’s pies.  It was light, smooth, and not too sweet.  Although as my dad smartly pointed out, they could’ve used more of it.

don't you just want to nom all over these???

Such a success, and I can’t wait to figure out some more flavors.