When making the apple 'n honey cupcakes the other day, I had quite a bit of honey whipped cream left over. I just simply couldn't let it go to waste! I brainstormed for a while to think of what I wanted to make with it and decided on a version of whoopie pies. Usually, these are chocolate cake-like cookies with a filling, but I wanted to change it up. I wanted to make a peanut butter version with the honey whipped cream in the center. My husband is a big peanut butter fan, so he was excited by this idea.
In looking through various recipes on allrecipes.com, I found a highly rated version of the chocolate whoopie pie using a Devil's Food cake mix that was prepared as the box directed, except that only half of the water called for was used. So I found a peanut butter cake recipe that I liked and planned on making it as the recipe called for, except with half the water. It didn't quite turn out like I had hoped. I didn't think to reduce the buttermilk that was also in the recipe, so of course it was too runny to turn drop onto the cookie sheet like cookies. I should have thought that one through a little more. So I added the remaining amount of water and baked the batter in two greased and floured 9" pans and sprinkled some mini chocolate chips on time. I cooked the cakes at 350F until they were cooked through.
Then came the decision on how to present the cakes. I could use the honey whipped cream as a filling for a two layer cake, then make a chocolate ganache topping or I could just leave it as two separate cakes. My husband suggested the latter. I topped the cakes with the honey whipped cream, swirled it to make it look nice, then melted some more mini chocolate chips with a little bit of oil and drizzled it on top. The end result was actually quite nice! I still want to work on the cookie version, since that sounds good to me.
So lessons learned:
1. I need to remove even more of the liquid from the recipe if I want a shot at making this into drop cookies. Maybe I can find a fluffy and puffy peanut butter cookie recipe if that doesn't work.
2. Always be prepared to improvise if something doesn't turn out just the way I planned, especially when changing around recipes into something different. The final product here was great, even though it wasn't what I was planning on.
3. No matter how excited I am to taste the cakes, do not attempt to lick the metal knife used to loosen the cake edges just before turning out on a rack! The sugar obsessed part of my brain evidently took over briefly...I need to rein that in at times.
4. Remember to re-whip the whipped cream before using. It was a little flatter than I would have liked when I spread it on the cakes. The pretty swirls I tried to put into the frosting just fell a bit flat.
5. Another idea for this cake would be to use a whipped cream with stiffer peaks and possibly use a kitchen blow torch or broiler to gently color the top of the whipped cream. This would make for a nice presentation, particularly if there is no chocolate drizzled on top.
And now it is Friday and I haven't fully decided what I want to create this weekend. Perhaps a bunch of gnocchi so that I can have a stash in the freezer. I also have a recipe for whole wheat tortillas I would like to try. Maybe even make some sticky buns or cinnamon rolls...I guess I will figure out what inspires me when the time comes!
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