Whoopie Pie

The whoopie pie — two soft, cake-like chocolate rounds sandwiching a thick layer of fluffy white marshmallow filling — is claimed by both Pennsylvania (where the Amish communities make them) and Maine (where they are the state treat). The name reportedly comes from the exclamation of delight when children found them in their lunch pails: "Whoopie!" The whoopie pie is not a pie, not a cookie, and not a cake — it occupies its own category of American baked goods: a handheld, portable, cake-sandwich format that predates the macaron trend by a century.

Two soft, round, dome-shaped chocolate cake discs (approximately 8cm diameter, 2cm thick) sandwiching a thick layer of marshmallow cream filling (a cooked or whipped mixture of marshmallow fluff, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla). The cake should be moist, soft, and deeply chocolatey — more cake than cookie in texture. The filling should be fluffy, sweet, and white — the contrast between the dark cake and the white cream is the visual signature.