What to buy: Waitrose’s Whoopie Pies

If you had not noticed already, the American craze for ‘Whoopie Pies’ hit the UK food fashion well over a year ago. What are they? They came about as a way to use up leftover batter amongst Amish groups in New England. They almost look like mini Victoria Sandwich Cakes (though you can get different coloured sponges according to flavour), but the difference is the sponge has a slightly more biscuit texture and the butter creamed filling often consists of melted marshmallows.

I had my first try of these Yankee concoctions last year when M&S launched a range of pre-packaged ones. Overall out of the few I tried, none were particularly good and my verdict was that Whoopie Pies were simply overrated plain pieces of sponge with butter cream plonked in between. Just like the way I feel about the revival in cupcakes really.

Yet, this opinion was altered when I went into Waitrose last weekend. Seeing slightly large sized ones reduced down to 89p in the bakery counter and having never yet given Waitrose the chance to prove me wrong, I went ahead in sampling the toffee, and chocolate & cookie ones. I could not detect any toffee in the former. Still it was a lot fresher than those dull overpriced M&S ones had been. As for the chocolate & cookies one, I wanted more! It was a lot like consuming a cake version of Oreo biscuits, and my views on Whoopie Pies were forever erased. In fact, I think these will probably be emerging on my cravings list very soon!

Rhubarb, Stem Ginger and White Chocolate Muffins

Rhubarb is commonly regarded to be this piercing fluorescent stick that we implant into crumbles and pies. Wrong, nay, it can be utilized in an array of dishes. Its sharp sour tang is what unites it so agreeably with rich, fatty meats and fishes, in particular pork and mackerel.

Nevertheless, possessing a sweet tooth I decided it was only fitting to create something for the sugar department, but entailing a bit more excitement than your customary rhubarb desserts. Rhubarb is also a loving partner to stem ginger and white chocolate, and so this how these muffins came about. Feel free to add more stem ginger if you love its intensity or even use ground ginger instead if you are budgeting, and to turn into a dessert serve with custard.

Makes 12

300g rhubarb, roughly chopped into 3cm pieces

150g white chocolate, roughly chopped

100g stem ginger, chopped

2 tbsp. of syrup, from the stem ginger jar

100g plus 3 tbsp., golden caster sugar

300g self-raising flour

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs, beaten

200ml milk

100g butter, melted

Demerara sugar, to decorate

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas Mark 6. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.

2. Mix the rhubarb with the 3 tbsp. of golden caster sugar in a small baking tin and cook for approximately 5 minutes, until just tender but not mushy. Leave to cool.

3. Sieve the self-raising flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the milk, eggs, butter, stem ginger syrup, chopped stem ginger, white chocolate and remaining sugar. Then gently fold in the rhubarb including its juices.1.

4. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Sprinkle the tops with the demerara sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin and then transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool.

"Wonka’s Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight" Cake

Inspired by the literary "Wonka’s Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight Bar" from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, this is a gooey chocolate sponge cake oozing with surprise pieces of melted caramalised fudge. Drenched in fudge sauce and centred with a marshmallow cream filling, this really is the ultimate fix for the sweet tooth or even just simply a way to return to childhood fantasies.

For the cake:

270g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

4 eggs, separated

100g caster sugar

200ml double cream

100g Cadbury’s Fudge, broken into large pieces

For the fudge sauce:

125g light soft brown sugar

170g evaporated milk

50g butter

2 drops vanilla extract

For the marshmallow cream:

50g chopped marshmallows, plus extra whole ones for decorating

300ml double cream

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Grease two sandwich cake tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.

2. To make the cake, melt the chocolate completely in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool completely.

3. Whisk the egg yolks with 65g of the caster sugar until pale and fluffy. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar until soft peaks form when whisk is removed from bowl. In a third bowl, whisk 100ml of the double cream to peaks.

4. Fold the chocolate into the yolk mixture, then stir in the 100ml of unwhipped double cream. Gently fold in the whipped cream, followed by the egg whites until combined.

5. Divide the cake mixture between the two cake tins. Sprinkle over the fudge pieces between the two cakes. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Once cooked, leave in the tins for 5-10 minutes, turn onto a wire wrack to cool and strip off the base papers.

6. To make the fudge sauce, combine the brown sugar and evaporated milk in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved and the mixture comes to the boil, keep the heat very low and simmer for 6 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. Transfer to a bowl and once cooled, cover with clingfilm and chill for an hour to thicken.

7. For the marshmallow cream, whip the cream until peaks form. Fold in the chopped marshmallows. Spread over one sponge. Beat the fudge sauce and spread most of it over the other cake. Sandwich the two together.

8. Spread the rest of the fudge sauce over the top and decorate with marshmallows.

Stem Ginger Vegan Scotch Pancakes with Blueberries and White Chocolate Sauce

This was designed for vegan magazine "Off The Hoof", but you can adjust the ingredients if you're not one such as using eggs instead of oil, and cream with the white chocolate sauce to improve the consistency. You can also foster other fruit rather than blueberries if you prefer, but these were picked due to their excellent partnering with white chocolate.

Makes approximately 9 pancakes

225g plain flour

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

250ml soya milk

A pinch of salt

25g sugar

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3-4 pieces of stem ginger, finely chopped

100g dairy free white chocolate, broken into small pieces

200g blueberries, washed

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder and salt. Add the other ingredients and whisk together until the flour forms a smooth batter. If the mixture is too thick then keep adding a little more soya milk at a time, until it does form a batter.

2. Heat a frying pan and add approximately 2 tbsp of the batter (aim for circular shapes). Cook gently for approximately 2 minutes until firm and golden brown. Whilst the bottom side is cooking, sprinkle over some of the ginger on the facing side (make sure you do not sprinkle too much as the taste will be too overpowering otherwise).

3. Turn the pancake over and cook gently for 30-60 seconds. Place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat this process with the remaining batter.

4. Bring to the boil about a cm or so of water in a saucepan and place a bowl on top. Add the white chocolate to the bowl and allow to melt. You can melt it in the microwave, but since white chocolate burns very easily it is better to do this method where you can keep an eye on it.

5. Grab the pancakes from the oven and divide them and the blueberries between plates. Elegantly drizzle over the white chocolate sauce and relish!

Dark Chocolate Muffins with Peanut Butter Filling and White Chocolate Chips

For many, peanut butter symbolises America. But having such a unique taste, how else can one even describe it? It’s nutty, sweet but not sweet. It comes in crunchy and smooth varieties. Like Marmite really, you either love it or hate it. Nevertheless, my friends on the other side of the pond tell me that you only get cupcakes, not muffins, using this ingredient. So being a chocoholic I came up with this recipe. I justify to myself the high calories in this recipe by the nutritional value in peanut butter - it wards off heart disease says Harvard Medical School (Daily Mail 2009).

Makes 20 large muffins

For the muffin batter:

200g white chocolate, chopped

200g dark chocolate

250ml milk

100g butter

450g self-raising flour

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs, whisked

250g light muscovado sugar

300ml yoghurt

For the peanut butter filling:

125g smooth peanut butter

1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

65g icing sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180^oC/350^oF/Gas Mark 4. Line 20 muffin cups of a muffin baking tray with 20 muffin paper cases.

2. To make the peanut butter filling, beat the butter with the peanut butter in a bowl until smooth. Sift the icing sugar into the mixture and beat until light and fluffy.

3. For the muffin batter, melt the dark chocolate in a small pan with the butter and milk. Whilst leaving to cool, sieve the flour and bicarbonate soda into a bowl. Stir in the rest of the muffin batter ingredients including the melted chocolate mixture.

4. Spoon the batter into the muffin paper cases, filling them about one third full. Spoon in the middle of the third filled muffins a large heaped teaspoon of peanut butter. Top the peanut butter with the remaining batter.

5. Bake the muffins in the oven for 15-20 minutes until just firm to touch. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.