I've just come back from a very relaxing trip to Germany where I was visiting my Oma. There's no internet or mobile reception where she lives, and her house is just next to a massive pine forest - all perfect conditions for switching off, relaxing and thinking - things I just don't get to do here in London.
Just before I left for Germany, the tree colours here in London turned into gorgeous shades of yellows, oranges and reds. I was itching to shoot them all, but was too busy working. The day before I left, the sun came out, the clouds disappeared and left behind a gorgeous blue sky, so I dropped all I was doing, grabbed my camera and ran to the park to shoot.
Also just before I left, I received the first copy of my book - woohoo! I was so excited, I couldn't stop jumping up and down. Holding my first book in my hands was a very surreal moment for me, and I still don't think it's quite sunk in yet - the reality of it is just too strange to comprehend or explain in words. I was glad to be able to take it with me to show Oma - and she loved it and said that if my mom were still alive, she's sure she'd be very proud - which was *so* nice to hear.
Thanks to all that entered my book giveaway last week, the winners have all been selected and notified. Also, many thanks to all for your beautiful and heartwarming emails about the cover of my book - I'm so glad you like it and I cant wait to hear what you think about the book and the recipes.
The book is finally out next week (YAY!) and if you'd like a copy, you can already order it on Amazon (UK, US, Canada, Germany, France, & Japan!) and of course from all good bookstores near you.
For this occasion, I thought it would be quite fitting to make some pumpkin whoopie pies using the recipe in my book - one of my favourites - using these adorable munchkin pumpkins I had left over from Halloween. I hope you like them. (I originally intended to post a pumpkin and basil soup too, but ran out of time, so couldn't shoot that - it'll have to be another blog post!)
In other news, I was very excited to shoot a travel assignment for a travel magazine last month, which turned out to be a truly life-changing experience. I can't wait to share the story and photos with you once the feature is published in the magazine next year.
The next few weeks are going to be quite busy for me as I shoot not one, but two dessert books before Christmas, to be published next year. More details on those soon, but for all those following me on twitter, you'll be able to see all my updates, behind the scenes shots and Instagram photos.
I'm also going to be putting the finishing touches to the Christmas issue of Mowiekay magazine over the next few weeks. It's looking great so far - there are some great contributors, the photos and recipes are looking gorgeous, plus the cover is nearly ready too (which I'll be revealing soon!) - can't wait for you to see it all.
Speaking of my magazine, I was celebrating last month when I found out that the magazine had received over 1 million views!!! I'm ecstatic that it's been so well received, and I really hope you'll like the next issue just as much!
For now, here's my Munchkin Pumpkin Whoopie pie recipe (after the jump).
Happy Baking!
Mini pumpkin whoopie pies* from {Whoopie Pies by Mowie Kay (ISBN 978-0-7548-1757-4), £9.99, published by Lorenz Books, an imprint of Anness Publishing}
Makes 24 whoopie pies
For the cakes
150g butter, at room temperature
150g light brown soft sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 eggs
325g plain flour
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100ml buttermilk
200g cooked (or canned) pumpkin flesh
For the filling
2 egg whites
125g caster sugar
225g butter, at room temperature
40g hazelnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
For the icing
150g icing sugar
25ml cold water
1-2 tsp orange food colouring
orange sprinkles, to decorate
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line two trays with baking paper. For the cakes, whisk the butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Whisk in the eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices. Fold half the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Mix in the buttermilk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Fold in the pumpkin.
3. Using a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle, pipe 24 3cm rounds of batter about 4cm apart on each of the lined baking trays.
4. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the cakes bounce back when pressed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. For the filling, put the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Using an electric whisk, whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is white and hot. Remove from the heat and whisk on high speed until the bottom of the bowl starts to cool. Turn the speed to low and whisk in the butter, a little at a time. Fold in the chopped hazelnuts.
7. For the icing, mix the icing sugar, water and colouring to form a paste. Place a tablespoon of filling on to the flat side of one cake and top with the flat side of another. Repeat to make 24 pies. Spread icing over the tops and decorate with sprinkles.
TIP: This recipe results in quite moist pies, but to keep them moist, wrap them individually in cling film just after they've cooled on the wire rack. Alternatively, place them on a tray and cover the whole tray in cling film until you're ready to fill them. Once filled, wrap each whoopie pie individually in cling film and keep refrigerated. Remove from refrigerator about an hour before serving. Also, serve these 2-3 days after baking as the flavours would have had enough time to infuse properly that way.
*The above recipe is the recipe that appears in the book. For the whoopie pies in this blog post, I made a few alterations: I left out the hazelnuts in the filling and I used 25ml of fresh orange juice for the icing instead of water. I also left out the food colouring for the icing and used orange rind to decorate the tops of the whoopie pies.
