Is Whoopie the New Cupcake?

What’s happening with the whoopie pie?  First The New York Times did a big story this week (they’ve been getting very Roadfoody lately!) about how it’s sweeping the nation.  Then, a couple of days ago, Whoopi Goldberg brought out a platter of whoopie pies on The View (yes, we admit to being huge fans of The View, at least the Hot Topics part of the show).  Does the whoopie pie, that Amish/Down East culinary specialty, have the legs to make its way across the entire US?  We think it just might.  It has some characteristics of other sweet folk favorites: a little bit like a cupcake, shaped something like an Oreo or Moon Pie, similar in taste to a homemade Devil Dog… but not quite like any of them.

In Micheline Maynard’s NYT story, you can read about new-fangled whoopies filled with French vanilla cream filling or Swiss buttercream, made in places with names like Trois Pommes Patisserie.  Does that sound right?  Do you think straying beyond Crisco or Fluff is leaving the rightful realm of the whoopie pie?  We’re not sure how we feel about it.  We’re perfectly content with the whoopie in its traditional form, but perhaps a little investigation wouldn’t hurt.  We’d like to start with the one made at Manhattan’s Magnolia Bakery: brown-sugar cakes with a maple cream filling.  The outrage!  We’ll be right there…