Recipes Of Whoopie: After years of cupcake fever, there's a new contender for the title of hot new dessert: The whoopie pie – two discs of soft chocolate cake filled with all sorts of exotica, from marshmallow fluff to pumpkin is making a huge comeback. Claudia Egger, owner of Toronto's Frangipane Pâtisserie, came up with a unique salted-caramel-cream-filled version for a fundraiser I co-ordinated in support of a new play called When My Name Was Anna, opening in February and based on the Michael Ondaatje novel Divisadero. Eggers created pies that one might eat in California and France, where the book is set. Besides the all-American whoopie pies, she also suggested a fruit tart and a vanilla-laced cheesecake, both of which are ideal for using up late-summer fruit like blueberries and pluots (a cross between plums and apricots). Whoopie pies with salted caramel cream.

If you're short on time, you can also fill these pies with whipped cream or traditional marshmallow fluff. The discs can be large or small.

Ingredients

Pies:

3 ounces (90 grams) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cups boiling water

2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/3 cup full-fat mayonnaise

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel filling:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

4 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/4 cup salted caramel (recipe below)

Fleur de sel for sprinkling

Method

Combine chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add boiling water and mix until smooth. Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine white sugar, brown sugar and mayonnaise in a stand mixer and blend until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping sides as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add a quarter of flour mixture, blend in and add a third of chocolate mixture. Continue alternating, blending well after each addition. Chill for 1 hour or until mixture has firmed up slightly.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds of batter onto a parchment-lined (or greased and floured) baking pan about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool. Repeat until you have used up all the batter.

Combine butter and icing sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and blend until smooth. Slowly add salted caramel and mix until well blended. Chill until ready to use. If it hardens too much to spread, let it warm up slowly at room temperature.

Spread one chocolate disc with caramel filling and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Top with another chocolate disc to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining chocolate discs and filling. Chill for 30 minutes to set. Makes about 30.

Salted Caramel

If you want to use the remainder of this mixture for caramel sauce, reheat it and add enough whipping cream to thin it to a pourable consistency.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup whipping cream, warmed

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Method

Sprinkle sugar and lemon juice over the bottom of a large frying pan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, until melted. Continue to cook until dark amber, then remove from heat and carefully add cream (it will sputter and pop). Add salt and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until cream is incorporated. Let cool about 10 minutes, then stir in butter. Cool to room temperature before using. Makes 1 cup.

Blueberry Vanilla Cheesecake Tart

This simple cheesecake can also be made with the salted caramel if you want.

Ingredients

1 pound (500 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 vanilla bean (seeds only) or

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 9-inch sweet pastry tart shell, pre-baked

Topping:

1/3 cup red currant jelly

2 cups blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F. Add cream cheese to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until smooth. Slowly add sugar and blend until smooth. Blend in sour cream, then egg and finally vanilla. Mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, scraping sides as needed.

Pour filling into tart shell and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until slightly puffed but not browned or cracked. Let cool completely.

Combine jelly and 1/2 cup blueberries in a small pot over medium heat and cook, stirring, until jelly has liquefied. Remove from heat, add remaining 1 1/2 cups blueberries and stir to combine. Spread berries over tart in a single layer and drizzle with juices. Makes 1 large tart.

French custard tart with pluots

Any soft fruit, such as figs, plums, apricots or berries, would work well in this tart.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whipping cream

3/4 cup sugar

9 large egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and/or cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean (split) or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch salt

1 pluot, chopped

1 9-inch sweet pastry tart shell, pre-baked

Method

Whisk together whipping cream, sugar, egg yolks, nutmeg, vanilla bean and salt in a bowl. Let stand until sugar has dissolved (about 30 minutes), then strain through a sieve.