Easter Double Chocolate Whoopie Pie Eggs

Easter isn't Easter without an extra helping of chocolate. 

And these Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies should do the trick nicely.

Back in the day Blue Peter used to feature a weekly cookery slot. You'd have Valerie Singleton/Janet Ellis/Anthea Turner/Konnie Huq (delete according to your generation) regularly cooking up a storm. It was my first exposure to cooking on the telly. 

And what I came to think of as a stroke of genius was that each presenter had each ingredient carefully decanted in a separate bowl. It just looked so efficient. Of course recreating this at home meant tripling the washing up. Not so efficient. 

But just for the blog I have had a go at being a Blue Petter presenter for the day. No, I won't be reaching the South Pole on kite skis and a snow bike. But here's the What Kate Baked Step-By-Step guide to Double Chocolate Easter Whoopie Pie Eggs. Complete with individually measured out ingredients of course. 

Can I have a Blue Peter badge now? 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C/Fan 150C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line three baking sheets and using a pencil and egg or oval shaped stencil draw 14 Easter Egg shapes onto the lined baking sheets. Be sure to leave  at least a few centimetres between each stencilled Egg. I printed off this Easter Egg stencil from the internet as a guide. The Eggs will expand during cooking. 

2. Firstly, make the Chocolate Ganache filling: Melt together 200g dark chocolate, 100ml double cream and 50g butter in a small bowl suspended over a pan of gently simmering water:

3. Once melted, set aside to cool completely:

4. Sieve together 35g cocoa powder, 300g plain flour, a pinch of salt and 1tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1tsp baking powder in a large bowl:

5. In a second bowl cream together 100g unsalted butter, 175g light muscovado sugar, 1 beaten egg and 1tsp vanilla extract:

6. Add one third of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, and beat:

7. Add one third of a measuring jug of 125ml milk and cream together. Continue alternating between adding the flour mixture and milk until all combined and smooth:

8. Pipe the mixture onto the stencilled Easter Egg shapes on the baking sheet: 

9. Use the back of a small spoon to smooth out the top: 

10. Pop in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until the Eggs are firm on top:

11. Allow to cool on the baking sheets:

12. Mix together 250g icing sugar with approximately 45ml of water until you achieve a smooth paste icing. Pipe the icing onto the cooled Eggs in a decoration of your fancy:

13. Like so:

14. Once the icing has firmed, spread roughly a teaspoon of the ganache onto the flat side of half the Eggs and sandwich with a second Egg:

15. Hurrah! A whole plateful of Easter Egg Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies:

Baker's notes....

• They are relatively straightforward to bake- a great Easter holiday project (Ohhh! I am really sounding like a Blue Peter Presenter now!)
• The Pies/Eggs are soft, chewy and can be frozen, uniced and unfilled
• This recipe makes approximately eight whole Eggs