Black Velvet Whoopie Pies

These Halloween colored whoopie pies are a combination of recipes. The basic recipe and idea was from Amanda at I Am Baker. The additions I made to Amanda's recipe came from Hedy Goldsmith, a multiple James Beard Award nominee in the Outstanding Pastry Chef category. She has a fabulous and fun cookbook called Baking Out Loud. In this cookbook, Hedy makes Mochaccino Whoopie Pies, so I snitched an idea from her recipe and added espresso powder and cinnamon to Amanda's fun recipe for Halloween. 
Now I'm going to have to go back and make Hedy's recipe!

Halloween Black Velvet Whoopie Pies
From I Am Baker and Baking Out Loud

Ingredients:
1 package (15 1/4 to 18 1/4 ounces) German chocolate cake mix with pudding 
1/2 cup water 
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
3 tablespoons black food color 
3 eggs 
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Filling: 
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar 
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow cream 
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/2 teaspoon red food color 
1/2 teaspoon yellow food color

Method:
For the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat cake mix, water, cocoa powder, oil, food color, eggs, vanilla. espresso powder and cinnamon in your electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. 
Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter, 2 inches apart, onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. (Cookies will spread so don't crowd.) 
Bake 8 minutes or until cookies are puffed and spring back when touched, turning baking sheets halfway through baking. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. 

For the orange filling:
Beat all ingredients with your electric mixer until light and fluffy.
To assemble:
Place 1 tablespoon filling on flat side of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, pressing gently to spread the filling. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.