chocolate whoopie pies

alright, here goes. 2007 was the year of the brownie. 2008 looks to be the year of the whoopie pie. only seven months left to perfect my art!

it's hard to find a good, basic recipe for whoopie pies-- filling or cake. through my "research," i've discovered that shortening is favored in both elements of these tasty treats, which doesn't seem necessary (or appealing) to me at the moment. i've settled on 2 good (and very different) shortening-free fillings. now i'm accumulating some good ideas for cake. i'd like to have at least three or four cake flavors, working off of the same basic recipe-- the chocolate pie, my recipe for which was adapted from epicurious.

here's the chocolate recipe:

2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1 stick butter
1 c br sugar
1 egg

combine dry ingredients; combine buttermilk and vanilla. cream butter and sugar. mix in egg. keeping mixer running, but scraping down sides of bowl as necessary,alternate additions of wet and dry ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry. spoon onto lined cookie sheet (tablespoons of batter). bake at 350 until cakes are springy.