Did the Whoopie Pie originate in New England or Pennsylvania? New England claims the treat as its own, while Pennsylvania argues Amish farmers first made them in their kitchens.
Maine’s official state treat
Food historians may never find the answer, though they do agree the Whoopie Pie originated sometime around the 1920s.
They belong to the same culinary family as Scooter Pies, Moon Pies, Devil Dogs, and Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies. Second cousins are Mallomars and S’mores, according to the Food History Timeline.
They are generally made of two mound-shaped pieces of cake — usually chocolate — sandwiched around a sweet frosting.
Flufferettes
The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink attributes New England’s love for the tasty treat to Durkee-Mower, the Lynn, Mass., makers of marshmallow crème. In the ‘30s Durkee-Mower sponsored a variety show called the Flufferettes on the 21 stations of the Yankee Radio Network.
The final episode featured the Yummy Book, which included recipes for cakes, pies, candies, frostings, the fluffernutter sandwich and the Whoopie Pie.
That makes the Whoopie Pie a sibling of the fluffernutter sandwich, invented by Emma Curtis, Paul Revere’s great-great-great-granddaughter.
Pennsylvanians claim Amish cooks were the first to make them, with extra cake batter sandwiched together with a sweet cream or icing filling. Legend has it that children shouted ‘Whoopie’ when they found them in their lunch pails.
There’s more than mere legend to support New England’s claim to ownership of the treat. The first known advertisement for the pie dates from 1931 — by the Berwick Cake Co., in the Roxbury section of Boston. The faded letters “Whoopee! Pies” can still be seen on the old brick Berwick building.
In addition, Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine, has been making Whoopie Pies since 1925, according to Jennifer Smith-Mayo and Michael Mayo in Maine Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Pine Tree State. Unfortunately, a fire wiped out documentation of Labadie’s Whoopie-Pie making history.
Honored in Maine
The State of Maine, however, stepped in to lay claim to the confection and in 2011 declared it the official state treat of the State of Maine (the official dessert: the blueberry pie).
This story was updated in 2024. Image of Whoopie pie By Arnold Gatilao – originally posted to Flickr as Whoopie Pie, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10325942
16 comments
That’s silly everyone knows the Amish don’t exist. I bet one single Amish person won’t come on here to refute the point neither. ☺
Also I am certain that the Amish don’t know anything about making whoppie.
Everything that Pennsylvania makes claims to is pretty much fake hahahaha!
I have no idea, but my grandmother from MA made the most delicious whoopee pies.
I don’t care as long as I get to eat one
Maine
This is crazy. Of course it’s New England. Pennsylvania is always trying claim things that are really from New England. Ben Franklin for example….and American Independence!!! Both born in Boston!!!
This is crazy. Of course it’s New England. Pennsylvania is always trying claim things that are really from New England. Ben Franklin for example….and American Independence!!! Both born in Boston!!!
The shoo fly pie by the Amish is delicious so they could have….. But it would have been from scratch! Lol
The shoo fly pie by the Amish is delicious so they could have….. But it would have been from scratch! Lol
I solved the issue on a trip to Maine last week. The famous Wyeth painting family bought them in PA. and took them to Maine when they traveled there to paint.
So PA. invented them
Ha
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[…] been served for dessert for decades. It’s generally accepted that this dessert has roots in the 1920s and a variety of East-Coast states like New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania have all claimed the […]
[…] served for dessert for many years. It’s typically accepted that this dessert has roots in the 1920s and quite a lot of East-Coast states like New Hampshire, Maine, and Pennsylvania have all claimed […]
[…] Pumpkin pie might not have happened without New England, where rhubarb pie is revered in the springtime. In New England’s Little Canadas, Franco-Americans celebrate the Christmas holidays with spiced meat pies called tourtiere. Vermonters favor maple pie, and Boston is the birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie — which really isn’t a pie, but then again neither is Maine’s official state treat, the Whoopie Pie. […]
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