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The whoopie pie, alternatively called a black moon, gob (Pittsburgh area), black-and-white, bob, or BFO (for Big Fat Oreo), is an American baked confection that people consider either a cookie, pie, sandwich, or cake. It consists of two round mound-shaped pieces of cake—usually chocolate cake, but sometimes pumpkin, gingerbread, or other flavored cakes—with a sweet, creamy filling, marshmallow, or frosting sandwiched between them.
Maine officially recognized the whoopie pie as its state treat in 2011 (not to be confused with the official state dessert, which is blueberry pie).
In the Pittsburgh region, people refer to the dessert as "Gob." The Dutch Maid Bakery in Johnstown trademarked the term in 1980 when Tim Yost purchased the rights to the name and process.
On March 26, 2011, creators in South Portland, Maine made the world's largest whoopie pie, which weighed in at . The event sold pieces of the giant whoopie pie and used the proceeds to send Maine-made whoopie pies to soldiers serving overseas. The previous record holder, from Pennsylvania, weighed .
The town of Dover-Foxcroft, in Piscataquis County, Maine, has hosted the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival since 2009. In 2014, more than 7,500 people attended the festival. The 2013 festival had eight different whoopie pie vendors in attendance. Bakers from across Maine compete for the top whoopie pie in several categories.
However, the earliest written records of whoopie pies from Pennsylvania date from the 1960s, while Labadie's Bakery in Lewiston, Maine has records of making the confection dating to 1925. The now-defunct Berwick Cake Company of Roxbury, Massachusetts was selling "Whoopee Pies" as early as the 1920s, but officially branded the Whoopee Pie in 1928 to great success. Various claims suggest that the whoopie pie originated in Massachusetts and spread both north and south, or that German immigrants in Pennsylvania brought the predecessor of the whoopie pie to communities throughout the northeast. A clue into how the possibly Amish dessert got to be so popular in New England can be found in a 1930s cookbook called Yummy Book by the Durkee Mower Company, the manufacturer of Marshmallow Fluff. In this New England cookbook, a recipe for "Amish Whoopie Pie" was featured using Marshmallow Fluff in the filling.
In 2011, the Maine State Legislature considered naming the whoopie pie the official state pie. The proposal received bipartisan support. L.D. 71, officially known as "An Act to Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert", read "The whoopie pie, a baked good made of two chocolate cakes with a creamy frosting between them, is the official state dessert". The Maine Legislature eventually decided to declare the whoopie pie the official state treat, and chose blueberry pie (made with wild Maine blueberries) as the official state dessert.
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