The whoopie pie is a nearly perfect food, if you ignore pesky little details such as calories or cholesterol. For those who love sweets, especially dark, devil’s food chocolate cake and lush, creamy vanilla filling, the whoopie pie is the ultimate dessert. It’s certainly not a pie, by any stretch of the imagination. But then, neither is a Boston cream pie.

A traditional whoopie pie consists of two soft, mounded, dark chocolate cakes, each resembling the top of a well-rounded chocolate hamburger bun, generously filled with creamy white filling. Sometimes the filling layer is nearly as thick as the cake around it, making for a gooey eating experience that leaves fingers, faces, and everything within reach streaked with white stuff. And that’s half the fun. There ends any agreement about what constitutes a real whoopie pie.

Once upon a time, hardly anyone outside New England, parts of Pennsylvania, and relocated Amish communities in other states had ever heard of a whoopie pie, but now these delectables can be found as far away as California, Texas, and Michigan. Upscale Manhattan bakeries make them. A recipe even turned up on a food blog originating in Newfoundland, Canada. Celebrity chefs sing their praises. They have been featured in national publications, high-profile TV shows, and they’re on food sites all over the Web.

They’ve arrived.