Heart Cakes for Valentine’s Day

Valentine's Day Heart Cake

If you were looking for a great Valentine’s Day cake this is the cake you have been looking for.  This cake is so light and fluffy.  It is easy to handle and work with.  I am sure it will replace all of your other chocolate cake recipes.  You could decorate the cakes however you like using butter cream icing, fondant, ganache or what ever you like.  These are the perfect way to tell someone special you are thinking of them on Valentine’s Day.  You could customize the cakes to say what ever your heart desires!

For the Chocolate Heart Cakes:

4 eggs separated (room temperature)

1 cup sugar, divided

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 tablespoons strong black coffee (instant works)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

To prepare:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Spray a 9 inch cake pan or two double heart cake pans and set aside. 

Place the egg whites, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar aside.

Place the egg yolks in the bowl of your electric mixer.  Combine all of the wet ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to combine (Do not add the egg whites).  Then beat the egg yolks in high speed for about a minute reduce the speed and add the liquid ingredients to the egg yolks.

In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients together you could use a whisk just be sure that all the lumps from the cocoa are gone.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture with your electric mixer until thoroughly combined.  Scrape the batter into a clean bowl and set aside momentarily.

In a clean bowl for your electric mixer beat the egg whites until frothy.  Add the cream of tartar and 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until combined.  Continue to add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate batter, gently and do not over handle the batter as the egg whites will lose their volume.

Pour the batter into a 9 inch heart shaped cake pan that has been buttered or you could use a double heart cake pan for smaller cakes, if using smaller cake pans you should get about 4 cakes.  I use a pan from ChicagoMetallic called Dessert for two.

Bake the cakes in a 350 F oven for 30-40 minutes.  The cook time will be less for smaller cakes.  About 20 minutes depending on the size so keep an eye on them.  Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted comes out clean.  The cakes will probably rise a lot higher than the pans and then deflate slightly when removed from the oven.  Cool them on a wire rack and carefully remove from the pans and cool completely.  You may need to run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen.  If there are pieces hanging over the edge trim them off and save them for later use.

Chocolate Whipped Cream Filling:

For the Chocolate Whipped Cream Filling please refer to the  following link:  Christmas Yule Log (Buche de Noel)

For the Chocolate Ganache:

8 1/2 oz finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup of whipping cream

2 1/2 tablespoons butter

To Prepare:

Add the whipping cream and butter to a small pot and heat until the butter is melted.  Pour the heated cream over the finely chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted and glossy.

To Constructing the Heart Shaped Cakes

Constructing the Triple Chocolate Heart Cakes

Place a wire rack over a sheet of parchment paper.  Trim the cakes of any excess pieces using a serrated knife.  Save the excess cake for other recipes.  Once the cakes are trimmed, slice the cake in half using the serrated knife.  Place one half of the cake on a wire rack and then cover it with the chocolate whipped cream.  Place the other half of the cake on top of the chocolate whipped cream and then cover with the chocolate ganache.  Spread the ganache all over the top of the cake using a spoon or a knife push the ganache to the edges and allow it to cover the sides and drip on to the parchment paper.  Once completely cover smooth the top of the cake and allow it to set and firm up before decorating.

If you do not want to use the ganache you could use any other icing.  I used a plain white fondant  from Wilton for my other cake and a little food coloring to construct a bow for the top of the cake.  It was my first time using fondant and let me tell you I love it!  It is so easy to use and it has the same consistency as ‘play-doh’ so you could imagine my joy when I discovered that!  (I love ‘play-doh’)  So, if you have ever wondered about using a fondant and were afraid of using it don’t be it is really user friendly, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Fondant Heart Cake

I used a little of the ganache for a ‘skirt’ around the base of the cake just to make it look different and add a little dimension to it.  There you have it, the perfect Valentine’s day dessert for two 🙂  Now, if you really wanted to make a spectacular meal for two you could make the Pistachio Encrusted Salmon with Spicy Ginger Carrots with the Valentine’s Day Heart Cakes for dessert, now that would be an amazing way to say “I love you” to your special someone!

Please check out the Sweet as Sugar Cookies blog, and their Sweets for a Saturday post, the above recipe is linked up with them!!

From our kitchen to yours,

Sydney Jones