Valentine sweetheart cake.

This cake is so much fun & quite the surprise for your Valentine!  My daughter helped me make this one and it turned out great.  I’m not a baking connoisseur but I think this is quite fitting for tomorrow’s big day ♥.

I admit *gasp* that I used a boxed cake mix but I did make my own icing.  I was more concerned with form than taste (function).  🙂  I normally never cut corners when cooking but I was more stressed with getting this right.

I did take a photo tour of the how-to.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

First you need two boxes of white cake mix.  I made one box to start according to directions.  From there I removed about 60% of the batter from my mixing bowl and reserved it for later.  The 40% I dyed with crushed strawberries (3) but you can use food coloring (pink or red).  Mix it well until fully colored.  I then poured this into a 9×9 square pan lined with parchment paper (or you can spray it with non stick spray).  It won’t be a lot of batter in the pan but you don’t need it super thick.  Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let this fully cool.  Once cooled, insert your heart cookie cutter into the cake.  Cut as many hearts out as you can.

Now set all of those hearts aside and take a loaf pan and spray it with nonstick spray.  Pour the 60% of the white cake batter into the bottom of the pan.  Then line the hearts up down the middle butting up against one another.

Then make the second box of cake mix.  Pour that on top of the hearts and the other batter anchoring them down.  Try not to overfill or you will have spillage when baking.

Bake according to the package.  I did notice that I had to add about 12-15 extra minutes to the baking time. Just keep a watchful eye on it.  Once a toothpick inserted comes out clean, it’s done.  Remove it and let it fully cool.

I trimmed any irregularities off the cake and then prepared the icing.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons warm water
16 oz confectioners’ sugar

Add to your mixing bowl and beat until fluffy.  I added additional strawberries for color but you can use food coloring.

Ice the cake and decorate.  Slice and enjoy!

— Knead to Cook