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How to make a heart shaped cake for Valentine’s Day when you don’t even own a heart shaped cake pan!

Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to spoil your loved ones. A box of chocolates is always welcome, especially if they are all dark chocolate covered caramels. But there is just something special about a homemade treat. My grandkids love chocolate covered Valentine Oreo cookies, my friends my Valentine cookie and candy board but I love a homemade cake. Don’t let the fact that you don’t have a special heart shape pan scare you off. Today I am sharing an easy and delicious recipe that will show you how to make a heart shaped cake without a heart pan!

How to Make a Heart Cake

As a child my mom always made beautiful cakes, she started with the coconut covered bear from the red Better Crocker cook book and moved on to beautifully decorated cakes with pipped roses. Although I love to make cakes, my patience wear thin when the piped swirls and flowers don’t work out and I find myself scraping them off time and time again.

The good news is that you are not going to have that problem because this is an easy heart shaped cake to make and you can frost it as simply or as fancy as you like.

To make this cake you need 2 pans, one 9″ square and one 9″ round pan. As long as the diameter of the round cake pans is the same as the size of the square pans this method will make a heart. So be sure that you are using the same size pans, don’t use an 8″ square and a 9″ circle, measure you pans ahead of time to make things easier.

Once baked  you simply cut the round cake in half and attach it to the square cake and voila, a heart shaped cake. If the cake looks a little un-even once you attach the side you can cover it up and camouflage it with copious amounts of frosting and sprinkles. Don’t worry, at the end of the day your family and friends will love this cake because you made them something special.

What Do You Need to Make a Heart Shaped Cake

You don’t need a heart shaped pan to bake a festive Valentine’s Day dessert. Making a heart shaped cake is as simple as baking your favorite cake recipe and frosting and shaping in into a heart. Here is what you will need.

• Cake mix or favorite cake recipe for 2 layers
• 1 round pan
• 1 square pan
• Homemade or purchased buttercream frosting
• Decorative sprinkles or a piping bag and tips to decorate the cake.

A Few Tips for Making Valentine Cake

• Use pans with the same diameter. Do not mix and match pan size.
• Make your favorite cake batter and flavor, this cake can be chocolate, vanilla, red-velvet, marble, etc. You can also use a box mix. Just be sure that the box mix or your recipe will fill 2 cake pans. NOTE: The recipe that I used made 3 layers of 9″ cake. Yours may only fill an 8″ pan and that is fine.
• Trim the tops of the cakes with a serrated knife if they bake unevenly or puff up too much.
• Use butter cream frosting to sandwich the 2 1/2 moon shaped cake pieces onto the square cake, the frosting coves up the gaps in the cake.
• You can also cut these cakes in half to make a layer cake, I did not do that for this cake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make this Valentine’s Day Cake Ahead of Time?

Yes, cooled, unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days . The cake layers can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen cakes at room temperature for 1 hour before frosting.

Can I use a boxed cake mix?

A boxed cake mix, 15.25-ounce can be used. Bake the cake in 8″ pans according to the instructions on the box.

Alternate Cake Pan Sizes

I made this cake with 9″ pans, you can also use 8″ pans and 6″ pans but you must reduce or raise the baking times depending on the size of your pans.

How to Store Cake

Cake can be stored wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

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Have you ever made a heart shaped cake? Do you have any tips?

Do you have a special family cake recipe?

What is your favorite cake flavor?

Don’t forget you can always make cupcakes!

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW

Have a great day friends thank you for spending part of it with me.

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How to Make a Heart Shaped Cake for Valentine’s Day

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Every day is a day to shower your family and friends with love but Valentine’s Day is a day to make them feel extra special. A heart shaped cake is easy to make and delicious and the best part, you do not need a special pan!

• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 1 cake + cupcakes 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients for cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Ingredients for frosting

2 cups softened butter

3–4 cups of sifted powdered sugar

1–3 tablespoons of milk, I used almond milk

2–3 tablespoons of vanilla extract

food coloring, pink

sprinkles, colored sugar

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Instructions

NOTE: this recipe make 3 cake layers, you only need 2 for this heart shaped cake. Use the rest for cupcakes or make an additional layer and use another time.

Directions for cake

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 1 9″ square cake pan and 1 9″ round cake pan  with cooking spray and line with parchment paper then spray again and set aside.

Cream together the butter and shortening until light and fluffy, you can use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or a hand held mixer. Slowly add the 3 cups of sugar, one cup at a time making sure to incorporate the sugar fully before adding the other. Then add the eggs one at a time, be sure to incorporate each egg before adding another.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then in another bowl whisk together the milks, vanilla and almond extracts. Add to the butter/shortening mixture, alternating between the milk and the flour mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Mix in all of the ingredients until well mixed. Then stop mixer and scrape bottom and sides of bowl to be sure that you have incorporated the ingredients from the bottom of the bowl. Pour the batter into the cake pans, be sure not fill the pans more than 2/3-3/4 of the way to the top, you do not want the pans to overflow into the oven.

With the remaining batter fill cupcake liners or another cake pan to use at a later date. Then bake for 25-30 minutes( cupcakes take about 15-19 minutes).  Insert toothpick and if it comes out clean remove cakes from oven and let cool.

Once the cakes have cooled take the round cake and  cut it in half, then take the square cake and set it on a platter so that it looks like a diamond shape, add a little frosting to the sides and then stick the two moon shaped pieces from the round cake to the sides to form a heart shape. Frost with frosting and decorate with sprinkles.

Directions for frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter for 3-4 minutes, you want the butter to be light and creamy, scrape down the sides periodically. The add the sifted powder sugar and mmix on low until incorporated, then turn the mixer on medium-high and beat until fluffy, 1 minute. Then add the vanilla and the milk, and beat again. Check the frosting for taste, you might need to add a little more powdered sugar if you want it to be sweeter. The same with the milk, you can add a little more to get it to a spreadable consistency. Be careful not to add to much milk.

I like to divid the frosting into bowls and then mix in the food coloring by hand. You can then frost the cake and the cupcakes using a knife and add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a star tip to make the cupcakes more decorative.  Once cupcakes are frosted decorate with sprinkles and enjoy!

NOTE: If you would like a cake that is semi-homemade, try this white almond cake, it starts with a mix and is delicious as well. 

 

Notes

I used my favorite cake recipe from Add a Pinch.

You can also use  your favorite cake recipe or even a boxed mix.

• Author: Elizabeth
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: American