Valentine’s Day Cake

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Fill their hearts with sweet strawberries and buttercream frosting.

By Pam Lolley

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Read the full recipe after the video.

Recipe Summary test

active:
30 mins
total:
2 hrs
Servings:
12
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Cute enough for kids and tasty enough to impress your sweetheart, this heart-shaped bake is sure to take the cake at any Valentine's Day celebration. Cut from a rich, single-layer chocolate cake, this festively-shaped sheet cake is big enough to feed a crowd and still have lots of leftovers. Berries add a gorgeous, naturally pink color to the buttercream frosting and lend a tart touch to the icing's sweet flavor too. Before cutting and frosting, make sure you have a platter or cake board big enough to work on. Our Test Kitchen suggests frosting it on a nice cutting board or parchment-lined sheet tray to make traveling with it easier. Serve after a romantic dinner with a strong cup of coffee or pair with vanilla ice cream at a class holiday party for the perfect Valentine's Day dessert.

Ingredients

Cake
Frosting
Garnishes

Directions

Prepare the Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease (with butter) and flour 1 (8-inch) round cake pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; lightly grease parchment paper with butter. Grease (with butter) and flour 1 (8-inch) square cake pan; line bottom of pan with parchment paper; lightly grease parchment paper with butter. Set aside.

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  • Place chocolate chips in a small heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and smooth. Let stand until cooled to room temperature, about 15 minutes.

  • Beat butter with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add vanilla and cooled melted chocolate, beating until blended. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating on low speed until just blended after each addition.

  • Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 1 1/2 minutes. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

  • Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in centers of cake layers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cake layers from pans; remove parchment paper, and let cool completely on wire racks, about 1 hour.

Prepare the Frosting

  • Beat butter with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and strawberries, beating on medium speed until mixture is fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in desired amount of soft pink food coloring gel until desired color is reached.

Assemble the Cake

  • Place the square layer on a serving platter in a diamond position. Cut round cake in half crosswise, creating 2 perfect half-moon shapes. Position halves against the 2 top angles of the square, forming a heart shape. Spread Frosting over top and sides of cake, and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Arrange strawberry slices around top edge of cake

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