Heart Cake, a special cake to celebrate valentines day or any special occasions. Making a heart cake shape or hidden heart can make a great surprise for your loved ones on occasions like anniversary, birthday.. In this blog post I have shared detailed recipe for making hidden heart cake (2 ways) and a chocolate coated heart cake with step by step pictures and video. For more romantic valentines day recipe check my fudge brownies, strawberry jelly and liquor filled chocolates.
Heart Cake
If you want to make anything special for this valentine then this is the answer. This is a special cake which has a heart inside it, it may seem complicated to look at, but actually it is super easy to make. I am sure your valentine will be very excited if you serve this for desert. For more decadent dessert check my intense Mud cake or Lava Cake
About Heart Cake
Heart cake, hidden heart cake or heart shaped cake is perfect for special occasions. This heart cake is a simple loaf cake in which there is a heart shape hidden inside. The technique of making hidden heart cake is very simple. But the joy and surprise you create when you slice the cake is unbeatable.
While thinking of heart cakes, most recipe will use heart shaped moulds and bake cake in that. You can use any cake batter like chocolate, vanilla, red velvet or even other flavoured cake. But this recipe has heart inside the cake which will be more impressive.
In this recipe I have shared two version of hidden heart cake. One is a chocolate heart cake and a Rainbow heart cake recipe. And as an added bonus I have shared a chocolate coated heart cake.
I have made multi colours (rainbow) heart and red heart in these two recipes, but you can play with your creativity and make different colours. Pink heart cake, black heart cake and a romantic red velvet heart cake are some of the popular ideas.
More Valentines Day Cakes
Mascarpone Strawberry Cheesecake
Watch Heart Cake Video
Heart Cake Ingredients
For making heart cake you have to make two loaf cake. One loaf cake will be a coloured cake which will be used to cut-out heart shapes for the cake. Other batter can either be vanilla flavoured or chocolate to surround the heart cake.
Ingredients for Mini Heart cut-outs
Plain Flour – I used refined flour for making cake. You can use half wheat flour and half plain flour for the cake.
Sugar – Use refined sugar for the cake. You can use caster sugar or powder regular sugar in a blender. You can use normal sugar too.
Butter – unsalted butter is used in the cake. Use soft unsalted butter for better flavour.
Eggs – eggs are essential in the cake for making it set and turn spongy.
Baking powder – this recipe uses baking powder and not baking soda to make the cake spongy.
Vanilla – use pure vanilla extract for best flavour.
Food colouring – use any of your favorite food colouring to make the cake. You can use multi colour to make rainbow cake or use any solid colour.
Two Flavours Heart Cake Ingredients (Vanilla & Chocolate)
The hearts which are cut out is placed inside a loaf cake. The cake can be made in different flavours. In this blog post I have shared vanilla and chocolate flavour loaf cake. I followed a basic recipe for both of the cakes.
For Vanilla Heart Cake – vanilla cake batter is made by creaming butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs till fluffy. Add in plain flour, baking powder, salt and milk to form a thick vanilla batter. Cut out rainbow hearts are stuck inside this batter to make vanilla flavoured heart cake.
For Chocolate Heart Cake – I added cocoa powder, instant coffee powder in my chocolate cake batter. I placed the red coloured cut out hearts inside the batter and baked to create a beautiful chocolate heart cake.
Heart Cake (Two Ways )
As mentioned earlier, In this recipe post I have shared two versions of making heart cake. And as an added bonus I have also shared a variation of chocolate coated hearts.
Rainbow Heart Cake – This is a much more elaborate recipe. The cake batter is divided into six to seven portions and dyed with different colours. The batter is poured in a loaf pan, swirled to create rainbow swirl pattern and baked. This rainbow loaf cake is cut into hearts which is baked again inside a vanilla cake.
Red Heart Cake – This recipe remains same as the first one. but instead of using rainbow colour I dyed it with solid red colour. And the cut-out hearts is baked inside a chocolate cake.
How to Make Rainbow Heart Cake (Stepwise Pictures)
Prepreparation
1)Preheat oven to 180 degree C | 356 degree F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with oil and dust it with flour. Coat on all sides with the flour and tap off the excess. Instead of doing this you can line the pan with parchment paper.
Making Cake Batter for Rainbow Heart
2)For making the rainbow hearts. We are going to start making a vanilla cake batter. Once the cake batter is made we will dye it with different colour and bake.
For making cake batter, take soft unsalted butter, sugar in a large mixing bowl. You can use regular sugar or caster sugar.
3)Add in pure vanilla extract. Use a hand whisk or electric beater to whisk this really well till the mixture is creamy and fluffy. I used a hand whisk it too me 2 to 3 minutes.
4)Now lets add in eggs. You have to add one egg at a time for even mixing. Add one egg and mix well till combined.
5)I was impatience so I added remaining two eggs at the same time. Once the eggs are added in whisk it really well.
Pro Tip: If the mixture looks slightly curdled don’t panic, once you add in the flour the batter will come together.
6)Add in plain flour, salt directly into the creamed butter, sugar mixture.
Pro Tip: if you are using salted butter, don’t add salt.
7)Add in baking powder and fold the batter gently. Now add in milk and fold gently to a smooth batter.
8)Instead of using electric whisk or hand whisk, fold the batter gently with spatula till smooth.
Dyeing Cake Batter with Food Colours
9)Once the cake batter is done, divide the batter between 6 or 7 bowls depending on how many colours you want to use. I used roughly ¾ cup of batter on each bowl.
Add in few drops of food colour to each bowl. Mix it gently until combined. You can choose any colour as you prefer. I like to use gel food colours which adds intense shade.
Baking Rainbow Loaf Cake
10)Take each colour batter, spoon into the loaf pan anyway you like. I like to pour three colour in the base next to each other. Then top with more cake batter.
11)Now use a tooth pick or skewer to make swirl pattern on the cake batter. Keep swirling the batter gently to create the pattern. Don’t over do with this.
12)Now the cake is swirled beautiful. Place the loaf pan into the 180 degree C preheated oven. Now bake this in oven for 45 mins to 1 hour till the cake is done. Remove it and cool down completely.
Cutting hearts in rainbow cake
13) Un mould the cake from the loaf pan onto a cutting board. Let it cool completely, slice this into 2 inch pieces and cut out heart shape using the heart mould.
14) Cut out hearts in all the cake slices. Once the hearts are cut, Place the heart cakes in fridge for 30 mins to 1 hour to firm up a little.
Making Vanilla Cake Batter for Hidden Rainbow Heart Cake
15)Take soft unsalted butter and sugar in a bowl. For easy mixing, you can powder sugar in a blender till fine and use.
16)Add in vanilla extract and beat till creamy.
17)Add in two eggs and mix till creamy and combined. You can use hand blender or whisk.
18)Add in plain flour, baking powder into the creamed butter sugar mixture.
19)Mix the cake batter, the batter has to be slightly thick yet creamy. If you find the batter too thick, then add little milk to loosen the batter.
Assembling Hidden Heart Cake
20)Spoon the ¼ of the batter into the loaf pan. Spread evenly.
21)Now take the rainbow hearts, place the hearts over the cake batter and arrange in the centre. Make sure the pointy side of the heart is facing upwards. Stack all the hearts like this.
22)Now you can see the hearts are stacked.
23)Spread the remaining vanilla batter over the hearts to cover it completely. Make sure the entire rainbow is covered with cake batter.
Baking Hidden Rainbow Cake
24) Now place the loaf pan into the oven. Bake for 35 mins to 45 minutes till the cake is cooked completely. Insert a toothpick to check whether the cake is baked completely. The tooth pick should come out clean.
Once the cake is baked, remove it from oven and let the cake cool down in the pan for 15 minutes.
25)Un mould the cake on a cutting board. Cool it completely, slice and serve.
How to Make Hidden Heart Cake (Stepwise Pictures)
This is the same recipe as the above rainbow heart cake. Instead of making rainbow hearts, I added red food colour to the batter and made red hearts. And for the surrounding cake, I used chocolate flavoured cake batter instead of vanilla cake batter.
Infact I have a recipe video of making this heart cake. Watch this video before making this cake.
Ingredients Used
For Making Red Hearts
- 1.5 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Eggs
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 175 grams Unsalted Butter
- ¼ cup Milk
- Red Food Colour as needed
How to Make Heart Cake
1)Make the cake batter as mentioned above. Start by creaming butter, sugar, vanilla till creamy. Add in eggs one at a time and mix well. Add in plain flour, baking powder, salt, red food colour, milk and fold gently. The batter is ready.
2)Spoon the batter into loaf pan which I have lined with parchment paper. Bake the cakes in a 180 degree C preheated oven (356 degree F) for 45 to 50 minutes.
3)Once the cakes are baked. Remove it from oven, cool it completely in the pan for 10 minutes. Now unmould the cake from mould. Slice into thick slices. Cut out hearts using heart mould. Repeat this for all cake slices. Place the cut out hearts in fridge for 1 hour.
This is the change which I made from the above rainbow cake. I made a chocolate cake batter instead of vanilla. Here is the recipe for a simple chocolate cake batter that I used.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake
- ½ cup Unsalted butter (100 grams)
- 3 Large Eggs
- ½ cup Cocoa Powder (50 grams)
- 1 cup Sugar (200 grams)
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour / Maida (120 grams)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
- ⅓ cup Milk (80 ml)
- ¼ tsp Salt
Making Chocolate cake batter
4)Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. Measure and take all the ingredients for making chocolate cake.
5)Mix plain flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee powder, baking powder, salt in a bowl and mix well. This is your dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl. Take soft butter, sugar, vanilla and use a beater and cream for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time and beat till creamy.
6)Combine both wet and dry ingredients together till a creamy chocolate cake batter is done. Use a spatula to fold the cake batter.
7)Spoon ¼ cup of the chocolate cake batter in the base, spread evenly.
8)Place the cut out heart cake over the cake batter. Stack it evenly.
9)Spread the leftover chocolate cake batter over the hearts. Spread evenly to cover the entire cake.
10)Place the loaf pan into the oven, Bake the cake in oven for 40 to 45 mins. Remove and cool completely.
11)Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Un mould the cake onto a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
Ingredients for Glaze
- 1 cup Icing Sugar | Confectioners Sugar
- 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder
- 2 tbsp Hot Water
12)You can serve the cake as it is. But I made a quick glaze using icing sugar and cocoa powder and drizzled all over the cake. To make the glaze, take icing sugar, cocoa powder, water in a sauce pan, heat till it melts and becomes creamy. Now pour this over the cake. Leave to set for 1 hour for the icing to harden.
13)You can decorate the cake with sprinkles. Slice and admire the hidden heart. Enjoy.
Chocolate Coated Heart Cake
This is another idea for you to make heart cake. If you don’t want to spend so much time in making the above hidden heart cake, you can make this cake in less than 1 hour.
If you want to make anything special for this valentine then this is the answer. It is not only easy to make but taste just special and yummy. I am sure your valentine will be very excited if you serve this for desert.
The cake is extremely moist and very chocolaty. Perfect mini bites for valentines day or for any parties. I topped it with strawberries, but you can top it with any berries or nuts or candies.
1)I used the chocolate cake batter which I have mentioned in the chocolate red heart cake recipe. instead of baking the cake in loaf pan. I poured the cake in square pan and baked.
I poured the cake batter in a 20 cm square cake pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until cooked. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes before un moulding on a cutting board.
2)Slice mini hearts or any shapes that you prefer using a cookie cutter.
3)Now for coating the chocolate, melt some dark or milk chocolate in double boiler or microwave for few seconds. Spoon the melted chocolate over the heart cakes, place a slice of strawberries and chill for few hours. Serve.
Expert Tips
- Use small heart cookie cutter so the entire cake is hidden inside the chocolate cake batter.
- You can use any shaped cookie cutter instead of heart shape.
- Don’t over bake the cake.
- You can use any colour. Rainbow colour will look cute too.
Storage Suggestions
- You can wrap the cake and store in room temperature for 2 days.
- Store in fridge upto a week.
More Valentines Day Recipes
📖 Recipe Card
Heart Cake Recipe | Hidden Heart Cake Recipe
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 408kcal
Instructions
For Chocolate Cake
Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. Take butter, sugar, vanilla in a bowl and use a beater to whip till creamy. Now add in one egg at a time and beat till creamy. Now in a separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking powder and salt. Now add this dry ingredients into the egg mixture along with milk and mix well
Now take the loaf pan, Spoon little chocolate batter in, now spread it evenly. Now place heart side down and arrange it over the chocolate batter. Spoon remaining chocolate batter in and tap gently. Bake this for 40 to 45 mins. Remove and cool completely.
If you are making chocolate glaze. Take icing sugar, cocoa powder, water in a sauce pan, heat till it melts and becomes creamy. Now pour this over the cake. Decorate it as you like. Leave to set for 1 hour. Slice and serve.
Notes
- Use small heart cookie cutter so the entire cake is hidden inside the chocolate cake batter.
- You can use any shaped cookie cutter instead of heart shape.
- Don’t over bake the cake.
- You can use any colour. Rainbow colour will look cute too.
STORAGE
- You can wrap the cake and store in room temperature for 2 days.
- Store in fridge upto a week.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servings | Calories: 408kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 126mg | Sodium: 228mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 705IU | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 2mg
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