Valentine’s Chocolate Heart Cakes (Or Cupcakes)
Rich and chocolatey with a nice close textured crumb which keeps its shape when cut. These Valentine’s chocolate heart cakes are a classic. The cakes are sandwiched and topped with a delicious rose flavoured white chocolate icing. If you don’t fancy hearts, this recipe will make twelve cupcakes instead.
I know you can say it with flowers, but how about saying it with flour? As I’m sure most of us are aware, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. With that in mind, how could I resist the lure of making some Valentine’s heart cakes when asked. I’ve adapted the recipe from the highly industrious, flour and sugar encrusted folk at Baking Mad.
Valentine’s Chocolate Heart Cakes
The original recipe was for four heart shaped cakes, but as I only had two heart moulds, I decided to see if the remaining mixture would run to six cupcakes instead. It did. I went off piste as usual with the recipe; I just can’t seem to help myself.
Of course, I use wholemeal flour. But I also added some ground cardamom to the cake mix and some rose water to the white chocolate icing. Both provide a subtle but most delicious flavour profile.
My kitchen gets very cold in the winter. Sometimes I reckon it’s colder than the fridge, so I have to work quickly with melted chocolate before it seizes up. A cold kitchen does bring benefits though. I rarely need to wait too long for my cakes to cool down.
Apart from the chocolate icing initially seizing up on me because of the cold, it all worked brilliantly well. Turned out there was just the right amount of cake mix to fill the two cake moulds and six cupcake cases. So not only did I have Valentine’s chocolate heart cakes, but I also had Valentine’s cupcakes.
The cakes were delicious and were everything you’d expect a good chocolate cake to be. They were richly chocolatey with a nice close textured crumb which kept its shape when cut. They were moist and very easy to eat! The distinctive rose flavoured icing complemented the subtle cardamom in the sponge. All of the above was true of the cupcakes too.
If neither of these appeal, I have more ideas for baking up a Valentine’s storm for your loved ones. Just take a look at my Valentine’s Day recipes.
Other Chocolate Cakes You Might Like
- Black Forest gâteau (gluten free)
- Celebratory chocolate cake (vegan)
- Chilli chocolate cake
- Chocolate fudge cake
- Chocolate treacle cake
- Orange cardamom birthday cake
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these Valentine’s chocolate heart cakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Chocolate Heart Cakes. PIN IT.
Valentine’s Chocolate Heart Cakes – The Recipe
Valentine’s Chocolate Heart Cakes
Ingredients
- 6 cardamom pods (optional)
- 150 g unsalted butter – softened
- 150 g golden caster sugar
- 125 g dark chocolate (I used 72%) – broken into pieces
- 3 tbsp milk
- 3 eggs (I use organic)
- 200 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
White Chocolate Icing
- 100 g good quality white chocolate
- 140 g unsalted butter – softened
- 140 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp rose water
Instructions
- Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods and grind them with a pestle and mortar.6 cardamom pods
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and cardamom together until light and fluffy.150 g unsalted butter – softened, 150 g golden caster sugar
- Melt the chocolate, with the milk, in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Leave to cool slightly.125 g dark chocolate, 3 tbsp milk
- Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture one at a time. If it looks like it’s going to curdle at any point, mix in a spoonful of the flour.3 eggs
- Beat in the chocolate mixture.
- Sieve the remaining flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb of soda into the bowl and stir until everything is just about incorporated.200 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 1 tbsp cocoa powder, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), 1 tsp baking powder
- Divide the cake batter between 4 x 10 cm heart shaped silicone moulds or 12 lined cupcake holes. Or, you can do as I did and use half of the batter for two heart shaped moulds and the rest as six cupcakes/
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 25 minutes or until the cakes are well risen and firm to the touch.
- Allow the heart cakes to cool for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Turn the cupcakes out onto a wire rack more or less immediately.
- Slice the cooled heart cakes in half.
- Sandwich them together with some of the white chocolate icing.
- Spread the remaining icing over the tops of the cakes and over the cupcakes.
- If liked, use a heart shaped cutter as a guide and sprinkle some pink sugar crystals over the cakes.
- Scatter some sugar crystals over the cupcakes.
White Chocolate Icing
- Melt the white chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot, but not boiling water.100 g good quality white chocolate
- Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.140 g unsalted butter – softened, 140 g icing sugar
- Beat in the white chocolate along with the rose water.2 tsp rose water
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
“Bakingmad.com is a free mouth-wateringly helpful website that offers everything you want to know about home baking. The site is packed full of hundreds of inspiring recipes including everything from biscuits, breads and cupcakes to muffins, pies and pizzas. All the recipes are tried and tested by the home-baking expert in the Baking Mad kitchen and come with top tips, ‘how to’ videos and easy to follow step-by-step instructions“.
This is a sponsored post, but as always, all opinions expressed are my own and I retain full editorial control.
What lovely hearts Choclette! They look so yummy and moreish and very romantic too. Have a nice Valentine day 🙂
Thank you Alida – you too 🙂
Especially like the rose and cardamom combination.
These look great! I only used cardamom myself recently and found I really liked it so would not mind giving these a go. Also an update – hubby took the hint of the love heart tin and just tracked one down and brought it for me to say thankyou for taking him away – yeh! Thank you I would never have known they existed!
Love those pretty hearts – but I would be happy with cupcakes too as they sound delicious – I love your flavour additions – makes them a little middle eastern!
Cute and dainty heart cakes….look absolutely ravishing for Valentines!
Thank you Malli, that’s very kind.
hee hee love the flour pun. Cakes much better than flowers and especially to give to men! So cute.
To be fair Janice, that was CTs pun. I was rather taken with it too 😉 I wonder if the men folk will be any more impressed with hearts than they are by flowers???
I LOVE these little cakes. What a great idea and the ideal sweet treat for valentines day too. So sweet ;0)
Thanks Chele. Unfortunately, they’ll be long gone before Valentine’s Day – will have to think of something else 😉
ooo! These look yummy!! 🙂
Kat, they are 😉
What pretty little cakes and I love the idea of adding both cardamom & rose. They are 2 flavours that work so well together. I may be following in your footsteps next week!
Thanks Laura. As you’ve probably gathered by now, I am particularly fond of the rose and cardamom combination – glad to know I am not alone 🙂
The mini heart cakes look so cute…and tasty too! 🙂
Awwww… very cute and sweet! Such pretty little cakes! Karen
Thanks Laura
Thanks Karen, even I can manage cute and sweet occasionally 😉
Aren’t they pretty! :))
Thanks Anna, think I might just have to agree with you 😉
I love everything with heart shape, so how can resist these lovely Valentine heart cakes! So irresistibly LOVELY !! 🙂
Thank you. I was ridiculously excited when I got the heart shaped moulds!
Those heart shaped cakes are adorable.
Thank you Victoria
Aww, lovely. You mainly see Valentine’s cookies around but I love the cakes!
Hazel, we’re obviously looking in completely different places. Don’t think I’ve seen a single Valentine’s cookie – not yet anyway!
Haha really? I guess we are! There’s definitely one Valentine’s cookie on my blog now 🙂
oh I love the heart shaped cakes, they are just so pretty… may have to make one for The V for V day!
Oh lucky V, getting his very own V cake 🙂
Perfect for Valentines Day, love the addition of cardamom too!
Thanks Hannah. Now if only they had a few love hearts ……!
The cakes look very pretty. I too like the Baking Mad website, very useful for inspiration.
Thank you Maggie. There is masses on that site – not that I’ve been stuck for inspiration since starting this blog. It’s more a case of, whenever am I going to find the time to do it all :-S
Gorgeous! I love the combination of chocolate and cardamom and your layered chocolate hearts are so pretty.
Thanks Little Loaf. I really like this combination too and rose seemed the right sort of flavour for V Day.
Very pretty!
Thanks Alicia, I do try sometimes 😉
I love the heart cakes, adorable!
Maria
x
Thanks Maria
Heart Cakes are so cute!!
Have a nice week
Thank you manu