Be still my heart with these incredible cakes I am so lame, sorry. There is almost too much awesome going on with these wondrous cakes that I almost don’t even know where to begin.
First, they’re heart shaped which automatically makes them adorable, second they are made up of an incredible chocolate cake that is this close to being a brownie, and third they have my most favorite whipped frosting in the middle which, bonus! I added food coloring to, to make it pink, and pink is always a good idea 🙂 This is another recipe I saw on The Pioneer Woman, and dang, she has some super great recipes doesn’t she? Ree called these little guys chocolate devils, which definitely caught my attention and I have thought for months how super amazing these would be as heart shaped cakes for Valentine’s Day.
Also, side note, this is totally the last post for Valentine’s Day for this year I promise 🙂 Anyways, these little cakes are moist but wonderfully dense and milk chocolatey, and the fluffiest lightest most delicious frosting ever in the middle. Which, if you want step by step pics of how to make the frosting (minus the cocoa powder) go here . I made two separate batches of the cake in slightly different sized sheet pans, the first one was a little bit more narrow which made the cake much thicker and the second I initially thought was going to be too thin but they were perfect. The first batch made the cakes thick enough that I didn’t even make sandwiches out of them and just piped that gorgeous frosting on top. I also used a range of sizes of biscuit cutters to make some of the cutest littlest cakes ever, all the way to some big honking sized ones. No matter the size they were all so delicious and amazing and would make just the perfect homemade Valentine’s gifts. Happy Valentine’s Day y’all!!
First, place your flour in your bowl…
Then add the sugar and salt and mix this all together…
Place your buttermilk, vanilla and eggs in a bowl or measuring cup and mix, mix, mix…
Now in your saucepan place your butter…
Melt your butter, and add your cocoa powder…
Mix these lovely ingredients together…
Then add your boiling water and let your chocolate mixture bubble up for a bit…
Then pour this into your flour mixture…
Mix this all together to allow the chocolate mixture to cool…
Once it has cooled a bit, add your buttermilk mixture…
Mix all together and it will look like this gorgeous bowl of chocolate…
Now pour this in your pan and let it bake (this is my wider pan which yielded the thinner cake)…
Once completely cooled, remove the cake from the pan and you can start to cut out your cake pieces…
Then frost with a piping bag (or not)…
Look how pretty! and not to mention delicious…
Also, here’s after I added a smidgen of gel food coloring in pink, totally matches my mixer 🙂 …
Hello delicious!
- 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour.
- 2 Cups of Granulated Sugar.
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt.
- 2 Sticks (1 Cup) of Unsalted Butter, Softened.
- 4 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder.
- 1 Cup of Water, Boiling.
- 1/2 Cup of Buttermilk.
- 1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda.
- 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla.
- 2 Eggs.
- 1 Cup of Milk.
- 5 Tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour.
- 2 Sticks (1 Cup) of Butter.
- 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar.
- (Optional) A smidgen of Wilton Gel Food Coloring in Pink-this stuff goes a long way.
- 18x13 Sheet Pan.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut your parchment paper to fit your 18x13 sheet pan and spray each side with baking spray, you definitely want your cake to come out easily.
- In a mixing bowl, place your flour, sugar and salt mixing together and set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan on medium high heat melt your butter then add your cocoa powder stirring constantly.
- Then add your boiling water to the cocoa powder/butter mixture allowing to boil up for 30 seconds.
- Pour the chocolate mixture over the flour mixture and stir in to cool.
- Pour the buttermilk into a bowl or measuring cup like I did, then add the baking soda, vanilla and the eggs beating the mixture with a fork.
- Then add your buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture mixing until well incorporated.
- Place your batter into your pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cake springs back to the touch.
- Place your cake in your refrigerator to cool completely.
- Once cool, slide your cake out of your pan and with your biscuit cutter proceed to cut out your pieces laying on a separate piece of parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan, heat your milk and flour stirring constantly and remove from heat when it becomes the texture of thin mashed potatoes, let this cool completely, you can stick in your fridge to cool more rapidly.
- Once your milk/flour mixture has cooled, with a handheld or stand mixer with paddle attachment beat your butter until smooth, then add your sugar and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Now add your milk/flour mixture to your sugar and butter and beat the ever living out of it until it becomes the texture of whipped cream, if you choose to make your frosting pink too, now add your gel food coloring and mix until the desired color is reached.
- You can either pipe or spoon your frosting onto your cake pieces.
- I used a Wilton disposable 16" piping bag and the Wilton open star tip to pipe my icing.
- I used biscuit cutters in heart shapes ranging from 1-3/4" the smallest to the largest that is 3-1/4".
