Monday 11 February 2008

Double Heart Chocolate Cakes

As its Valentines Day this week I wanted to make a heart inspired treat for the Monday Munchers in honour of the occasion. I decided to make small heart cakes with the help of my fantastic heart shaped silicon muffin mould. I knew I was going to make them chocolate flavoured and I wanted to top them with some kind of heart decoration but I was unsure what to do. I went trawling through online cake dec shops for inspiration and found a heart shaped chocolate mould; two days later it landed on my doormat.

Even though I was planning to make dark chocolate cakes, I still wanted to include some red into the equation. I hit upon the idea of dying a little white chocolate red and streaking it over the chocolate moulds before filling them with white chocolate. I was unsure if it would work but I was really pleased with how they turned out, more pink than red, but they definitely stood out against the dark chocolate background.

The cakes were quick and simple to produce and were adored at work, although they did receive a few of groans from some of the men who had forgotten Valentines Day was so close. (I feel I should be thanked really or else they might have had some angry wives and girlfriends on their hands.) A small word of advice though, don’t be tempted to remove the cakes from the mould until they are almost completely cold. I tried, and my first one turned out more of a molehill than a heart – they are very fragile when warm.

If you don’t have a heart shaped mould you could always make cupcakes or bake a sheet of sponge and then stamp hearts out using a cookie cutter.

Double Heart Chocolate Cakes
For the cake

115g self raising flour
115g caster sugar
115g margarine
2 eggs
½ tsp baking powder
70g dark chocolate

For the icing
100g dark chocolate
20g butter
½ tbsp honey or golden syrup

For the chocolate hearts
100g white chocolate
40g extra white chocolate
Red food dye

To make the chocolate hearts
Melt the 40g of white chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.
When molten, add 2 drops of red food dye and stir to produce a pretty pink colour.
Transfer the melted pink chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a small plain piping nozzle and pipe zigzag streaks across your chocolate mould. Allow to dry in the air for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining 100g of white chocolate.
Then pipe or spoon the chocolate over the set pink chocolate zigzags and set aside to harden. (I left mine overnight)
Don’t be tempted to put them in the fridge to speed up the process as this can cause the chocolate to ‘bloom’ (have white speckled patches) due to the temperature change.
When completely set, tap out and store in an airtight container until required.

To make the cakes
Preheat the oven to 170C
Weight out all the ingredients, expect the chocolate, into a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
Melt the dark chocolate and then quickly beat into the cake batter. The batter will become quite thick as the chocolate firms up, but don’t try to thin down with milk as the batter becomes soft once in the oven and the chocolate softens.
Spoon tablespoons of the batter into a prepared mould or muffin cases.
Bake in the oven o 15-18 minutes until risen and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool before removing from the tin.

To make the icing
Melt the chocolate, butter and honey or syrup in a small saucepan over a gently heat until molten.
Stir until amalgamated and then leave to cool for 5-10 minutes until it forms a spreadable consistency.
Then spread the cooled cakes with the icing and top with a chocolate heart.
Makes 12 cakes

This is also my entry to Zorra’s Valentines Day event.

Update: The round-up is now up - Part 1 and Part 2

14 comments:

Deborah said...

These are absolutely adorable!

eatme_delicious said...

These are so cute! Lucky coworkers.

zorra said...

Wow, these hearts look so perfect.

Thank you for your participation.

Angel said...

Oh your cakes look so adorable. You are right the pink and white stands out very prettily against the dark chocolate. Fabulous cakes!!

Gigi said...

OMG! They are too cute! The white chocolate on top looks sinfully delicious. Oh how I wish I was part of the Monday Munchers.

Jade said...

I think these cakes look gorgeous! I might make something similar for my husband - he would flip for his own chocolate cake :)

Eva said...

Wow, these are sooo cute! I definitely need to get baking, last chance tonight...

Allison said...

Oh I love the way you decorated with the pink white chocolate! These are beautiful, and I want to eat one! Ok... I want to eat many... but yeah, so pretty!

Shaheen said...

Looks really delicious!White and dark choc - yumm! :D

Brilynn said...

Those turned out beautifully! I really like the drizzle of pink on the white hearts!

Elle said...

Katie, I've tagged you for your choice of two memes...check out my blog...hope you'll play.

These cakes are darling...I have a heart shaped silicone baking pan...these would be perfect for baking in the pan. Not sure that I would be able to make the candies on top as nicely as you did.

Cheryl said...

These are so gorgeous. I think people would line up to buy them at the stores.

Pixie said...

They look so wonderful, I could eat about 10 of them in one go!

Susan from Food Blogga said...

I saw these hearts in Zorra's round-up and had to check them out! So glad I did. They are just "love"ly. Hope you had a happy heart day.