It’s possible (and easy!) to get this heart-baked-within-a-cake situation all up in your Valentine’s seduction plan. Or for your engagement-baking-rings-in-cupcakes plan. Or your Thursday plan that involves watching re-runs of Sex & the City and drinking 2 bottles of wine to the face. Also – new favorite website alert: BakeItInACake.com is fucking genius.
(makes 12):
For the cupcakes and the hearts you’ll need:
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- the seeds from half a vanilla bean
- 1/4 t. salt
- 2 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/3 c. whole milk
- red food coloring
For the Laffy Taffy buttercream you’ll need:
- 10 pieces of strawberry Laffy Taffy candy
- 2 T. heavy cream
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 c. powdered sugar
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 90 seconds, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets well combined. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth. Finally, alternate between the flour and milk, beating on med-high speed until the batter is light and creamy.
Pour a little more than 1/3 of the batter (about a cup and a half) into a smaller bowl. Add red food coloring until you get your desired pink or red color. Pour the batter into a non-stick (or lightly greased) 8×8 baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes until the edges of the cake start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely (to speed up the process, I stuck in in the fridge).
Once the sheet cake is cool, loosen the edges away from the pan with a knife and then invert the pan onto a cutting board. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a dozen cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan.
Spoon two heaping tablespoons of the remaining batter into paper-lined cupcake tins, so they’re about half-full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter. Keep all the hearts facing forward in the pan. Cover with another teaspoon of batter and bake for 24 minutes.
