Valentine's Day Hidden Heart Cake

A slice of a cake with a red heart inside, the rest of the sliced cake decorated with icing and red crumbs on a white rectangle plate.

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Valentine's Day Hidden Heart Cake

Celebrate Valentine's Day in style with this Hidden Heart Cake, a delicious vanilla sponge loaf cake with a vibrant red heart revelead with every slice, and vanilla icing on top. It's a rich and indulgent Valentine's Day cake that will impress your loved ones, and it's easy to make with a handful of ingredients.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 10

Cooling Time2

Total Time3 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: International

Servings: slices

Calories: 501kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

For the sponge

300 g self-raising flour ( 2 ½ cups)
300 g butter, soft ( 1 ⅓ cups)
250 g granulated sugar ( 1 ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon red food colouring, paste

For the glaze

200 g icing sugar ( confectioners' sugar, 1 ⅔ cups)
2 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For decorating

1 tablespoon red sponge crumbs ( or sprinkles)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius ( 350 Fahrenheit).
To make the sponge, add the soften butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
Use a hand mixer to beat them well until creamy.
Add the eggs one by one, beating well after every egg added.
Sift in the flour, add the baking powder and vanilla extract, and use a spatula to mix everything well into a batter.
Transfer a quarter of the batter to a different mixing bowl, add the red food colouring, and mix well to get a smooth red batter.
Line a square baking tray ( mine is 20 cm, 8 inches in diameter) and add the red batter to it in one even layer.
Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the sponge from the oven, and leave it to cool down completely.
Freeze it for 10-15 minutes once it's cool.
Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts from the red sponge.
Butter and flour a regular loaf tin.
Add 3 tablespoons of the remaining vanilla batter to the bottom of the tin, making sure it's nice and even.
Arrange the hearts on top of the batter, pressing down well to make sure the hearts are stuck into the batter.
Cover the hearts with the rest of the batter.
Bake at 170 degrees Celsius (340 Fahrenheit) for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool down completely.
To make the icing, mix the icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk to get a smooth, runny glaze.
Pour the glaze over the cake, then decorate with crumbs left from the red sponge.
Allow the glaze to set before slicing the cake.

Video

Notes

Click on the US Customary at the bottom of the list of ingredients to see the amounts listed in cups and ounces.
Make sure the oven is well preheated when the cake goes in, this is ensure that the cake rises rapidly before the hearts can shuffle around.
It is crucial to have plenty of batter left for covering the hearts, otherwise the top of the hearts will be exposed during baking.

Nutrition