Hidden Heart Cake
109 Recipes
Recipe Rating
Preparation Time: 50 Minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes, plus time to cool
Serves: 1 long cake, 8 - 10 slices
Try this delicious loaf cake and reveal the secret heart running through the middle - a sophisticated and romantic bake!
Ingredients
For the Cake
2 x 175g measures Butter, softened
2 x 175g measures Castor Sugar
6 large Eggs
2 x 140g measures Snowflake Self-raising Flour, sifted
2 x ½ tsp measures Snowflake Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 x 85g measures Ground Almonds
2 x 100ml measures Milk
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 x 1/2 tsp measures Red Food Colouring
For the Icing
100ml Cream
200g Dark Chocolate, finely chopped
50kg Butter
Decorations of your choice
Method
- STEP 1: Heat oven to 160ºC. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking paper. Cream 175g butter and 175g sugar until light and fluffy. Beat 3 of the eggs and pour in, a little at a time, mixing after each addition. Sift together 140g flour, 1⁄2 tsp baking powder and the cocoa, then fold into the butter mixture along with the almonds. Combine 100ml milk, 1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla and all the food colouring and add to the batter, then mix until evenly coloured.
- STEP 2: Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hr 10 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack. When cool, cut the cake into 4cm slices. Using a 5cm cutter, stamp out the hearts (save any remaining cake for another treat!).
- STEP 3: Repeat step 1 to make a second cake mixture – you won’t have cocoa or food colour in this batch. Pour 3⁄4 of the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Push the bottoms of the hearts into the batter in a tightly packed row. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, covering as much of the hearts as possible. bake for 1 hr or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- STEP 4: For the icing, gently heat all the ingredients over a low heat until combined. Leave to cool, then chill until needed. Spread over the cooled cake and decorate. Will keep for 3 days stored in a cake tin.
