Skip to content
Open menu Close menu

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

penguin logo

Jane’s Patisserie’s Love Heart Cupcakes

Perfect for Valentine's Day or as a gift for a loved one at any time of year, these cute hidden heart cupcakes look as sweet as they taste.

From the book

Introduction

Please can we take a moment to revel in how cute these cupcakes are, with little baby hearts hidden inside every single one? I know I have already mentioned in this book how you probably want dessert for Valentine’s Day to be quick and easy, but these are the bake to make if you want to go that extra mile and seriously impress. I used a vanilla cupcake, but you can make these chocolate by substituting 25g of flour for cocoa powder in the main cupcake mix. The swirl of pink buttercream frosting on top finishes off these beautiful cupcakes that are the perfect gift to your loved ones.

Read more Read less

Ingredients

For the Red Cupcake Hearts:
100g unsalted butter or baking spread, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
2 medium eggs
1 tsp red food colouring
For the cupcakes:
150g unsalted butter or baking spread, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the buttercream:
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
425g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pink food colouring
To decorate:
sprinkles

Essential kit

You will need: a 20 x 20cm square tin and 12 cupcake cases.

Method

PREP: 1 hour. BAKE: 35–45 minutes. COOL: 3 hours. DECORATE: 30 minutes. LASTS: 3+ days, at room temperature.

Red Hearts

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan and grease and line a 20 x 20cm square tin with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the flour, eggs and red food colouring to the bowl and beat again until smooth and even in colour.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20–22 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Using a small 3cm heart-shaped cutter, cut small shapes out of the cooled red sponge and reserve for later.

Cupcakes

For the cupcakes, leave the oven preheated to 180ºC/160ºC fan and get 12 cupcake cases ready.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the flour, eggs and vanilla extract and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Add a tablespoon of mixture to each cupcake case. Add an upright red sponge heart to each cupcake, carefully pushing it down so that it sits into the cupcake mixture. Top each cupcake with another tablespoon of mixture, sharing among the cupcake cases evenly until the mixture is used up.

Transfer the cupcakes to the oven and bake for 18–22 minutes. Leave to cool fully on a wire rack.

Buttercream

In a large bowl, beat the butter for a few minutes to loosen it. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until well combined. Add the vanilla extract and pink food colouring and beat for a few minutes until light and fluffy. If the mixture is thick, add 1–2 tablespoons of boiling water to loosen slightly, but this is not essential.

Decoration

Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with the piping nozzle of your choice fitted. Pipe the buttercream over the cupcakes however you like and scatter over some sprinkles.

Reviews

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.

Thank you for your rating. Our team will get back to any queries as soon as possible.

Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use.

There are no comments yet

Be the first to leave a review

newsletter

Subscribe to The Happy Foodie email newsletter

Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week

From the book: Jane’s Patisserie: Celebrate! Bake every day special

Close menu