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
Jane’s Patisserie: Celebrate! Bake every day special
The brand-new cookbook from baking sensation Jane's Patisserie
Celebrate every occasion with a bake, from birthdays to Christmas, Easter to Halloween
Featuring cookies to cheesecakes, traybakes to desserts, and much more
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.
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.
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