A Cake with a Heart

I love surprise desserts. Sometimes it’s about combining a classic recipe with an unexpected flavor. Other times it’s about combining textures. Today’s dessert is called Cake with a Heart. It’s about getting one reaction out of your friends: “How did you do it?” It’s actually a fairly easy technique but no one will guess how you’ve done it. So just in time for Valentine’s Day, here is how to make a Cake with a Heart:

I am using 2 yellow cake mixes. Even though I am a fan of making everything from scratch, cakes from mixes rise a whole lot and that’s exactly what I needed for this project. You will understand why in a bit.

Start by preparing one of the mixes according to directions:

Add pink food coloring:

Grease a loaf pan. Fill with batter 2/3 of the way up (this cake will rise quite a bit. Bake at 350ºF for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once the cake has baked and cooled, cut it into 1/2″ slices:

Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut one heart out of each slice, ends included:

 Here is what you should have:

Resist the temptation to eat one of those hearts.

Prepare a second cake mix according to directions. No food coloring this time:

Grease a loaf pan and pour a little bit of that new batter at the bottom.

Then assemble the hearts into a row and place into the loaf pan:

Cover it all with some plain batter. Don’t pour all of it out of your cake will overflow. Just go up to the hearts and cover them:

That’s it! Bake for 45 minutes and you’re all done!