Bake It in a Cake

Each slice of this loaf cake has a piece of your heart nestled inside. Making the cake is a little time consuming (you’re baking two cakes, after all, and you have to allow for cooling time) but it’s very easy to do. You just need a loaf cake pan, two boxes of vanilla cake mix and required ingredients, pink or red food coloring or food gel, parchment paper, and a good, sharp bread knife.

Here’s how you do it! 

First, mix up a box or batch of your favorite vanilla or white cake mix (my vanilla cake recipe is here). Once the batter is mixed, add pink or red food coloring to make it the desired shade. This will be the heart. Pour the batter into a loaf cake pan lined with parchment paper and bake according to the recipe’s directions, until the cake is done. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to completely cool.

Next, remove the cake from the pan and place it in the freeze for about 30 minutes. This will make it a bit easier to cut into a heart shape. Slice off a couple inches from the sides and the top of the loaf cake so you have a square loaf. Cut a V into the center of the top of the loaf. This will be the top of the heart. Round the top corners of the loaf, and then cut triangles off the sides of the loaf cake to make the point of the heart. Set the heart-shaped loaf aside.

Next, make your vanilla cake! Mix up the batter or box mix according to directions. Pour 1/3 of the batter into a loaf cake pan lined with parchment paper. Carefully place your heart cake into the center of the pan and press it into the batter. Now pour the rest of the vanilla batter over the heart. (It helps to have a friend help with this step, so they can hold the heart in place while the batter pours over it, just FYI—but I did it by myself, so you can, too!)

Make sure the batter has completely covered the heart, and adjust the heart, if necessary, to ensure it isn’t crooked. 

Bake the loaf cake according to the recipe or box’s directions, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

I served mine with some fresh berries and whipped cream. Chocolate ganache poured over the top would also be really delicious! You could even bake the heart into a chocolate cake. LOVE! 

My cookbook, Bake It in a Cupcake: 50 Treats With a Surprise Inside, is available now at: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound.com!