There are a lot of sweet treats that say “I love you,” but nothing tops a big, beautiful heart-shaped cake. It’s a dessert that nobody will be able to resist. You may think the only route to a heart-shaped cake starts with using a special cake pan, but we’re here to tell you that this just isn’t the case. The technique we’re sharing does not require any special equipment beyond a round and a square cake pan, which you likely already own. As for the inside? You can make any cake you love.
How to Make a Heart-Shaped Cake
Martha Stewart
So, how do you bake a heart-shaped cake without a heart-shaped pan? It’s simple.
- Make your batter, then pour half into an 8-inch round pan and the other half into an 8-inch square pan.
- Bake the two cakes following your recipe’s directions; once they’ve cooled, level the tops and cut the round cake in half, creating two semi-circles.
- Arrange the square cake with one corner pointing toward you. Place one-half of the round cake against the top left side of the square cake. Next, place the other half of the round cake against the top right side of the square cake, leveled sides down.
- Frost the cake to finish. This will create the full heart effect and hide that it is made of three pieces. Once the frosting is on, all you see is a heart.
Heart Cake Ideas
While we always go chocolate for Valentine’s Day, you can make this easy heart-shaped cake for any occasion using just about any cake recipe. Just be sure to use a recipe that yields enough for a two-layer cake. (Remember, the heart-shaped cake is one layer but uses the same amount of cake as an eight-inch layer cake.) If baking for a larger crowd, you could double your recipe and the process to make a two-layer heart cake.
Flavors, frosting, decorations: Try our One-Bowl Chocolate Cake, Light and Fuffy Yellow Cake, or Red Velvet Cake. Feel like being more adventurous with frosting? From cream cheese to Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, the world is your cake topping—just be sure to choose a frosting that compliments your cake flavor.
To take your cake over the top, consider:
- Covering the whole thing in coconut flakes, either white or dyed pink with food coloring
- Flourishing it with chocolate shavings
- Strewing (organic) rose petals across the top
- Dotting it with (organic) whole edible flowers, such as pansies
- Glamming it up with edible glitter or gold leaf, jimmies, nonpareils, dragées, sugar pearls, sanding sugar, or shaped sprinkles
- Garnishing with cherries, either fresh or fine maraschino
- Decorating with fresh raspberries or strawberries
This technique will work whatever cake flavor, frosting, and decorations you use. It’s just genius!
