Surprise a loved one and play cupid this Valentine’s Day with this Hidden Heart Loaf Cake. A deliciously soft vanilla sponge cake meets a raspberry flavoured hidden heart, and a delicious vanilla icing with fresh raspberries to garnish is sure to have them falling head over heels.
PREPARATION TIME
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the Pink Heart Sponge
250 g butter softened
250 g caster sugar
3 eggs large
250 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp raspberry extract
1/2 tsp pink food colouring
For the Vanilla Sponge
300 g butter softened
300 g caster sugar
4 eggs large
300 g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Vanilla Icing
200 g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Freeze dried raspberries to decorate
100 g Fresh Raspberries to decorate
Instructions
For the Pink Sponge Hearts
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 2lb loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.
In a standing mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy.
Add the eggs one by one, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Then add the raspberry extract and pink food colouring and mix it through.
Combine the flour and baking powder then add it all at once, folding it through the mixer with a spatula until fully combined.
Pour the pink batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Leave the loaf to cool, then once cooled slice the loaf the same thickness as a 2-3cm heart cookie cutter (approx 6-7 slices). Cut out a heart shape from each slice of loaf and then leave them to one side. Reuse or eat the scraps (bakers perks)
For the Vanilla Loaf Cake
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 2lb loaf tin with non-stick baking paper.
Repeat the same steps as above using the ingredients for the vanilla loaf cake, stopping just before you add the batter to the loaf tin.
To assemble
Pour out 1/4 of the vanilla loaf batter to the bottom of the prepared loaf tin then stand up the cut out hearts in a row down the middle.
Pour the rest of the batter into a piping bag and pipe the remaining batter on top of the hearts and down the sides until evenly coated and the hearts are no longer visible.
Spread the batter out on top then bake for 45-55 minutes. Leave the cake to cool fully before decorating.
For the vanilla icing
Add 200g icing sugar to a bowl and add 1 tbsp of milk and the vanilla mixing it through. Add the 2nd tbsp slowly until you have an icing that is thick but falls off a spoon.
To decorate, pour the icing across the top of the loaf cake pushing it gently over the sides to form drips.
Scatter the top with freeze dried raspberries and a generous mountain of fresh raspberries.
