Left it last minute? Don’t worry about it, I have you covered. Today I’m sharing my recipe for the perfect Valentine’s Day cake.
This cake is the perfect treat as it’s quick and easy, you could easily make this on the day and still have it ready in time. Starting with a chocolate velvet cake, a milk chocolate ganache and strawberry filling – what’s not to like?
The combination of chocolate and strawberry marry one another so perfectly well, regardless of the chocolate and luckily for you, I used milk, dark and unsweetened. The balance of sweetness and tartness all balances so well, so if you’re a chocolate fan, you’ll love this cake!
For quality chocolate, don’t forget to check out Cocoarunners. For this recipe, I used their milk chocolate, dark chocolate and unsweetened chocolate – what’s not to love?
Regardless of how you are spending Valentine’s day this year, why not treat yourself?
Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?
Ingredients:
Chocolate velvet cake:
120g butter.
300g granulated sugar.
2 eggs.
120ml buttermilk.
120g plain flour.
30g cocoa powder.
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda.
1 1/2 tsp white vinegar.
Ganache:
230g milk chocolate.
460ml double cream.
For the strawberry filling, use a good quality strawberry jam or other jam/preserve.
Decoration:
Grated dark chocolate.
Strawberries, halved.
unsweetened chocolate buttons.
Methods:
Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining your 8 inch heart cake tin with parchment and get any other bits you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatulas ready. Don’t forget to preheat your oven to 170˚c/325˚f.
To start, I recommend with the cake. Into a large mixing bowl, place the butter and sugar and beat them together until they are well combined.
Once combined, you can add your eggs, one at a time beating well in-between each addition.
Then go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated earlier on.
Add around 1/3 of the dry mix into the bowl and beat that in until its fully incorporated, follow that by adding in around half the buttermilk and mix until fully incorporated. Repeat with the remaining ingredients – remember, you should start and finish with the dry mix.
Give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits of dry mix or buttermilk that may be around the edge of the bowl.
Onto the cake batter, sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda and then top that with the the vinegar and allow to fizzle. Fold them into the cake batter until everything is fully incorporated.
You can then transfer the cake batter from the bowl straight into your lined cake tin. Then you can spread and level out the mixture to ensure consistent baking while in the oven.
Place the cake into the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean, when inserted into the centre).
While your cake is in the oven, you can clean down and make the ganache.
For the ganache, simply grab a small saucepan and pour in the cream. Place it on the hob over a medium heat and stir until it a reaches a boil, ensuring the cream doesn’t catch on the bottom of the saucepan (if it does, just restart).
Into a small bowl, add the chocolate. Then carefully pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for 2-3 minutes, then stir continuously until you have a smooth and glossy mixture.
Leave the ganache to cool and start to firm up, this doesn’t take very long – you’re only looking for the mixture to become a spreadable consistency.
Once ganache has come to a spreadable consistency, you can go ahead and transfer it into a large mixing bowl and beat it over a medium-high speed until it’s lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.
Keep the ganache at room temperature, to ensure it stays spreadable and easy to work with.
Now the cake has baked and cooled fully, you can go ahead and level the cake (don’t throw away the excess cake, it’s great for cake pops or with custard). Then you can slice the cake in half, so you have two even layers.
Take your board/plate/stand you intend on using and place a blob of chocolate ganache into the centre and spread it out, then place the first layer of cake on top and press it down to secure it in place.
Then place a good amount of ganache and spread it out until you have a consistent layer of ganache, generously spoon on the strawberry filling and spread it out. Sandwich the second layer of cake on top and press down, just to secure it in place.
Using the remaining ganache, coat the sides and top of the cake, trying to get it as smooth as possible (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
While the ganache is still tacky, take the grated dark chocolate and scatter on top and spread it all around to ensure even coverage (this is optional but it helps to cut through the sweetness).
Then to decorate, its really up to you but I kept it simple with just some halved strawberries and unsweetened chocolate buttons. That’s all I did, kept it simple but impressive enough to show someone you care!
That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.