heart-shaped chocolate strawberry cake
Nothing like coming to you with a little Valentine’s Day dessert inspiration the day before! I hope you’ll forgive me when I tell you it’s a chocolate strawberry cake that is halfway homemade but all seriously, truly, decadently delicious. It’s exactly the kind of dessert you want for the day — chocolate-y, a little extra special and made with love (but not so much that you’re in the kitchen all day long and leave no time to hang with your main squeeze/BFF/awesome self).
The base of this cake is made with Immaculate Baking Co.’s chocolate cake stratch mix which is made up of these ingredients — sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, corn starch, salt and vanilla. That is it. You add in some milk, butter and eggs and bake it and the cake part is done. Whew. Halfway there already! All that’s left is to make a homemade strawberry buttercream frosting (which is so easy to make, promise, and so good you’ll be tempted to eat it all with a spoon… but don’t! Because it’s much better on the chocolate cake, swears) and a decorative/edible topping of chocolate-covered strawberries (so apropos).
Frost the cakes, top it with the strawberries and share it with those you love. For me, that was my daughter (who, admittedly, ate all the frosting off the cake first) and my husband (who has been asking for “generous” slices every night for dessert since I made it a couple of days ago, and that’s saying something because he’s not a big dessert person) and myself. I mean, you have to love yourself the most on Valentine’s Day above all. And cake is the way to do it, IMHO.
This is a Valentine from me to you, in heart-shaped chocolate strawberry cake form. I hope you love it.
P.S. I used 2 of these heart-shaped pans (8-inch size) for the recipe and they worked beautifully!
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Heart-Shaped Chocolate Strawberry Cake
- Prep Time: 50 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 14 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 box (21 oz) Immaculate Baking Co. chocolate cake stratch mix
- Milk, butter and eggs called for on cake mix box
- 1 heaping cup fresh strawberries, stems and leaves removed
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Chocolate-covered strawberries, for topping (optional)*
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F for shiny metal pan or 325 degrees F for dark, nonstick or glass pan. Grease and flour bottoms and sides of 2 heart-shaped pans (or two 9-inch round cake pans or three 8-inch round cake pans).
- Prepare cake ingredients as directed on cake mix box. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake 25 to 35 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. Cool cakes 10 minutes in pans, then carefully remove from pans and cool completely on cooling rack, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in blender or food processor, blend strawberries and lemon juice until fully pureed. Pour puree into small saucepan. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, 10 to 15 minutes until mixture reduces to about 1/4 to 1/3 cup. Cool completely to room temperature.
- In large bowl or bowl of stand mixer, beat butter and strawberry mixture 1 to 2 minutes on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in powdered sugar on medium speed 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is smooth. Add milk and vanilla; stir to combine. Increase speed to high and beat 1 minute more until frosting is creamy and fluffy.
- Place 1 cake layer on serving plate. Frost top with generous amount of frosting. Top with remaining cake layer; frost top and sides with remaining frosting. Decorate with chocolate-covered strawberries, if desired. Store leftovers tightly covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.
- *To make chocolate-covered strawberries, melt 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Dip strawberries halfway into chocolate mixture, then transfer to wax paper or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Chill in refrigerator 30 minutes to set.
Keywords: Valentine, Valentine's Day
Disclosure: I received compensation from Immaculate Baking for recipe development purposes. All opinions are my own. This post contains an affiliate link.
This looks fantastic!! The strawberry buttercream I imagine is so delicious with real strawberries in it! Don’t know if this will make it for tomorrow but definately on my list!! Thanks Steph!
This cake looks so perfect for Valentine’s Day! Especially with that beautifully pink buttercream 😀
What a sweet Valentine’s Day cake!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
that pink frosting is like magic!!! so so stunning
I love this cake.. I am going to prepare this cake for my sisters bday !!! Thank you !
Yum! Thanks for the great variations for each of your terrific recipes. Such usable ideas; I love your site.
This is the sweetest cake ever, Steph!! Valentine’s may be over, but my birthday is a week away so there’s always an excuse for cake, right?!! Love!
There is no combination so heavenly as strawberries and chocolate!! Will give it a try to this cake…looks delicious 🙂
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I found your recipe on Pinterest and made it exactly as described for Valentine’s Day, right down to the chocolate covered berries. It turned out great, and using cake mix meant it didn’t take half a day. The strawberry frosting was so lovely — light and fluffy with a delicious fresh strawberry flavor. We loved it. I let the puree get pretty thick so needed a bit less powdered sugar to get the right consistency, but it turned out perfectly. It’s a keeper! Thank you for a fun, easy-to-follow, delicious recipe! ?
★★★★★
Were you able to find the cake mix? It doesn’t look like the linked Cake product exists any longer.