Hidden Heart Cupcakes: the elegant, impressive recipe for Valentine’s say cupcakes

It’s that time of the year again where love is in the air, and everything is decorated with red hearts and cupids! So what better time to make Valentine’s Day cupcakes? These hidden heart cupcakes are perfect for making a special baked good for your loved one.

A soft and moist cupcake is decorated with a creamy frosting, and once you bite into it, you reveal a pink heart. The hearts take a little work, but once you make them, you use a cupcake batter, making it quick and easy! You can also customize the cupcakes as you like, so check out our tips below.

How to Make Hidden Heart Cupcakes

Start preparing the small red hearts first. To make them, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, butter, flour, milk, and food coloring. Bake for 30 minutes. Slice of the top section to reveal the pink cake. Use a cookie cutter to cut out small hearts.

Now prepare the cupcakes. Use a premade batter and pour into cupcake molds. Add the heart cut-out to the batter, making sure that the point is facing downwards. Bake, allow to cool and decorate.

How to Decorate Valentine's Day Cupcakes

You can decorate the cupcakes any way you like, but we suggest working with white, red, and pink colors to fit the theme. Try one of these decorations

• Dark chocolate frosting or ganache with white heart sprinkles
• Buttercream frosting with chocolate hearts and sprinkles
• Two-toned pink and red swirl frosting.

Hidden Heart Cupcake Variations

There are many ways to make the flavor of these cupcakes your own. Instead of a heart in the center, you can also fill it with caramel or custard. Or make a dark chocolate cupcake with white vanilla frosting and heart sprinkles.

Tips

Use brown sugar if you want the cupcakes to be extra moist!

When cupcakes come out of the oven, they still release a bit of steam while cooling. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before you frost them, this will help the frosting to stick to them.

Want to make these ahead of time? You can freeze unfrosted cupcakes. Allow them to cool completely, before wrapping them tightly with a few layers of plastic wrap, and placing them in an airtight container. Freeze them for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw completely before frosting.

If you can’t find gel food coloring, use plain liquid coloring.

How To Store Hidden Heart Cupcakes

Store the frosted cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Storing them in the fridge will dry them out. Make sure that the cupcakes cool first, otherwise they might become sticky.

Instructions

Whisk together the eggs with sugar, vanilla, and butter.

Add the flour and milk and whisk again.

Add the food coloring and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Pour into a baking pan and bake at 180°C/350°F for 30 minutes.

Slice off the top layer from the cake.

Use the heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes.

Pour the cupcake batter into the muffin tin.

Add a pink heart to each, with the pointy side effacing downward.

Bake at 180°C/350°F for 15 minutes. Decorate with buttercream. Finish off with heart sprinkles.

Notes

If you have pink cake left, use extra hearts to decorate the cupcakes on top.