Valentine Cupcakes for my Grand Daughters

 

One of my favorite blogs is Susan's at Between Naps on the Porch and she had posted several years ago about some adorable Valentine Cupcakes. For Valentines I was looking for something I could make for my Grand Daughters and this was an excellent solution. I was unable to find the exact pan Susan had used but found one very similar.

This one is made by Nordic Ware and I found it online at Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon. I also used the same recipe that Susan had shared and found this to be an excellent cake recipe. It is a 1234 Cake that had been shared with her by her mother in law many years ago and apparently has served Susan well. She agreed to allow me to share it here on my own blog.

1 2 3 4 Cake

 1 cup butter
 2 cups sugar
 3 cups all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered Sugar(optional)
Raspberry preserves(optional)

  Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and cream well. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

 Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add milk and flour mixture into the butter mixture, alternating the two and ending with flour.  Beat on low speed and add vanilla extract.  Fill each heart-shaped cup or muffin tin about ⅔rds full. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes...test with a toothpick to see if it's done. Once cakes have completely cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar over them, then fill with Raspberry or Strawberry Preserves. If the little heart cakes expanded above the level of the pan while cooking, using a large knife, slice off the part sticking up so the cakes will sit flat on the plate.

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My Notes: I used a small serrated knife to cut the tops off to make them sit flat.


The cake went together so quickly and turned out to be very moist little cupcakes. Of course, doing the prep work ahead of time is a MUST.

The only thing I regret is not ordering two of these pans so both pans could have baked at the same time. The recipe is plenty to fill two pans. Another order from Amazon for sure since I know I will be making these again and again.

Moist and delicious and all my grand girls were thrilled. However, since I knew they were chocoholics I chose to do a chocolate ganache drizzled over mine.

I could have thinned the ganache a little more but I will remember that for the next time. I used Ina Garten's recipe from her book, Barefoot Contessa Parties.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces a good semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Place the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Place the cakes upside down on a wire rack and gently pour the glaze evenly over the top. You can cover the cakelet or just a drizzle.
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Each one was boxed up with large white cupcake papers underneath and then placed in a pretty box. For the children I chose to top with sprinkles.

 

Of course, there were a few left over for me and my husband. They were very tasty.

 



 

Susan decorated hers differently and I wanted to share that with you as well. Probably a prettier presentation but I needed to do the chocolate "thing". The next time I will decorate them as Susan did and she also gave me permission to share her photo as well. So there are several options, I can see these made any time of year maybe for a luncheon dessert for some special friends.

 

 

 

You can click HERE to see Susan's post about these wonderful little cupcakes.





These little cupcakes made for an excellent Valentine surprise for my five grand girls. Thank you so much Susan for allowing me to share your recipe and your photo. I hope each of you enjoyed a very Happy Valentine's Day!