Conquer your hearts with this red velvet cake.
Important: For the heart shape you need 2 baking tins:one round and one square with a diameter of 20 cm.
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Grease the two baking tins with butter, dust lightly with flour and set aside.
2. Take the mixing bowl of a standing mixer and beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (this can also be done with a hand mixer). Beat the eggs, add them gradually and beat until fully incorporated.
3. Mix the buttermilk with the vanilla extract and color it bright red with the red food coloring. You have to do this visually because the intensity differs per type and brand of dye. Start with a few drops to try out how the color will turn out.
4. Sift the flour together with the cocoa powder.
5. While mixing, add half of the buttermilk mixture to the batter, then half of the flour mixture, then the rest of the buttermilk and the cocoa flour last. Make sure everything is incorporated and scrape the side of the mixing bowl with a spatula. Beat until the batter is evenly colored.
6. Add the baking soda and vinegar and mix well into the batter. Divide the batter between the two baking tins and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and dry when inserted in the center.
7. Let the cakes cool in the tin for a while and then turn them out onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.
8. For the cream cheese frosting, mix the softened butter with the cream cheese in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) and beat until well blended. Gradually add the icing sugar until fully incorporated.
9. Finally, mix in the vanilla extract and beat for a further 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy. Be careful not to beat for too long otherwise the glaze may become a bit too runny.
10. Halve the two cooled cakes and cut the round cake in half along the top as well (to form four semicircles). Place a teaspoon of the icing in the center of a cake dish or plate and place one of the square cooled cakes on top. This prevents the cake from slipping.
Spread some of the icing over the top of the cake with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Place the second square cake on top. Now place the two bottom sides of the round cake against the straight part of the other cake, so that the cake gets the shape of a heart. Divide some of the glaze over these two pieces and place the other two half-rounds on top. Now spread the rest of the glaze over the entire cake and let it cool in the fridge.
1. Melt one of the Red Velvet bars (au bain-marie) and pass it through a sieve, so that the melted chocolate can be spread evenly over the cooled cake. Gradually spread the pink chocolate over the top of the cake, until it drips nicely over the sides.
2. Use the chocolate circles from the other bar as decoration and stick them at the bottom of the cake. As a finishing touch, divide the last chocolate rounds together with the edible white hearts over the top of the cake. Et Voila.
