Food Blog

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and any woman’s affection can be won with sweet treats so with Valentine’s Day just around the corner it’s time to roll up your sleeves, put on your pinny and get baking!

From romantic Valentines cupcakes, to decadent muffins and homemade fudge why not try your hand at a few different recipes and create a tantalizing homemade hamper?

And if you’re worried that your baking attempts might look a bit amateurish, don’t fear-BakingMad.com is here to help.

The place to go for thousands of inspirational recipe ideas, BakingMad.com also offers top tips and advice from their very own home baking experts.  And because Baking Mad’s recipes use only the finest baking ingredients you can be assured of great results every time.

When the occasion really matters, choose high-quality natural ingredients to ensure sure your results taste as good as they look. Billington’s has a full range of natural, unrefined sugars – from Golden Caster Sugar and Unrefined Molasses to Light or Dark Muscovado- perfect for a truly decadent cake or pudding. And Allinson flours are still milled to meet the same high standards set by Dr Thomas Allinson in 1892.

Finally, for that perfect finishing touch, why not choose from Silver Spoon Cakecraft’s wide range of edible decorations. From chocolate letters and numbers, to sprinkles and bejewelled jelly drops, they have everything you need to lift your baking from the so-so to the seriously impressive.

Go on, see how many hearts you can win this Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Heart Cakes

Ingredients

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, Fan oven 160°C /gas 4.
2. Butter and flour the sides of four 10 cm heart shaped tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
3. For the cake: Snap the chocolate into chunks and place in a bowl. Add the milk and sit the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and heat until the chocolate has melted. (Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water.) Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Beat the butter until very soft then add the caster sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then fold in the melted chocolate.
5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda, and fold in gently to mix. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean.
6. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to sit for five minutes before turning them out of their tins and placing them on a wire rack to cool. When cool slice the cake in half.
7. For the chocolate butter icing Melt the chocolate in the microwave on High for 1½ minute, stirring halfway. Leave to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the chocolate until smooth. Spread the butter icing on the bottom half of the cake and sandwich with the other half.

ABOUT BAKINGMAD.COM

Bakingmad.com is a free mouth-wateringly helpful website that offers everything you want to know about home baking. The site is packed full of hundreds of inspiring recipes including everything from biscuits, breads and cupcakes to muffins, pies and pizzas. All the recipes are tried and tested by the home-baking experts in the Baking Mad kitchen and come with top tips, ‘how to’ videos and easy to follow step-by-step instructions.

NOTES TO EDITORS

•    Allinson Nature Friendly flours are milled from Conservation Grade™ wheat, from farms that demonstrate their dedication to helping wildlife flourish. This provides a more balanced and sustainable environment allowing crops to be pollinated naturally and helps to provide a sustainable environment for the future. There is regularly five times more wildlife on Nature Friendly Farms™ *

•    Did you know that not all brown sugars are the same; many are white sugar simply dyed brown. The secret of natural, unrefined sugar is that it locks in, rather than refines out, the natural molasses of the sugar cane, resulting in superior taste, texture, colour and aroma to your home cooking.

To ensure that you are buying the finest unrefined sugars simply look for UNREFINED on the packet. Or just look for the name ‘Billington’s’ and you can’t go wrong. You can buy Billington’s unrefined sugars in all major supermarkets.

•    Create is the new range of edible cake decorations and baking ingredients from Silver Spoon, available nationwide across major retailers. Silver Spoon Create delivers quality and reliability for all your baking needs, from a name you can trust.

•    Mich Turner is the founder of London’s Little Venice Cake company – the leading designers of celebration cakes. Internationally renowned, she has created cakes for royalty and celebrities and is now delighted to be able to offer a great range of professional quality ingredients.

For more information visit www.bakingmad.com
Follow Baking Mad on Twitter (bakingmadUK)
Become a fan of bakingmadUK on Facebook