Heart Shaped Chocolate Cherry Mini Cakes

It all started when I decided to make some Valentine's treats for friends and neighbors. I figured I'd do something fun and colorful but my baking cabinet was sadly out of red or pink sprinkles. So I headed to the store to restock and saw heart shaped sprinkles (what??) and red candy melts and heart shaped cutters and I bought them all without even knowing what I was going to do with them.

I already had good quality semi-sweet chocolate in the house and I was picturing a delicious drippy ganache. Over what, though?A few trial run ideas later I had the answer in the form of a large chocolate sheet cake. I could cut out little hearts and big hearts. I could stack the hearts and pour ganache and frosting over the hearts. This was fun.
 

Because cherries and chocolate were meant to be together, I stacked the cake hearts with a scoop of my favorite cherry preserves in the middle. Smaller heart cutouts for individual portions and larger hearts for a romantic little mini cake to share. If you space the hearts close together, you should have a minimum of wasted sheet cake. Of course, cake scraps are what gives the baker the energy to go on. Hahaha. Enjoy!

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Anita Schecter

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Heart Shaped Chocolate Cherry Mini Cakes

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 50 Min

Recipe for heart shapes cut out of a chocolate sheet cake and topped with ganache and sprinkles.

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 2 Sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Cup boiling water
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

• 1/2 Cup cherry preserves

For the Ganache:

• 8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon butter

For the Topping:

• Red Candy Melts (optional)
• Colorful sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a half sheet pan (approx. 18" x 13") or jelly roll pan (approx. 12" x 17") with parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter and whisk in the cocoa powder. Pour in the boiling water and stir until combined. Set aside to cool.
3. Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together the eggs and sugar. Beat in the vanilla and sour cream followed by the cooled chocolate mixture
4. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and mix into the wet ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Allow the cake to cool slightly and then cut out heart shapes with a 3" or 4" cutter. Place about a teaspoon or two of cherry preserves on half the heart shapes and top with the other half.
6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave and stir in the heavy cream and butter. If using candy melts, melt them as well in a double boiler or microwave. Pour the chocolate ganache over each stacked heart cake and top with the melted candy melts and sprinkles. Makes about 16 3" hearts which yields 8 tiered cakes.

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