If you and your valentine love chocolate and strawberries just the way my valentine does then these moist chocolate heart pastries are perfect for you. They are so simple but elegant and very quick to bake and frost. Make them extra special with ingredients which are easily available.
Treat your valentine to this ultimate sweet sensation and gift yourself this fabulous treat. How about making this Valentine’s Day memorable? 😀
Ingredients :
- 2 cups Maida (Refined Flour)
- 2 cups Caster Sugar
- ¾ cups Cocoa pwd.
- 1 ½ tsps. Baking pwd.
- 2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 2 Eggs
- A pinch of Salt
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Essence
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup boiling Water or hot Coffee
Procedure :
Line one 23×33 cm. rectangular baking pan with parchment or butter paper.
Grease the paper and the sides of the pans well, dust with flour and tap out any excess.
In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients and combine well .
Add the eggs, milk ,oil, vanilla essence and beat with an electric mixer/ blender for 2 mins. or you can combine the wet ingredients separately and then incorporate in the dry ingredients.
If you intend mixing manually then you need to beat the ingredients longer.
Add the boiling water or hot coffee and mix until well combined.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 30-40 mins. or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pans for 30 mins. and then invert the cakes onto a rack to cool completely.
Place the cooled cake slab on a cutting board peel off the parchment.
Use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out hearts of the prepared chocolate cake.
Place the heart pastries on a tray and moisten them with the simple sugar syrup if you want them extra moist and soft.
To prepare a Simple Sugar Syrup :
Combine 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan & stir to dissolve completely. Bring to a boil over med. heat, stirring constantly. Stop stirring & boil for a minute. Cool completely. Use this syrup to moisten your cake. The syrup can be stored in a covered container & refrigerated for up to 2 months. Use whenever needed.
For the Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting :
- 8 tbsps. Unsalted Butter
- 3 cups Confectioner’s Icing Sugar (sifted)
- 3-5 tbsps. Milk
- 4 tbsps. Strawberry Jam with whole strawberries
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Essence
In a sufficiently large bowl, cream the butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth & well blended.
Add in the icing sugar, a little at a time with few tbsps. of milk.
Add the vanilla essence, strawberry jam and continue beating till the mixture turns light & fluffy.
Add in more sugar and milk if needed.
Your frosting is ready!
Fill in a piping bag fitted with a decorative nozzle and decorate the heart pastries or spread the frosting with a knife and decorate with strawberries or fruit of your choice and serve.
