Chocolate Heart Cake Valentine's Day Desserts

Joanne Adirim

Founder & Executive Pastry Chef

January 27, 2023

Joanne has been baking professionally for 25 years. A talented recipe and product developer, she has crafted desserts for hotels, restaurants, and gourmet grocers across the world. Joanne developed Cookie Chips® Baking Mixes for bakers who wants professional results at home using the same high-quality ingredients she uses in her professional kitchen.

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The Joy of Valentine's Day Recipes

Valentine's Day is here and all that is filled with joy, happiness, and fun! From romantic dates, and special dinners together, to gift exchanges, flowers, chocolates, or jewelry, there are so many ways we show our love and affection for one another. If you’re reading this recipe article, chances are you’re planning to show your affection through your baking talents. Me too!! This year let’s create something truly special, delicious, and different.

Valentine's Day has its roots in ancient Rome, where a festival called Lupercalia was celebrated in mid-February. This festival was dedicated to the Roman god of fertility, and young men would draw the names of women from a box as a form of matchmaking. Over time, the festival evolved and became associated with Saint Valentine, a 3rd-century Roman martyr who was executed for secretly marrying couples during a time when marriage was forbidden.

The red white chocolate glaze makes these chocolate cakes irresistible! 💖

As the holiday evolved, it became a day to express love and affection, and gifts were exchanged between loved ones. Flowers, cards, and candy became popular gifts. Personally, baking is my favorite way to creatively express my love and affection for the important people in my life. If you’re baking for your significant other, a family member, or a friend this Valentine's Day, the thought and effort that goes into making your homemade treats means so much to them. Perhaps more than you realize.

From the heart-shaped chocolate peanut butter crunch cakes we’re going to make in this article, to cookie bark, gift baskets, and more, the possibilities for Valentine's Day desserts are endless. I find that homemade treats are some of the best Valentine's gifts to give because they’re truly thoughtful and can be appreciated by anyone.

homemade chocolate cake desserts valentines day

The dark chocolate cremeux filling adds a dimension of creaminess that complements the Cookie Chips® crunch bottoms.

Baking These Valentine's Day Treats

Whether you are a seasoned baker or a beginner, I am actively creating a growing list of unbeatable dessert recipes and ideas for all occasions. I chose to make these yummy Valentine's Day treats because they’re fun to make, super simple, and look so good! The red glaze gives these cute desserts a serious pop.

Baking these cute desserts is a lot of fun. Depending on your skill level and the recipe you choose, there are recipes that require more advanced baking techniques, while others are relatively simple and straightforward. While baking these Valentine's Day treats are not the simplest, I promise you that this dessert recipe is the one to make this Valentine's Day. There are two types of chocolate in these chocolate cakes. Add them to the list! Make sure to watch the recipe video included in this post to get an idea of how to make them, and follow my recipe closely. Remember, you can always reach out to us. Use the chat feature on the website with any questions you have and we’ll do our best to answer them!!

It's important to have fun and enjoy the process of making cute desserts like these. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to make them perfectly. Practice makes perfect and you will get better with time, because baking is a skill just like anything, and it takes time and practice to master. Even the most experienced bakers (hint, over here!) have their fair share of failures. It’s important not to be hard on yourself if your baked goods don't turn out as perfectly as you had hoped. Instead, focus on what you can learn from your mistakes and use that knowledge to improve your skills. The process of baking is just as important as the final product, and taking the time to enjoy it can be a rewarding experience.

I hope you enjoy these crunchy heart shaped Valentine's Day treats. They’re as much fun to bite into as they are to bake! If you make these for your special someone, tag us @cookiechips or comment below and we’ll feature you. With that, let’s get our aprons on and let’s get baking!

These cute Valentines Day desserts were so much fun to make, and even more fun to bite into. Enjoy 😊

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Heart Cakes

Ingredients

Cookie Chips® Crunch

14 oz Chocolate Chip Cookie Chips®

12 oz milk chocolate

12 oz creamy peanut butter

1 oz coconut oil

Dark Chocolate Cremeux Filling

4 ½ fl oz heavy cream

4 ½ fl oz whole milk

3 large egg yolks

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 ½ oz dark chocolate (Don’t use chips. Use a good quality dark chocolate)

Red Glaze

1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin

¼ cup cold water

⅔ cup condensed milk

½ cup + 2 tablespoons warm water

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 ⅓ cups finely chopped white chocolate

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, optional

Gel food coloring, red

Recipe

Cookie Chips® Crunch

In a microwave safe bowl, melt milk chocolate with coconut oil. Mix chocolate at 30 second intervals until fully melted and mix until coconut oil is completely incorporated. Or, bring a pot of water to a boil. Lower to a simmer and place a bowl with the chocolate and coconut oil over top. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir until fully melted.
In a food processor, grind Cookie Chips®.
Add ground Cookie Chips® to milk chocolate and blend in well.

Dark Chocolate Cremeux Filling

In a small saucepan, bring cream and milk to a boil.
In a bowl whisk together egg yolk and sugar.
Pour some of the hot milk over the egg and whisk immediately. Pour this back into the pot with milk. Cook this mixture on low until it reaches 183 F.
Place your dark chocolate into a separate bowl and pour hot liquid mixture over whisking smooth. If you have an immersion blender, you can use this to blend.
Cover top of the Cremeux with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours until firm.

Red Glaze

Bloom the powdered gelatin: Put the cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the powdered gelatin over the water. Quickly stir using a small whisk or fork until it starts to thicken. Set aside and let it sit to fully gel, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the condensed milk, warm water, and sugar in a small pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Once the mixture reaches a simmer, turn off the heat and whisk in the bloomed gelatin until fully dissolved and no clumps remain.
Let the mixture sit for 2 minutes, then whisk together until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract, if using.
Place the white chocolate in a bowl. Pour the hot liquid mixture through a fine mesh sieve over the chocolate.
Completely submerge the immersion blender into the glaze and blend without raising above the glaze to prevent air bubbles from forming. If using food color, add a couple drops at a time until desired color is reached. Blend thoroughly. If you don’t have an immersion blender just use a whisk.
Transfer the glaze into any type of pouring vessel like a heat-proof quart container or heat-proof liquid measuring cup. Let it sit, giving it a stir every 5 minutes until the glaze reaches 90 to 94 F on an instant read thermometer.

Putting It All Together

1. In a silicone mini heart mold, spoon in the milk chocolate cookie crunch halfway into each mold. Freeze to set.
Using a piping bag, pipe in the chocolate Cremeux as shown in the video. Using an offset spatula, spread the Cremeux so it fully fills each mold. Scrape off excess and freeze to set.
Remove each heart from the mold and place on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Keep in the freezer.
Make your glaze. While the glaze is cooling, set up your glazing station.
Place a drip rack on top of a sheet pan. When you glaze is ready, pour it into a large cup or measuring cup with a spout.
Place frozen chocolate heart cakes on the glazing rack spacing well apart.
Pour glaze over each cake by drizzling first on the edges then in the center. Allow glaze to completely drip off the cakes.
Using an offset spatula, remove cake from the glazing rack. If the glaze is still dripping, use your finger to wipe off excess glaze. Place cakes on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.
If you want to decorate with gold leaf, carefully remove gold from the book with the tip of a knife and place it over top of each cake. Lightly blow on the gold to get it to fully adhere.
Keep cakes in the freezer until ready to eat.