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This Conversation Heart Cake is the perfect thing for Valentine’s Day! It’s flavored with fresh or frozen strawberries and so fluffy and delicious!
Not going to lie to you, this is way less exciting than the Kim Kardashian chocolate conversation hearts that all the famous people on Instagram have been smashing. I want one!
This cake is still really amazing. It’s strawberry because we all know that conversation hearts are really gross. I bought a variety bag for this shoot (to use as props) and ate a few and omg they were so terrible!!
It reaffirmed my decision to make the cake a yummy strawberry cake. Remember when I made this strawberry sheet cake? It’s that recipe and made it into a two-layer heart cake. I topped it with strawberry frosting and a little message of LET’S GET COZY!!
It took me exactly a whole lot of hours and curse words to be able to write “LETS GET COZY” in buttercream. I will say that I can use some buttercream-writing-practice.
I was very close to taking it to the nearest grocery store where I was gonna plead with the woman who works at the bakery to write it for me. But then I thought, NO! This is a learning experience.
How to Make Strawberry Conversation Heart Cake
I wrote this out on parchment paper and transferred it to the freezer to firm up. I used a small offset to get it off of the parchment and then placed it on the cake.
This worked really well because I kept writing it kinda crooked and it aggravated me.
So, yeah, do it that way. Parchment and the freezer are your friend!
If you wanna make this cake for your friends and then smash it like one of those BAE hearts, then that is totally fine, just please send me photos via DM.
Oh and here’s a link to the heart pan that you can buy off Amazon.
And then here’s the one I purchased and used from Michael’s. I used my Michael’s coupon from their App and it ended up being about $4. Totally worth it. Lol.
Strawberry Conversation Heart Cake
Ingredients
Roasted Strawberries:
- 1 1/2 cups from 1/2 pound sliced strawberries, (you can use frozen just be sure to thaw)
- 2 tablespoon white granulated sugar
Strawberry Sheet Cake:
- 2 3/4 cup cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 6 large egg whites
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste
Strawberry Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons strawberry puree, from above
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- Red food coloring, optional
Instructions
To Make the Roasted Strawberries:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add the sliced strawberries to a small baking dish and toss with the sugar. Transfer them to the oven to roast for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove and allow them to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the strawberries to a blender and pulse until smooth. (You should end up with about 1/2 cup puree.) We’re going to use this for the cake and the frosting.
To Make the Cake:
- Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the strawberries). And grease an 8-inch heart cake baking pan OR two regular 8-inch cake pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. In a measuring cup, pour in the milk, egg whites, vanilla extract or paste and reserved 1/4 cup strawberry puree (save the rest for the frosting) and whisk until combined.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and, alternating between the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients (the strawberry/egg white mixture), add the them butter/sugar mixture until the batter is relatively smooth. If you want to make it a bit more pink (it’ll probably be a light pink), add a drop of food coloring.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and transfer to the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. OR, if you're using a single heart pan, add half of the batter to the pan. (We'll fill it up after we bake the first layer.)
- *NOTE: You can buy two heart pans, but I bought one. So I baked this cake one layer at a time.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It’ll probably take a good hour. Repeat with the second layer, if needed.
To Make the Strawberry Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment, add the butter and powdered sugar; beat until smooth, about a minute. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of strawberry puree and heavy cream. Beat again until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. If you like add a drop of food coloring to get that conversation-heart-color-pink.
To Decorate the Cake + To Make the Writing:
- When the cake is completely cool, add some of the frosting on top of the cake. Using an offset spatula or any spatula you own, smooth it out until it reaches the edges. Add the second layer and continue decorating the cake.
- You’ll have leftover frosting. Add a few drops of food coloring to it until it turns red. I needed about 3 drops. This will vary depending on what type of food coloring/gel you have. Transfer to a piping bag with a small round tip on the end.
- On a piece of parchment, write out what you want to say. Try to make them as even as possible. Transfer to the freezer to chill for 10 minutes. With a small butter knife or offset spatula, remove them from the parchment paper. Place them on the cake and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looking for more Valentine’s Day recipes? Of course you are, here are some favorites:Â
This is the cutest and most amazing cake I have ever seen! I like strawberry cakes. Seeing strawberries, I could not help feeling the urge to eat it
The cake it self just sells the word cozy, can’t wait to try it out..
I just made this and it is hands on the tastiest, nicest cake I’ve ever made! I will say that I had to leave my cakes in for 35 minutes as they were still very raw in the middle after 25. But thank you for this recipe!
YAYY!!
A little confused – if you only have one heart pan – is the recipe for two heart shaped cakes (so are you pouring only half the batter into the pan, baking and then using the pan again with the other half of the batter? Or do I need to double the recipe to make two layers like you did above? Thanks!
Yep! I specify that in the notes section of the recipe. 🙂
This cake looks adorable! And THANK YOU for that amazing tip on doing the lettering on parchment and freezing it. That’s pure gold!
The fact that you linked a heart pan on amazon too is perfection! This is so cute, I am inspired!
Hahah you could be making this on Thursday with one-day delivery! 🙂
So very cute! I love the idea that you roasted the strawberries – BRILLIANT! So the question remains, how do you manage to cook all these wonderful, decadent desserts and stay so slim? You must have the greatest willpower!
I freeze a lot of them and save them for when friends come over OR i give them away to neighbors. 🙂 All the savory stuff is eaten tho! I also luckily love to workout 🙂
This is a cute little cake. I don’t know where the rhubarb comes in in the directions though?
That looks like a holdover from the Strawberry Sheet Cake recipe (that had rhubarb in the frosting) which I had to look at – and now will make that in rhubarb season!!
Ahh that was a mistake–it’s gone now! Thanks!
This is the cutest cake ever! And I love how you incorporated your blog in it….so cute! I love strawberry cakes. My grandmother’s award-winning strawberry cake is my favorite of all her cakes.
BTW I finished Little Fires Everywhere! 😀
Omg, this is just such a cute cake! I love it!