Heart Loaf Cake

I'm going to start this post by making a big apology to everyone! I've had a bit of time off blogging due to a slightly crazy few months (working, moving house, starting college etc.). I've been meaning to upload this post for so long now, I drafted it back in July and finally I'm sharing it with you all! I have been suffering quite badly with my migraines, so unfortunately blogging is going to have to be put on hold for a little while. I will be back in the New Year with lots of new recipes, I'd also really like to do some lifestyle or general chatty blog posts too, and I've love to know your thoughts on that. 

Anyway, I'll stop waffling now, onto the recipe...

This cake is something a little different... I was looking for inspiration for something to make for my Dad and Stepmum’s first wedding anniversary, and as soon as I saw this recipe I knew it would be perfect!

I've only slightly tweaked the original recipe that I found, but I think that this works perfectly.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter/baking spread

200g golden caster sugar

3 large free range eggs

235g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

150g raspberries

1tsp bright red food colouring/1 x 10g tube bright red gel food colouring

40g mascarpone*

60g Greek yoghurt

4 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 

*For my Dad's cake I used a traditional buttercream instead of the mascarpone, Greek yoghurt and icing sugar which worked well, but I thought that this original recipe was a little bit unusual and worth sharing with you.

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4.

- Grease and line a 16cm cake tin and a 1lb loaf tine (the loaf tin needs to be at least 6cm deep so that the hearts can fit). 

- In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I have recently become the proud owner of a Swan kitchen mixer, so I’ve been using this to get the desired result much quicker!

- And the eggs one by one, beating well in between each one.

- Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in until you have a smooth cake batter.

- In a small bowl crush 25g raspberries with the back of a fork. 

- Put 200g of the cake mix into a separate mixing bowl and add in the crushed raspberries and food colouring, mix it all together until you have a your red/pink cake batter (add a little more food colouring for a stronger colour).

- Meanwhile ensure the remaining cake batter is covered with cling film and set to one side.

- Pour the pink cake batter into the 16cm cake tin and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. 

- Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before using a 3cm heart cutter to stamp out 10 hearts (you could use a different shape if you’d prefer, or carefully use a knife and cut them free hand ensuring that they’re all the same size). Don't chuck away the scrap cake pieces at this step, they make a lovely snack - they taste incredible!

- The original recipe didn’t include this step, but I then put the cake hearts in the freezer for 20 minutes to prevent them drying out too much when back in the oven.

- Spoon 5 tablespoons of the cake batter into the bottom of the loaf tins, place the 10 hearts on top facing upright so that they are all touching each other (see the picture below if you’re unsure). Then carefully spoon the remaining cake batter around and on top of the hearts. Try to get the batter to go in between the hearts and the baking paper at either end of the tin. This way no one will no the hearts are there until they cut into it.

- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes until risen and golden brown on top.

- Cool for 10 minutes in the tin then remove and leave to cool completely.

- In a mixing bowl crush another 25g raspberries with the back of a fork. Add in the mascarpone and Greek yoghurt, then sift in the icing sugar and mix until smooth. Spread this over the cake. Top with the remaining raspberries and a final sprinkle of icing sugar and enjoy!

Keep your eyes peeled for some new blog posts in 2018!