Mini Naked Chocolate Cake Hearts
These mini naked chocolate cake hearts are perfect for Valentine’s Day. Red wine chocolate cake with berry mascarpone filling & decorated with fondant hearts!
Show your loved ones you care by making these easy homemade desserts! If you have a heart-shaped cake tin, you could actually make one large cake. However, if you prefer small individual cakes then this is it.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner so I was thinking what dessert would be great to make for this special day. I didn’t want to bake anything complicated because Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday which means many of you will be working.
So this is what came to my mind. I made this red wine raspberry cake last year for my fiancé’s birthday and he loved it. It’s rich, moist and chocolatey with raspberry filling. Now making this cake is not difficult but it is a bit time consuming. So I figured why not make something using the same chocolate cake recipe but reducing the prep time.
And this is what I came up with: mini naked chocolate cake hearts with berry filling!
Naked chocolate cake recipe breakdown:
The cake: The recipe is pretty straightforward. All you need is a mixing bowl + wooden spoon.
Start off with dry ingredients and make sure you sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Now you may wonder why sifting the cocoa powder but some powders may contain lumps that could be hard to break.
You don’t want any lumps in your mix. Once you have all the ingredients in the bowl make sure to mix it until well combined. Now you can add wet ingredients – oil, milk and eggs. Mix. Pour in some of the wine, stir again pour some more, stir, etc… until you get a smooth batter.
Baking: I suggest dividing the batter equally in two 8 inches (20 centimeters) tins. This way it will take about 30 minutes to bake. If you only have one cake tin the baking time will increase to another 30 minutes. I used two round sandwich tins and they were perfect for it.
Don’t forget to line the cake tins with baking paper or grease with oil!
Making the filling: The filling is so easy to make. You will need a frying pan or saucepan. Throw in sugar + berries and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Let it cool down before pureeing this in a food processor. Now all you need to do is whisk the mascarpone and the berry mixture together to get mousse like filling. Keep it in the fridge until ready to use.
Tip: If you are really stuck for time make the filling only and serve it as a mousse in dessert cups! Your loved ones will love them!
Assembling hearts: Cut 4 hearts out of each cake. Spread the berry filling over 4 hearts. Cover with the remaining 4 cake hearts. Sprinkle generously with icing sugar. Cut 4 smaller hearts out of fondant and place each one on the top of the mini cake.
Tip: Leave the cut-offs for later (refrigerate them or freeze for later use) – they are great in so many recipes. I am making one more recipe where I am using them so stay tuned.
Homemade dessert recipes rock and they are always better than the shop-bought ones. Especially because you know what you put in, there are no preservatives and they are fresh. So guys, make someone happy by making these mini naked chocolate cake hearts this Valentine’s Day!
More Valentine’s Day dessert recipes:
- Chocolate-covered raspberries – Only 3-ingredients!
- Raspberry cheesecake – No-bake cake with fresh raspberries.
- Chocolate raspberry parfait
- Puff pastry hearts – Quick preparation and baking time!
- Mixed berry Charlotte cake is a great cake if you are looking for a cake with a wow factor.
- If you are after mini Valentine’s cake recipes then check out these chocolate caramel cups.
They are very easy to make. - If your loved ones are not into lemon curd then why not try these mini chocolate strawberry desserts?
- Luxurious peanut butter stuffed dates make the perfect gift for your friends or loved ones.
Mini Naked Chocolate Cake Hearts
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 6 ounces superfine sugar / caster sugar (165 grams)
- 5 ounces plain flour (140 grams)
- 1.2 ounces Dutch processed cocoa powder , see note 1 (35 grams)
- ½ cup sunflower oil (120 milliliters)
- ⅓ cup red wine (90 milliliters)
- ¼ cup milk (60 milliliters)
- 2 eggs (small)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder , see note 1
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Filling:
- 4.2 ounces mascarpone cheese (120 grams)
- 3 ounces frozen berries (90 grams)
- 1 ounce brown sugar (30 grams)
For Fondant Hearts:
- 2 ounces pink fondant (60 grams)
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar / icing sugar
Instructions
Cake:
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a large bowl. Add sugar & salt. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
- Pour in the oil, milk and add eggs. Using a wooden spoon, combine all the ingredients until you get a nice smooth batter. Pour in wine – a small amount at a time. After each addition, mix well. Line 2 round cake tins with baking paper (The tins should be 8 inches/20 centimeters wide).
- Pour in the mixture and place in a preheated oven. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit/180° Celsius for 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Cool completely. Trim off the top part if necessary.
Filling:
- In a frying pan (or saucepan) simmer berries with sugar for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.
- In a bowl whisk together mascarpone, icing sugar and cooled berry mix until smooth.
Fondant Hearts:
- Roll out the fondant and cut out 4 hearts that are smaller than the cake hearts.
Heart Assembling:
- Cut 4 hearts out of each cake. Take 4 of them and spread/pipe the filling over. Cover with another cake heart. Dust with icing sugar. Place a fondant heart on top and you are done!
Notes
- If using Dutch processed cocoa powder in this recipe use baking powder. If using natural unsweetened cocoa powder use baking soda.
Gorgeous little cakes! The perfect Valentine’s Day dessert. I would actually prepare these on a regular basis because they are so fun!
:) Thanks, Christine!
How utterly adorable are these?! I’ll have to make a batch to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my children. They’d love them!
If you do, let me know what you think! :)
What a gorgeous way to celebrate Valentine’s Day! I know the kid would love these hearts! Lovely!
:) Thanks a lot, Lisa!
How adorable are these little cakes? I’m loving that they can all be mine in less than an hour. And that mascarpone filling. .. so, so good.
Thanks Lynn! :) The filling is divine – I looove this one.
These look delicious and beautiful! I definitely plan on adding these to my Valentine’s Day spread!
Great! Hope you’ll like them. :)
These are soooo pretty!!!!!! Perfect for Valentine’s day, isn’t it? And thanks so much for the tips on reusing cake cut-offs. I hate food wastage! <3
Thank you so much, Tina! :) It’s a good way to use the cut-offs but another (better, faster, easier) way is to eat them right away :).
These hearts are so cute! I’m highly in favor of mini desserts you don’t have to share. :) And that red wine chocolate cake sounds like something I would love.
Thanks so much, Annemarie! I like your way of thinking haha.
What a clever idea – so simple, yet so beautiful! This is my kind of bake :-)
Thank you, Eb! Glad you like them!
Oh wow they are so cute! I love them, they not only look fantastic but sound so good!
Thank you! They taste divine. Hope you’ll try them one day! :)
These are super cute, Julia! Yum!!
Thank you so much, Felesha! :)
These look so pretty. A lovely idea.
Thank you, Jacqui! :)
Really it is perfect recipe. My sister has made it twice, it was fantastic!!!!