Valentine’s Day Ombre Heart Cake

You can make this Valentine’s Day Cake featuring an ombre heart design with these few easy tips. This is an easy homemade chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. 

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I pictured this cake in my head and it actually came out just the way I wanted it too. I haven’t always been the best when it comes to cake decorating, but I’ve practiced a ton! I love the ombre red and pink hearts, the decadent chocolate cake and of course the heart shaped sprinkles on top.

You can make this cake too! Even if you’re not someone who feels comfortable baking from scratch or even decorating cakes, I am here with LOAD OF TIPs, plus the actual cake recipe is very easy to make. 

One of my goals for this year was to try more cakes because I consider cakes to be a bit challenging for me. Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it! Since I originally posted this cake, I’ve made lots and lot of cake recipes, but each time it can still be a challenge to try different decorating techniques.

Easy Cake Recipes

Whether you love chocolate or vanilla cakes, either option works perfectly for this Valentines day cake. 

For this cake, I used my chocolate cake. This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It can be made as cupcakes, a 9×13 inch cake or as an 8-inch three layer cake like you see here. If you prefer a vanilla cake, then I’d recommend my Moist Vanilla Layer Cake Recipe. 

Both recipes are super easy to make. Each recipe an oil-based cake, so there’s no need to cream together the butter and sugar. It takes about 10 minutes from start to finish to prepare the cake batter. 

The best vanilla frosting

The frosting for this cake is my Perfect Vanilla Frosting. It is an all-butter frosting that is whipped to perfection. If you’re hesitant about frosting, don’t worry! Just reference my post about how to make buttercream. It’s packed with tips and tricks.

Between frosting and decorating this cake, you’ll need a lot of frosting. I made two small batches of it, but in the recipe card, I listed the total amount needed. It sounds like a heck of a lot of ingredients, and you’re right.

My number one rule when it comes to making cakes and cupcake is that you never want to run out of frosting. You will have extra frosting with this cake. So afterwards, you might be inspired to make a batch of cookies or cupcakes just so you can use it up. 

You can also save your leftover buttercream! Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator or one week or in the freezer for longer. 

Frosting the cake

The first layer of frosting is a crumb coat and the filling for each layer. If you’re not super comfortable making layer cakes, follow these next few simple tips.

• To fill the layers, I placed the frosting in a piping bag and used a large round open tip. You can use a Wilton Tip #12 Round or something larger.
• Pipe from the outside edge in a single layer of frosting. Gently smooth over with an Angled Icing Spatula. Place the next layer of cake and repeat.
• Once your layers are built, add the crumb coat. This will be a thin layer of frosting, enough to cover the edges and fill in the cracks.
• Simply drop a spatula’s worth of frosting and spread across the top and down the edges. You can use your filled piping bag to add additional frosting to some of the cracks in between the layers or at the bottom edge.
• Refrigerate the cake for 5 minutes until the crumb coat is firmed up.

Then it’s time to add the final layer of frosting. I have NEVER built a cake with edges as smooth as this cake. There are a few essential tools you will need that will change your world.

Tools for frosting a smooth cake

• These are helpful tools but certainly not required: Cake Icer, Icing Smoother, a Fondant Smoother 
• Viva paper towels. I first heard about the Viva paper towel trick years ago in my cake decorating classes. They really do the trick! 
• With the oversized cake icer, you will also need an 18-inch piping bags.
• It is extremely helpful is you have a turntable that you can spin as you ice the cake. The higher the better. I have one very tall, heavy duty metal turntable and also a smaller one as well. This Cake Turntable  should work just fine for you.

For how to get those nice smooth edges, I used this tutorial for frosting a smooth cake from my bestie Lindsay. I can’t even begin to try and explain it all. But it worked! She is like my cake spirit animal. I called her as soon as I was done and was all, “can you believe I did this?”

Once the cake is iced, pop it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes so the edges are slightly firmed. This will help ensure that when you’re piping the hearts, you don’t accidentally dig into the sides of your cake. Now it’s time to prepare to add the hearts.

Dying your frosting

You need to dye about ½ cup of frosting per color. It is more frosting than you need, but it makes it easier to hold the piping bag if it’s more full. I used my Wilton Color Right gels. With this set you can make dozens and dozens of colors using just 8 base colors. 

When dying colors, it is important to remember that you can always make a color darker, but you can’t really make it lighter. So start with just a small drop of dye.

• I started with the lightest pink by adding ¼ of a drop of pink gel.
• Then for the second color I used a larger drop of red
• For the third color, I used a combination of red and crimson

Decorating with ombre hearts

I had to practice making the hearts before adding them to my cake. First I practiced on a piece of parchment paper, and then I practiced on a glass, as if I was piping on the cake. I found it was very helpful to do this before actually applying it to my cake.

And if you need that frosting, you can just scrape it back into your piping bag so it doesn’t go to waste!

• To make the hearts, I used a  Wilton Tip #12 Round. It is nice if you have more than one so you don’t have to wash it out every time.
• If you have couplers  on your piping bags, then it’s super fast to switch your piping tip from bag to bag.
• Cut the plastic bag just about the first ring on your piping bag. The piping tip will actually fit over top of the bag, then screw on your cap. This is the best way I have found to prevent the frosting from blowing out of the bag.
• For more tips of how to use a piping bag, I have a whole tutorial for that too!
• If you don’t want to use couplers, then I recommend the two piping bag trick. Fit the #12 piping tip in one bag, and then drop in a separate bag filled with frosting. When you’re done, just pull your frosting bag out, clean your piping tip and drop the next one in.

Making the hearts

• I use a soft tape measure to measure the diameter of the cake and mark the bottom with a small dot, using a toothpick. I was able to make mine about 2” apart.
• Then I used a ruler and ever so gently imprinted a vertical line that will be used to keep the hearts straight as I applied them. You’ll hardly notice once you add the hearts, just be careful not to push in too deep.
• Start by making a tear drop shape. Squeeze the piping bag until it makes a circle and then slowly pull down as you ease the pressure and swiftly pull it away. Once you are ready to add to you cake, follow a few simple steps.

 

For the top, I used an Ateco Tip #846 – Closed Star Tip to make the stars on top and then garnished with some sprinkles. You could also use any of your leftover frosting from the hearts to pipe the boards along the top and bottom of your cake. I was just so proud of myself when I saw the finished piece! I know you can do it to!

More helpful tools for baking layer cakes:
Icing Smoother | Fondant Smoother | Cake Icer
Wilton Color Right | Ateco Tip #846 – Closed Star Tip
Wilton Tip #12 Round | 12-inch Piping Bags | 18-inch piping bags
Cake Turntable  | Angled Icing Spatula

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If you love no-bake recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, No-Bake Treats!

 

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