Name: Mini Heart Chocolate Cake-Valentines Day Cake ideas
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: All purpose flour...1.5 cups or 180g; Baking powder...1.5 tsp or 6g; Salt...1 tsp.; Cocoa powder...1/3 cup or 35g; Granulated sugar...1/2 cup or 100g; Dark brown sugar...2 tbsp. or 28g; Cooking oil (neutral oil like Canola)...1/2 cup or 125 ml; Coffee powder...1 tsp.; Vanilla extract...1 tsp.; Milk...1 cup or 240ml; White vinegar...1 tbsp; Baking soda...1/2 tsp or 3g; Heavy whipping cream...3/4 cup or 180ml; Vanilla extract...1 tsp.; Powdered confectioners sugar...1/4 cup or 25g; Heavy whipping cream...1/4 cup or 60 ml; Milk chocolate morsels...1/2 cup or 80g; From any chocolate bar of your choice

Instructions

Making the chocolate sponge cake

Preheat your oven to 350 deg. F or 180 deg. C

Combine the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl. Mix and set it aside
Add 1 tbsp. of white vinegar to the milk (lukewarm) and set it aside to slightly curdle.
Add cooking oil in a big bowl, add granulated sugar, dark brown sugar coffee powder and vanilla extract

Whisk everything well and set that aside
The milk should have slightly curdled by now. if it hasn’t curdled, add a little more vinegar to it.
Add baking soda into the milk and mix well.

The milk should immediately start to turn frothy if it doesn’t then you’re baking soda is probably too old and you should get fresh baking soda
Pour the milk into the bowl and whisk vigorously till all the sugar dissolves
The baking soda reacts with brown sugar and releases more carbon dioxide

The more you whisk, more the bubbles and more the bubbles, more airy your cake will be
Now sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Sifting also makes the cake airy.
Gently fold the dry ingredients in

Make sure to use the “cut and fold method” to mix in the ingredients. Using this method the dry ingredients are “just combined” with the wet ingredients and there’s no over mixing
After all the dry ingredients are mixed in whisk really briefly to break up any clamps that may have formed. Do not over whisk. Follow all these tips and you’ll find your cake turns out to be so soft and airy
Now pour the cake batter onto the sheet pan

Tilt the pan in all directions so the batter fills the sheet pan completely
Use your spatula to even out the surface of the batter
To get rid of any air bubbles use a chopstick or a toothpick and just swirl it around in the cake. But make sure not to rip the parchment paper!

Bake the cake in your preheated oven for 17 to 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean Let the cake cool down completely! You can cool it in the refrigerator as well
Use a cookie cutter to cut little heart-shapes
This cake is really soft you have to be gentle when you take it out of the cookie cutter

Whipped cream

Take heavy whipping cream, powdered confectioners sugar and vanilla extract in a big bowl
Start whipping at slow speed for around 30 seconds or so then slowly switch to medium high speed and whip for another one to two minutes until stiff peaks form
Fill a piping bag with whipped cream

Pipe 2 layers of cream onto the chocolate heart sponge cake
Cover the cream with shavings of your favorite chocolate bar. I’m used a Hershey’s bar
Add the second layer of the chocolate cake and set that aside