Celebrating Valentine’s Day with a loved one, or at least someone you like a lot, is a time honored tradition. This page will show you how to make a heart cake even if you don’t have a heart shaped pan.

If you are putting most of the preparations for dinner into the meal itself, you do still want to present an eye-catching dessert. There are many desserts specifically for Valentine’s Day that do not take much time to create at all. For this page, the look of a heart shaped cake will be really appealing to your dinner guest, spouse or significant other. The cake can be made and decorated up to a day or two ahead of time as well, which will leave you time to focus on the Valentine’s meal on the 14th.

There are several ways to go about pulling this dessert together. The following steps will explain a few variations on the dessert. You will need a few simple ingredients to bring this all together. A heart shaped pan would be an easy solution to creating a heart shaped cake. However, not everyone wants to go out and spend $10 or $15 on a cake pan that will be used only once a year. Most everyone, though, has a rectangular baking pan and a round baking pan. If you don’t have one, check with friends or relatives. Let’s get started.

The first thing you will need for this cake is a cake mix. You can easily use any boxed mix out there. Name brand cake mixes taste pretty much the same as the off brand ones. Box mixes are also beneficial if you like different flavored cakes. The infinite variety of box mixes make them another desirable choice. Most people cannot tell the difference between a box cake mix and a homemade one. A red velvet cake mix might be a good choice for this dessert.

You should only need one box mix in your choice of flavor or created enough of a simple cake recipe of your choosing to be able to fill one square cake mix pan and one round cake pan. After making the batter and splitting the batter between the two pans, follow the directions and cook the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Then, you must let the cakes cool for at least 15 minutes or until room temperature. If you do not let the cakes cool and you attempt to put the icing on them, the icing will melt.

One handy tip to keeping the cakes level, besides using some type of cake leveler after they are baked, is to use bake even strips.http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30D620-475A-BAC0-592117323818A1AA&killnav=1 The strips are oven safe cloth-type strips that wrap around the outside of a pan. Their purpose is to allow even heating and prevent the cake from rising in the middle, creating that bump that must be leveled off. The strips must be soaked in water prior to affixing them around the cake pan. These are not necessary but do provide a nice even cake on which to decorate.

To cool the cakes faster, place them on a cooling rack. Once you have the cooled rectangular cake and round cake, you should place them on a piece of cardboard covered in tin foil. Make the cardboard the same shape as the cake. While baking stores do sell these in squares or circles, you can easily make your own cardboard cake place mat using any piece of heavy corrugated cardboard. Use the pan dimensions as guides and cut out your own heart shaped cardboard. Putting the cake on this will make it easier for you to decorate.

1. Place the rectangular cake so that it looks like a diamond shape. If you have cut the cardboard to the correct size, then you can easily line up the cake with the cardboard form.
2. Cut the round cake in half
3. Place each half of the cut round cake against the edges of the rectangular cake http://baking.about.com/od/hintsandtips/ss/heartcake_3.htm
4. Make sure that all the edges fit together nicely or you may have to do some cake trimming. If you have to trim the round cakes a bit, be sure to trim the cake from the bottom and not the top so you don’t mess up the visible part
5. Frost the cake. Once the cake is frosted, you will not be able to tell that the pieces have been put together like a puzzle. Enough frosting and even the worst of cake mishaps can be corrected.

There are many other ways to add simple finishing touches to the dessert part of the dinner or to the day overall. Appealing to all of the senses will make it a date to remember.

1. Sound: Create a CD with romantic songs or any songs that you two like. Play the music softly in the background so that you can talk to each other without shouting.
2. Sight: Add some fresh flowers and candle light to the dinner table to set the mood. If you have a dimmer switch on the light, that might help too. However, most people like to at least see what they are eating as well.
3. Scent: Putting on his or her favorite scent (lightly) or maybe lighting some candles throughout the place will appeal to the sense of smell. Our sense of smell plays an important part of overall our well-being and can influence our mood.http://www.senseofsmell.org/funfacts_main.php
4. Sight: Gather together some pictures of the two of you to have around and reminisce over throughout the course of the night or save them for after dinner
5. Touch: Prior to the evening, maybe the day before or just earlier in the day, send your significant other a love note or note that expresses your appreciate of the person.

Even if your cake does not come out as perfectly as you may see in pictures, the intent is what matters most. A store bought dessert just doesn’t make the same statement that a cake cooked and decorated by you makes.