Sometimes, when the st. Valentine’s Day is close and I see all those hearts, chocolate pralines and pink things around I feel like making a little fun of it. And sometimes I see it through and do something “different”. Last year’s also very bloody Valentine cake was a great success in that department and this year’s cake isn’t going to be any different!

The cake has a tiny immitation of the human heart with pieces of broken glass around it. Everything is soaked in blood, of course. The base of the cake is a plain biscuit with vanilla buttercream, the heart is chocolate and the glass is made from sugar and syrup. And when you cut the cake, your guests will be awed (or disgusted) but a bloody surprise inside:

What do you say, shall we begin?

Table of Contents

Supplies for the Bloody Valentine Cake

cup = 250 ml/8,5 oz

Biscuit

1/2 cup of powder sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of oil
pinch of salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp of white yoghurt
2 cake molds, diameter 10-12 cm/4-4,7 in (one just one used repeatedly)
round cookie cutter, diameter 5 cm/2 in

Buttercream

125 g/4,4 oz of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of powder sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
electrical whisk

Filling and blood

300 g/10,6 oz of strawberry marmelade

Modelling chocolate

50 g/1,8 oz of white chocolate
10 g/0,4 oz of rice syrup
red gel food colorant

Candy glass

1 cup of sugar (not powder)
1/4 cup of rice or corn syrup
1/4 cup of water
candy thermometer
baking parchment

How to make the Bloody Valentine Cake

If you have the time and space, make the modelling chocolate and candy glass a day before. And if you want, also the biscuit. The tutorials to all the parts of this cake are on my blog and I link to them in this tutorial.

Candy Glass

Use the given ingredients to make the candy glass with this tutorial. Break it into pieces of different size.

Modelling Chocolate

Make the modelling chocolate with this tutorial using the ingredients above. Let the chocolate cool down, wrap it and let it rest at least for one hour.

Bake the Biscuit

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the whites until you have a solid snow. Whisk the yolks with sugar, then add oil and little by little the baking powder and flour. In the end add vanilla extract and yoghurt and slowly incorporate the snow.

Grease the cake molds, divide the batter into them equally and bake for 25 minutes in an oven preheated to 160 °C/320 °F.

When the biscuit is baked golden, take it out of the oven, let it cool down and take out of the mold.

Cut off the top to make it leveled.

Cut each biscuit horizontally to obtain four pieces in total.

Using the cookie cutter cut out circles from two cake pieces. Save the cutouts for later.

Buttercream

Use this recipe to make perfect fluffy buttercream with the ingredients mentioned above. Set two teaspoons of buttercream aside.

Assembly and Filling

Stir the strawberry marmelade with a fork and if there are big chunks of strawberries, mix it with a blender.

Place one uncut biscuit on a place and smear it with te buttercream.

Place another piece with cut out circle on it and smear its edges with the buttercream.

Add the other cut out piece and smear it. Fill the cake with the marmelade.

Place the remaining (uncut) piece on top to cover the cake.

Cover te whole cak in buttercream and let it rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Heart

The tiny heart on the top of the bloody valentine cake is made from biscuit crumbs and buttercream and it’s covered with modelling chocolate. If you want to see in detail how I make the hearts and its parts, read my Human Heart Cake tutorial. I am going to describe it only roughly here.