Red Velvet Mini Heart Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello Everybody!
Today's blog post is for these adorable red velvet mini heart cakes with cream cheese frosting in the middle.
I used a recipe for red velvet cupcakes from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook' but instead of making traditional cupcakes I used a silicone heart-shaped mould to make twelve hearts. I then levelled these hearts to make six red velvet heart  sandwiches. This is a great recipe to make any time you fancy but I also think that it would be particularly nice around Valentine's Day.

These cakes were the result of some trial and error as the first time I made them they were quite disastrous.
First attempt: I overfilled the mould which resulted in extremely lumpy-topped hearts (tasted good but weren't too visually pleasing). They also didn't pop out of the mould as easily as I would have expected. This was probably due to the fact that I didn't grease/ line the mould. The reason for this was that I never normally grease any of my silicone bakeware but the baked goods always manage to pop right out. Therefore I was a bit disappointed as half of my cakes ended up stuck to the bottom of the mould :( If you decide to purchase this mould I recommend that you grease it with some butter or nonstick spray to try and save your cakes.
Second attempt: I didn't overfill the mould and remembered to grease it, which resulted in the cakes you will see below.

To Begin...

The equipment needed for the red velvet cakes; KitchenAid (or whatever mixer you own), measuring spoons, weighing scales, a silicone heart mould, a second bowl and a spoon.

The ingredients needed for the red velvet cakes; butter, sugar, an egg (not pictured), cocoa powder, red food colouring, vanilla extract, buttermilk, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

Pictured below are the different stages of the mixture:

I would like to point out that I'm aware the mixture looks quite off-putting and ketchup like but I can assure you that the finished cakes are very appetising.

For the red food colouring I used 'ProGel' in the shade Poppy. This brand is my go-to when colouring buttercream icing and mixtures as it provides a very pigmented colour which is perfect for baking.

Next up was making the cream cheese frosting...

  

The equipment needed for the cream cheese frosting; KitchenAid (or again whatever mixer you own), weighing sclaes and a spoon.

The frosting only requires three ingredients and is very easy to make.

 

The ingredients needed for the cream cheese frosting; icing sugar, butter and cream cheese.

Because I made these mini cakes before I knew the quantities specified in the recipe of the frosting would be too much. To solve this little problem, I divided the quantities by four. This meant that I only required:

• 75g icing sugar
• 12g of butter
• 31g of cream cheese

These new quantities made the perfect amount of frosting for the six cakes! 

Here are the finished cakes:

From the side of the cakes you can see a bit of the cream cheese frosting poking out which I think makes them look even tastier:

Here's what the cakes look like once you've cut them down the middle:

TT's Review*: The red velvet cakes were airy, moist and consisent throughout. Throughly enjoyed them. 

Thank you so much for reading my second blog post and I'll see you all again soon! 

*Taste Tester :)