Chocolate fondant heart cakes with gooey melting centers and a chocolate ganache coating.
Treat your valentine with these heart-shaped molten chocolate cakes. The batter and ganache are a mix of red-tinted white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate for festive color.
This recipe makes five 4-ounce heart-shaped cakes. They can also be made in a cupcake pan. The recipe will make 8-9, 2.5 ounce cupcakes.
The cakes can be served straight out of the oven or baked, coated, and reheated. They can also be baked as needed. Fill the greased pans with batter, cover, and refrigerate. The batter will stay fresh for up to five days. When you are ready to serve the cakes, preheat the oven and bake off as many as you need. The bake time may need to be increased due to being refrigerated.
The cakes get baked for 10-12 minutes and will appear undercooked. Cook for 10 minutes if you plan on reheating them and 12 minutes if you plan on serving right away. They are done when the edges of the cake rise and are fluffy, but the center is still gooey.
Coat the cakes with ganache by placing the cooled cakes on a sheet pan with a rack. Spoon over the warm chocolate to evenly coat the cakes. Gently tap the sheet pan on a counter to smooth out any rough edges. I like to keep a double boiler heated during this process in case the ganache starts to seize. If the chocolate hardens too quickly on the cakes, it can be smoothed out with a culinary torch. Keep the torch on low and moving to avoid burning the coating.
After the cakes are baked and coated, garnish them with piped white chocolate or chocolate curls. If you prefer not to coat them with ganache, dust the cakes with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream.
Melting Heart Cakes
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 ounces white chocolate
- 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 4 ounces butter 1/2 stick
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs
- 4 ounces sugar 1/2 cup
- 2 1/2 ounces flour 1/2 cup
- 1/8 tsp red no taste gel food color
Ganache
- 4 ounces white chocolate plus 1 oz for garnish
- 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1/4 tsp red no taste gel food coloring
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 5, 4-ounce cake pans. Combine the chocolate in a small bowl with butter. Heat a small pot with water over low heat. Place the bowl on top of the pot and melt the chocolate.
- Whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar together. Pour in the chocolate mixture, food color, and flour and mix until smooth. Fill the cake pans and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cake should be undercooked in the middle. Cool and remove from pans. Coat with ganache. Heat the cake in the microwave for 30 seconds and serve.
Ganache
- Combine the chocolates and cream in a bowl. Place over a double boiler. Melt until smooth and add the food coloring. Pour the ganache over the cakes. Melt 1 oz of white chocolate over a double boiler and fill a piping bag. Decorate the cakes with white chocolate.
