Valentine chocolate cake

Love and devotion should be singular, but where this cake is concerned, the more love the better.

This cake is an appropriate to " Love thy neighbour ", so here I am ! The first cake is for hubby, the other for my only neighbour. The romance is thrown out of the window, when I commanded hubby to cut out a stencil of the words to be powder-sugared on the cake, simply because I can't handle anything beyond a square. Poor suffering man! Though it is intended for my recipe blog, I hope he is pleased to get his first Valentine cake baked by me in our 20 years of marriage.

Cake base is adapted from : www.marthastewart.com/recipe/red-velvet-chocolate-cake

2 small heart shaped cakes :

Unsalted butter, for 2 small heart shaped cake pans

1 cups cake flour, not self-rising

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cups canola oil

1 large egg

4 tablespoons  red food coloring

1/2 pod of vanilla seeds

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon white vinegar

Chocolate frosting

Stencil

Powdered sugar

Directions

Chocolate frosting :

Melt a bar of baking chocolate over a water bath. Add a little cream and stir in. set aside.

Cake :

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Butter two small heart shaped cake pans. Sprinkle with flour, and tap out the excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk cake flour, salt, and cocoa; set aside.

Whisk  the sugar and oil until well combined. Add egg and  beat. Add food coloring and vanilla, and mix until well combined. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk .

In a small bowl, mix baking soda and vinegar until combined. Add to batter, and beat for 10 seconds. Evenly divide batter between the baking pans.

Bake cake for  about  29 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Level off the cake with a long knife. Remove cakes from the pans, and return to the rack to cool completely.

Add chocolate frosting on the top of the cake, place stencil lightly over the frosting and dust with powdered sugar. Happy Valentine's Day!

This recipe is submitted to  Aspiring Bakers #4: Love In The Air (Feb 2011)  hosted by Ellena of Cuisine Paradise