Eat Your Heart Out
I made a silly/macabre heart cake for Valentine's Day this year! I knew I would have my sculpting class on the evening of the 14th, so I wanted to bring along a treat... and I love any excuse to play around with a fun cake and try out some new techniques.
I was pretty busy before making the cake, so I did go the lazy route this time with store-bought stuff for most of the materials. It's a red velvet cake with a vanilla-raspberry middle layer (I just mixed some raspberry jam in with the frosting), and a basic vanilla frosting outside. The heart is a Rice Krispy Treat shaped base, wrapped in pink fondant. I made some of the fondant a touch darker and used a model heart I have as a reference to make it look anatomically correct-ish. The blood is seedless raspberry jam mixed with red food dye and some water.
I also got to use my brand new rotating cake stand that my parents got me for my birthday. And while my original idea for the cake included some black roses around the outside, I like the more simple final result. It was a relatively quick build, too. On Monday I baked, leveled, and crumb-coated the cake and made the Rice Krispy Treats. On Tuesday I iced the cake, covered and molded the heart, made the blood, and assembled everything.
I ended up making an extra heart and a mini layer cake from the leftover red velvet.
I'm pleased with the result and my class really enjoyed it! I was also really encouraged by friends commenting on the pictures I shared, saying it was "bloody amazing" and so forth, lol. Anyway, I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's this year. I like to think of Valentine's Day as just a reminder to celebrate the love in your life... in all its forms. I've never considered the day for romantic love only. Hug your family, hug your friends, hug your loves - connection is so important!
Taking a big bite of the heart in class... and a photo that was too obvious to not capture. :)
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3