How to Bake Hershey’s Valentine Cake

Makes: 2 cakes

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Hershey’s Valentine Cake:

• 1 package HERSHEY’S KISSES® Milk Chocolates
• 1 package HERSHEY’S HUGS® Chocolates
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY’S® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup butter
• 1 tsp shortening
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

For the frosting:

• 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tsp unflavoured gelatin
• 1 tbsp cold water
• 2 cups heavy cream

Cooking instructions for Hershey’s Valentine Cake:

• Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butter two 9’’ heart shaped cake pans and line them with wax paper.
• Peel off the wrappers from the 24 each of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses and chop them into ¼’’ chunks.
• Whisk the butter and sugars in a large bowl until they turn creamy and fluffy.
• Add a splash of vanilla and continue to whisk until well combined.
• Crack the eggs, one at a time, while beating them well after every addition until properly incorporated into the mixture.
• Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl and fold in the mixture gradually into the whisked butter-egg mixture, alternating with milk, while stirring the batter constantly until they blend together to form a uniform, smooth batter.
• Stir in the chocolate chunks until they are distributed evenly throughout the batter and divide it into the prepared pans.
• Bake the cakes in the oven for about half an hour or until they are baked through.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes before demoulding them and cooling them down to room temperature.
• Place the chocolate chips in a small microwave –proof bowl, along with the shortening and cook in the microwave oven for a minute at high, until the chocolate melts; don’t overcook.
• Remove from oven and give it a good stir.
• Cut out a 5’’ heart shape on a paper and place a wax paper on top of it.
• Pour the melted chocolate into a pastry bag and pipe it onto the paper-heart; leave in the fridge to set.
• To make the frosting, stir gelatin in cold water and set aside for few minute or until it softens.
• Stir in the boiling water until the gelatin dissolves and set aside.
• Whip the heavy cream, along with the icing sugar until the mixture forms firm peaks and beat in the gelatin mixture.
• Continue to whisk the mixture until well combined and it thickens.
• Spread the frost across the surface and sides of the cake and spoon 1 cup of it into a pastry bag, fitted with a star nozzle.
• Pipe out rosettes onto the cake and decorate with rest of the Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses.
• Peel off the wax paper from the chocolate heart and place it at the middle of the cake.
• Serve chilled.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons