Hidden heart red velvet cake recipe

The red velvet cake has become a national obsession, gracing cake parlours and high-street coffee shops up and down the country. Its fluffy chocolate undertones and cream-cheese tang is a flavour that stole the hearts of American confectionists, and we have to admit, we've been completely converted too.

Hidden heart red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting
How to make the Madeira cake hidden hearts
* Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3.
* Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, with a tablespoon of the flour for each. Then gently mix in the rest of the flour.
* Bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.
* Slice the loaf into 12 equal size portions, around 1 .5 inches thick
* Using a 7cm heart cutter, cut out your hearts using the middle of the slice (see below) and place on a plate. Then put the hearts in the fridge to cool.

How to make the red velvet cake
* Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan oven)/gas mark 6
* Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually. Then the food colouring and beat everything until incorporated.
* Sift together the flour and cocoa then add half to the batter. Beat in the buttermilk and finally add the second half of the flour mixture.
* In a ramekin, mix together the bicarbonate of soda and the vinegar, which will fizz as you add them together. Add to your mixture immediately, folding everything in with a spatula.
* Add 1/3 of the batter to the bundt cake tin, then place the vanilla hearts, upside down (remember you'll be turning the cake out, so the point of the heart should be poking up), securely in the batter. Arrange these in a fan shape around the centre point and be careful not to break the vanilla hearts when pushing into the batter.
* Carefully place the remaining red velvet cake batter around the vanilla hearts, taking care not to do not move them.
* Place in the oven, on a medium shelf, and cook for 40 minutes, or until well risen. Once cooked turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
* Whilst the cake is cooling make the cream cheese frosting.

How to make cream cheese frosting
* Beat the butter on its own for 4-5 minutes, then add the cream cheese and beat for another 2 minutes.
* Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes until smooth and evenly incorporated. You can add up to 50-100g of extra icing sugar if you require the frosting to be firmer.
* Once the cake has cooled spread the cream cheese frosting over it with a palette knife.

Don't forget to slice the cake in front of your friends or your sweetheart and shh... don't tell them how you made a heart appear inside the cake!