surprise heart cupcakes!

i love a challenge :)

and well, cooking is a challenge for me.

you might not know that if you just started reading this blog,

but let me assure you, if you knew me in person you

would realize that i am stretching myself by even having

this blog about my adventures in the kitchen (among other things).

however, i do love to try new recipes and think outside of the box.

so, you can only imagine that when i saw a picture of this

fantastic creation by bake it in a cake, i had to try it for myself.

so, the experiment went as follows...

directions

1. make white cupcake batter (with egg whites to keep the color pure)

(i used a box from the store!)

2. pour 1/3 of the batter into a small bowl.

mix with red food coloring until you reach a desired shade of pink

3. pour pink batter into a greased baking tray - depth should be about a half inch.

(a smaller one would have worked better, but this is the only one i had clean!)

(yes, my dishwasher is always full of half my baking supplies at any given time!)

4. bake until the cake is just done & easy to handle

(timing will vary, just check every 5 minutes)

5. let the cake cool
(you can pop it in the fridge if you're in a rush)

6. use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out shapes

(be sure they are small enough to fit inside a baked cupcake!)
i used two different sizes to see which worked best.

7. now it's time to fill your cupcakes!

put a small dollop into the bottom of each cupcake paper

stand up a little heart in the paper cup one by one,
and fill with filling on either side as well as on top.

(tip: be sure to align all your hearts in one direction so
you know where to cut them in half when they're done!)

8. put cupcakes in the oven and cook the full amount based on your recipe.

9. remove and cool.

10. now the fun part.... :)

cut them in half and find your surprise heart!

tip: when you frost these cupcakes be sure to note
the middle line, or serve them as half cupcakes!

idea: i've heard of multiple people revealing the sex of their babies

by surprising their families with cupcakes like these...
pink on the inside means they're having a girl, blue, a boy!

happy early valentine's day! <3