Hidden Heart Cake

As soon as I saw this recipe for a Peekaboo Pumpkin Pound Cake on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  I figured Valentine's Day would be the perfect time to try my own version with a hidden heart instead of a pumpkin.  For awhile there, I thought I'd have a big Pinterest Fail on my hands, but it ended up working out okay and the end result was cute enough to impress my kids for a special Valentine's dessert last night.  (Of course, anytime they get cake for dessert they are excited, but I thought this treat was particularly cool.)

I'll include a few tips to help you avoid a potential fail in this "do as I say, not as I did" post.

Check out this cute cake...

Isn't that cute?  Red velvet cake hearts that are revealed when you slice into a white cake.

Here's what you need:  (NOTE: I'm not a "from scratch" baker, so I used all box mixes and premade frostings, feel free to make your own if you'd like)

* box of white cake mix
* box of red velvet cake mix
* eggs, water, oil, etc. to make cakes
* loaf pan
* heart cookie cutters
* frosting (not pictured)







Here's what to do:

1.  Check the size of your heart cookie cutter and make sure it's small enough to fit into your pan.  (This was my first potential problem when I realized my cutter was too big and I had to run to Target to get a set with a smaller heart.)

2.  Bake your red velvet cakes in the loaf pan.  I made two of them because I had plenty of batter.  Allow your cakes to cool.  

NOTE:  After re-reading the initial recipe (after I was done), I realized they recommended refrigerating the cakes for a little while.  I think this will help the cake hold it's shape better when cut.

3.  Cut your cake into slices and then use the cookie cutter to cut out the heart shape.  

NOTE:  I think thicker slices held their shape better than the thinner ones I did in this photo.  Make your slices about the same thickness as the cookie cutter.

4.  Put a little bit of your white cake batter in the loaf pan, then arrange the heart slices down the center.  Pour the remaining batter along the sides and top of the row of hearts.

NOTE:  Here's where things got a little tricky and I thought the whole thing would be a fail.  Because I was trying to balance the hearts on their points (versus the wider base of the pumpkin in the inspiration recipe), they tended to tip over and the thinner slices started to split down the center.  Then, I had enough white cake batter to cover the hearts in one loaf pan but not the second.   Therefore, I'd definitely recommend making thicker slices of the red velvet and refrigerating them to firm them up.  I'd also either use two boxes of white cake mix or make only one hidden heart cake and use the extra batter to make a smaller cake.


However, I forged ahead and baked the lumpy, half-covered cakes and hoped for the best.

As you can see, they're lumpy because I didn't have quite enough white cake batter for two, but it was nothing a little frosting couldn't cover.

Make your slices with a sharp knife and check out the fun little heart in the middle...

With the changes I made above in the notes, I'd definitely do this again.  You could do all sorts of different variations with shapes and colors using different cookie cutters and/or food coloring.

Sharing our cute cake at:

Tatertots & Jello 
I heart Naptime 

Photo Valentine's Cards

We made similar Valentine's cards last year and they were a big hit with the kids.  This year, when I asked my three what they wanted to do for their classmates, they requested these same lollipop cards.  They're so cute and they're fairly quick and easy to make so I happily obliged.

Check them out...

And they're really quite simple to make.  I simply took a quick photo of each kid in front of a blank wall with their arm outstretched as if they were holding onto something.

Then I used PicMonkey.com  to crop the photo, add text and a frame.  If you've never tried PicMonkey, check it out.  It's really easy to use and all the features I used for these cards are free.  (Other features, additional fonts, etc. require a small membership fee)

Then I just inserted the image into a Word Document, put four on a page, and printed them out on cardstock.  I used an exacto knife to cut a small slit at the top and bottom of the kids' hands on the picture and inserted a lollipop stick.  Finally, I put a little piece of tape on the back of the card to hold the lollipop stick in place so it wouldn't slip out en route to school.

That's it!  Cute and easy enough to do last minute.

Colored Salt Hearts

Things have been very busy here at my house, so I haven't been posting nearly as much as I'd like.  That's why I'm thrilled to have a really neat guest poster here today to share a fun little craft that's just perfect for Valentine's Day.

I'm Tricia from Two Big Two Little, where I share crafts and activities that I do with my children. My kids range in age from 1 to 15, so we usually have a variety of end results to everything.   I'm very excited to be guest posting here at Come Together Kids today.
Quite a while ago I saw a pin on Pinterest for Coloured Salt Glitter. I thought it would be great to be able to make my own glitter. We love glitter around here, but I get frustrated when I end up cleaning more of it up than what gets used. I finally got around to trying it out. While it certainly didn't make glitter, it does make very pretty coloured salt. To make the coloured salt, put some salt in a ziploc bag, put in a few drops of food colouring or liquid water colours and mix well. Spread the salt evenly on a cookie sheet. I put it on some waxed paper to keep the colours separate.Then bake in the oven for about ten minutes at 350 degrees. You can also let it air dry. I think that as long as you used food colouring to colour the salt, the salt would still be edible. Wouldn't that make some neat looking food?

 


 I had bought a few salt shakers from the dollar store to hold the coloured salt. As I wasn't sure how this would turn out, I didn't make much of each colour.

I set these out for Sammie along with some glue and foam hearts.  I showed her how the salt would stick to the glue and make pretty pictures. She immediately tried it out for herself. She asked for a popsicle stick to help spread the glue all over the heart.

She started shaking salt like crazy all over her heart, using a bit of all of the colours.

I highly recommend doing this craft on a tray of some sort, so that any extra salt can be collected and reused or thrown out when your kids are done.

When the first one was all covered with salt, she started another one. For this one, she drew with the glue and then covered it with the salt.




She ended up making quite a few of these and Maddie ended up joining in to make a couple of them.

 We have found that these do not keep very well, as the salt will start to come off as the glue dries. It will also rub off if touched. So you might to warn your child before hand that this will not be a keeper craft. Be sure to take lots of pictures if they would like to be able to keep them. The girls really liked using the coloured salt to make this colourful hearts. I need to make more coloured salt now lol. I can also think of lots more ideas to use the coloured salt for. Watch for more posts to come on Two Big Two Little that will use the coloured salt :)



Tricia is a stay at home mom to 4 great kids, two big kids aged 15 & 13 and two little kids aged 4 and 1. She shares craft, activities and some DIY posts that she does mainly with her girls, one big and one little, although every once in a while the big and little boys join in on the fun :) Her blog is Two Big Two Little and you can also find her at her Facebook page, and Pinterest boards. She is also a newcomer to Twitter

Thanks so much for sharing, Tricia!  I'd seen the same idea on Pinterest and wasn't sure how it would turn out.  Thank you for giving it a test run and showing the fun your little ones had with the project.