The secret Martha Stewart in me gets so excited for holidays! I love any and every excuse to go a little OCD domestic on some cupcakes. If I had all the time and piping bags in the world, plus a magic pill that negated every cookie I ate…I would be finagling corny baked goods for every holiday on the calendar – Casimir Pulaski to Garbage Day.
Needless to say I couldn’t help myself for Valentine’s Day…! And I so wish that I could take credit for the adorable design, but I found the idea on Glorious Treats while I was googling new ideas for this monthly recipe board I do for a doctor’s office. These are so simple to make, but look like you’ve spent hours. Not that any less love was baked into them! Probably more love…the proportion of frustration to love in my cupcakes goes up with every extra bowl to clean… :) Fact.
So if you’re looking for a cute dessert to make for your sweetie, kid’s 4th grade classroom, or best friend, these adorable little cupcakes cover all the bases! I posted a scratch cupcake recipe but you can definitely use a boxed mix to cut down on time. I’ll be posting another Valentine’s Day inspired treat on Monday so get ready for some full on chocolate loving until the 14th!
Happy Baking!
Chocolate Heart Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 box Chocolate Cake Mix OR make your own lower cal cupcake:
For the Chocolate Cupcake:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup egg substitute
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plain soy yogurt
For the Pink Vanilla Frosting
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons skim milk
- 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Soft Pink food coloring (check your local hobby store)
1 1-inch heart cookie cutter
Extra powdered sugar for dusting
Preparation:
- For the Cupcakes – Preheat oven to 350°.
- Beat first 4 ingredients in a large bowl at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes).
- Whisk together flour and next 5 ingredients (through 1/4 teaspoon salt) until combined. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with soy yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition just until blended.
- Place 16 paper muffin cup liners in muffin cups; spoon about 2 1/2 tablespoons batter into each cup. Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out with moist crumbs attached (do not overbake). Remove cupcakes from pans; cool on a wire rack.
- For the Frosting – Combine sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Carefully add pink food coloring, a couple drops at time, mixing until the color is evenly distributed, until desired color of pink.
- Assemble the Cupcakes – Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the ops off each cupcake; do not peel the wrapper down,slice above the cupcake liner. Take your heart cookie cutter and cut out a heart in the middle of each cupcake top. Set aside heart cutouts, these are extra to eat or decorate cupcakes! :) Smooth about 1 tbs. frosting over the bottom of each cupcake. Replace the cupcake top back over the frosted bottom so you have a pretty heart window over the pink frosting. Dust with powdered sugar.
OR
Here’s a chocolate cupcake recipe that I am OBSESSED with! Super moist, light, and rich. These are not lower cal like the recipe above but totally worth the splurge!! Yes… they have mayonnaise in the ingredient list. And Yes… they are amazing. Found this recipe in the new Baked cookbook, Elements.
Chocolate Cupcakes
Yields 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s Special Dark )
- 1 3/4 cup boiling water
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/3 cup reduced fat mayonnaise
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line 2 12-cup cupcake pans with paper liners.
- Stir together chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until smooth.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder in another medium bowl.
- In a large bowl, beat both sugars and mayo together until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat again.
- Add flour mixture to sugar mixture in three parts, alternating with the chocolate mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes in pan before removing. Cool completely before frosting.
(How I used my extra heart cutouts :)
These are too adorable! Love the heart centers with frosting..
So pretty! The dusting of powdered sugar reminds me of a fun, snowy day.
SOOOOO CUTE!! You’re a doll!!
These cupcakes are so festive, and I love pink heart cutouts. Pinning
OMG, these cupcakes are the cutest things EVER! Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday so I love anything with cute red or pink hearts and chocolate :)
These are adorable. You gotta do it up for Valentine’s Day.
These look ADORABLE! I wish I had some creative Martha Stewart in me!
so cute…
So cute, and so simple! Love it!
These cupcakes are so super adorable! And they look so professional. My baked goods never turn out so well. Great job.
Dear Kristina,
I love you. Please be my Valentine. You make the cutest yummiest chocolate heart cupcakes.
Best,
Kayle
What a smart way to use the leftover heart cut-outs!! they look adorable atop those cupcakes. And the cut-outs look out of this world impressive :D YUM
These are so cute Kristina!! Love the cut-out version and the idea of a lower-calorie cupcake!
Such a cute idea. I totally get inspired by Martha for the corny holidays, for example today I just dropped 30 bucks on Valentine’s Day cut-outs and paper at Michaels. Damn you Martha!!!! I hope my friends appreciate the homamde crafts they are getting in the mail. If only shipping food was cheaper, I would pack a batch of these babies up for sure!
These are so cute and perfect for Valentines Day :D
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This is a adorable and sweet idea.
Happy valentine.
Regards
Olguis.
Those are so adorable and eye catching. I’ve never seen such a cleaver cupcake!
Very cute! Was trying to decide what to bake for Valentine’s day, so thanks for the ideas!
These are so cute! I love holidays too. Valentine’s Day has is definitely in the top 5.
I LOVE these! Totally stealing this idea for next year. :)
haha do it! The best part was getting to eat all the extra heart cut outs… :)