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| Ⓒ Provided by BBC Good Food |
From BBC Good Food
Slice into this delicious loaf cake and reveal the secret heart design running through the middle - a really romantic bake!
Prep Time: 50 mins
Cook Time: 2 hrs. and 20 mins
plus cooling
Yields: 8-10 slices
More Recipe: Spiced Pomegranate-Pear Cake Recipes
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 x 175g unsalted butter, softened
- 2 x 175g golden caster sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 x 140g self-raising flour, sifted
- 2 x ½ tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 2 x 85g ground almond
- 2 x 100ml milk
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 28ml bottle red food coloring or ½ tsp red food coloring gel
For the icing
- 100ml double cream
- 200g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 50g unsalted butter
- pink sprinkles (optional)
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Directions
Step 1
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking parchment. Cream 175g butter and 175g sugar until light and fluffy. Beat 3 of the eggs and pour in, a little at a time, mixing after each addition. Sift together 140g flour, 1⁄2 tsp baking powder and the cocoa, then fold into the butter mixture along with the almonds. Combine 100ml milk, 11⁄2 tsp vanilla and all the food coloring and add to the batter, then mix until evenly colored.Step 2
Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hr. 10 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack. When cool, cut the cake into 4cm slices. Using a 5cm cutter, stamp out the hearts (save any remaining cake for another treat).Step 3
Repeat step 1 to make a second cake mixture – you won’t have cocoa or food color in this batch. Pour 3⁄4 of the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Push the bottoms of the hearts into the batter in a tightly packed row. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, covering as much of the hearts as possible. bake for 1 hr. or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.Step 4
For the icing, gently heat all the ingredients over a low heat until combined. Leave to cool, then chill until needed. Spread over the cooled cake and decorate with the sprinkles, if using. Will keep for 3 days stored in a cake tin.More Recipe: Sparkling Cider Pound Cake Recipe
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