They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This may be true sometimes, at least you’ll be together on Valentine’s Day, therefore sharing your baked gift.

I decided based on a survey with large group of men – box cake is what they enjoyed most growing up and an easy one to make. I thought, let me make this one a semi pretty one.

I hit up the local supermarket and picked up a few things for the cake as I thought, this is a no brainer.

These are the items needed for the Valentine’s Day Cake:

2 – 9 inch rounds

Mixer (hand-held, or Kitchen Aid), if you do not have either one, a whisk would do – ouch! * Note to self – put one on your wedding registry, best choice I ever made.

2 –  flavors of box cake (whichever brand you prefer)

3 – eggs

vegetable oil

2 – sticks of Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1 stick on unsalted butter

2-3 cups of confectioners sugar

1- teaspoon of vanilla extract

Half a cup of cocoa powder

3 squares of unsweetened cooking chocolate

1 jar of raspberry preserves with seeds (or whichever preserve you like)

Directions:

Cake

Follow the directions on the boxes – literally – mix the eggs, water, oil and cake mix. Pour in cake pan. You will do this for both flavors. While the cakes are in the oven, start the frosting.

Frosting

Make sure your butter and cream cheese is super soft – I usually pop it in the microwave for 25 seconds until soft. This is really important.

On the stove top or microwave – melt cooking chocolate until its smooth like dipping chocolate. Put a side until needed. This may take a while.

Start with creaming the butter until soft, then add the cream cheese. They both should be smooth and mixed will. Then add the vanilla extract and confectioners sugar until blended. Finally add the cocoa power and melted chocolate. Keep mixing until all ingredients are blended well.

Assembly

If cakes are fully cooked – take them out of the oven carefully to cool. I had 2 large dinner plate ready, as I cut the cakes in the middle to make my layers. I cut them in half and placed each one on the dinner plate to cool thoroughly. This is important as you do not want a soggy cake.

For display purposes – I wanted the cake on a pretty plate as it a gift. You will be doing all assembly on this plate. Alternate your layers – I started with the white cake first. With a fork or spoon – scoop a bit of the preserve on the cake until fully covered. It doesn’t have to be perfect as you will add the frosting on top of that. Next, with a spatula, cover the layer with the frosting. Step and repeat with the next 3 layers. Be sure that all your layers are perfect and lining up.

Decorating

Once your cake is completely frosted and ready to go – you can decorate it anyway you like. I had edible pink pearls – I designed a heart pattern.

This honestly took me a couple of hours to make and assemble. The end product was amazing and Todd loved it.  It’s large enough to share with friends – seriously, get it out of the house, you will catch yourself picking at it.

Please share your pics of this cake with us if you made one too.

xoxo,

Ang