I use one of my favorite gluten-free chocolate cake recipes to make these little heart-shaped cakes. They’re perfect for a gluten-free Valentine’s Day at home!
Each Valentine’s Day, I love to bake up a fun treat for my family. We never go out for a date on Valentine’s Day, preferring to go out on a less-crowded night, so I try to make a special meal and dessert at home. I vary it each year, but these little “Love Cakes” have been a part of our Valentine’s Day several times!
I think these cakes have the best texture on the day after baking, so I recommend making them the day before you plan to share them – which is handy if you are a nighttime baker like I am! You can bake them, let them cool, store overnight and frost the next day.
They couldn’t be easier to make either, using this Wilton heart pan that bakes 6 heart shaped cakes at a time. If that pan is showing out of stock for you, it looks like this is their new heart pan. This is definitely a treat that your kids can help make and decorate too!
You are probably thinking right now that you don’t need another pan, but I can attest that I’ve gotten a lot of use out of this pan over the years! Every year for Valentine’s Day, I also use this heart pan to bake my boys’ favorite gluten-free peanut butter banana chocolate chip muffins in! They enjoy coming down for breakfast. I like those little things like that to make the holidays special.
Ingredient Notes:
- I like to use part Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa and part regular cocoa in both the cake and the fudge frosting. It adds that deep dark color to them both. In the recipe below I note that, but you are welcome to just use all regular baking cocoa instead of any dark.
- As always, I only recommend baking with a good quality all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. All flour blends are not created equal! I recommend avoiding flour blends that contain any bean flours or that are primarily rice flour, as you’ll get a more gritty result. This recipe, like pretty much all of my recipes, has been tested with successful results with both Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Flour Blend and gfJules gluten-free flour and I recommend either one. Two other flour blends that I’ve been testing some (but not this recipe yet) with good results are Cup4Cup and Pamela’s.
Before you print off my recipe below, I wanted to share 15 more recipes from my friends for “Sweets for your Sweeties”! Check out all the delicious gluten-free recipes they made:
15 Sweets for Your Sweeties – Gluten-free recipes to share with your loved ones for Valentine’s Day or anytime. Listed in the order they appear in the photo, left to right, row by row:
- Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies from Sarah Bakes Gluten free
- Gluten Free Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Brownie Bombs from Flippin’ Delicious
- Royalty Cookies from Gluten-Free Palate
- Gluten-Free Dye-Free Red Velvet Cupcakes from gfJules
- Chocolate Love Cakes from My Gluten-free Kitchen
- Gluten-Free Sweet Tortilla Pizza from Allergy Free Alaska
- Cookies and Cream Truffles from Vegetarian Mamma
- Chocolate Truffles from Learning to Eat Allergy Free
- Double Chocolate Cookie Cups from Making it Milk Free
- Smoothie Bowl from My Plant-Based Family
- Gluten Free Cookie Dough Brownie Cake (Vegan) from Petite Allergy Treats
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites from Iowa Girl Eats
- Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza from Faithfully Gluten Free
- Ooey Gooey Red Velvet Cookies from Gluten Free Frenzy
- The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie from Only Taste Matters
Without further ado, here’s the recipe for these delicious cakes!
Gluten-free Heart-Shaped Cakes Recipe:
Perfect for a gluten-free Valentine's Day! These gluten-free chocolate cakes have the best texture the day after baking them. On day 2 they have the perfect moist crumb! Gluten-free flour blends that I've tested in this with great success include King Arthur Measure for Measure, Authentic Foods, and Gluten-free Mama's Almond Blend. *If the gluten-free flour blend you use already has xanthan gum or guar gum in it, then omit the xanthan gum called for in this recipe. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.Gluten-free Chocolate "Love" Cakes
Ingredients
Cake:
Fudge Frosting:
Instructions
Cake:
Frosting:
Notes
For the cocoa powder in the cake and the frosting, I achieve a nice dark brown by using part Hershey's dark cocoa and the rest regular or Dutch cocoa.Recommended Products
Marjie
Saturday 14th of October 2017
Does this recipe work if you live in 5280ft altitude (Denver)? Are there adjustments you have to make?
heather
Friday 12th of February 2016
Just beginning our gluten free journey, excited to give this a try!
Lauren Gaskill
Wednesday 10th of February 2016
These little cakes are so adorable Michelle! Sharing!
Mary Vargas
Wednesday 10th of February 2016
These are mouthwatering!! Definitely would pick the red mixer.
Monica
Tuesday 9th of February 2016
Can't wait to try this recipe! I love the new mixer colors and glass bowl!