By Julia Westhoff

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite times to bake treats for friends. Expectations are lower than they are for Christmas. Plus the weather is cold and we all need something to pep us up a little bit. I almost always go for something chocolate (in life generally, not just for Valentine’s), but this year I got it in my head to make little frosted heart-shaped cakes, reminiscent of those childhood favorites made by Little Debbie (but without all the strange sounding additives).

These little cakes did the trick, and I’m looking forward to handing them out to friends and family, along with the valentines the girls have created. The only trick is finding the candy melts. If I had to do it over again I would probably just use white chocolate bark (so much easier to find) and add a little food coloring or strawberry puree.

Note that there are three separate recipes here – for the cake, the filling and the icing. Check them out.