Forced romance is not my cup of tea, but Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to herd the kids into the kitchen for a bit of themed cooking!
I’ve developed a few recipes with this in mind for Parentdish.co.uk and thought they might inspire you.
These are mega mega easy but oh-so-pretty. All you need is some good quality cooking chocolate and a variety of valentine-inspired sprinkles. My absolute favourite were the morsels of freeze dried raspberries that you can get in the baking aisle at Sainsbury’s. They look and taste really classy.
Parcel your drops up in pretty gift boxes and your kids can give them to their friends and relatives as a fun treat.
Valentine Chocolate Drops: Get the recipe here>>>
These heart-shaped bakes are made with the help of some marbles popped into the muffin tin! It’s a nifty trick I found when scouring Pinterest for inspiration.
The cakes themselves have a hidden raspberry nestled in the middle of the sponge which is topped with vanilla frosting and a heart drawn with home-made raspberry sauce. Utterly delicious and highly scoffable.
Raspberry Heart Cupcakes: Get the recipe here>>>
Fridge cakes are my new obsession as they require no baking, just a spot of chocolate melting, chopping, mixing and chilling. They’re ideal for the school cake stall or popping into a pretty tin to give as a gift.
This fun version has love heart sweets on the top, but you could customise yours however you please.
Valentine Fridge Cake: Get the recipe here>>>
And finally, my home made take on jammy dodgers in heart shapes. It’s just a really simple vanilla cookie recipe, baked and sandwiched together with lashings of raspberry jam. They won’t last long…
Jammy Heart Cookies: Get the recipe here>>>
Get the look!
The dotcomgiftshop very kindly sent me a selection of their pretty products to help me style this shoot. It’s a treasure trove of gorgeous stuff that’s surprisingly inexpensive! Here is the stuff you can see in the above pictures:
Heart shaped cookie cutters: £1.95
Green Regency tea plate: £3.95
Ribbon reel hearts design: £1.00
Jules says
We have a £2 budget for Valentine’s this year and I’m so tempted to make the Valentine fridge cake.
Katie Bryson says
It’s so quick and easy Jules – give in to temptation! Lidl do brilliant cheap chocolate that is perfect for fridge cake and tastes lovely 🙂
Ren Behan says
Gorgeousness! We had great fun making chocolate puddle lollipops last year, this year I think we’ll tackle biscuits and cookies. Love the heart cupcakes x
Katie Bryson says
Thanks Ren – the heart cupcakes taste great too so it’s a win win!!! xxxxx
laura@howtocookgoodfood says
Oh these are so pretty. I have just held a Valentine themed bake club. Now I wish I had made that rocky road fridge cake too. I think I shall be doing some Valentine baking with the kids next weekend and there is a Valentine cake sale at school too, cupcakes or fridge cake?!
Katie Bryson says
Hi Laura – loving the sound of Valentine Bake Club!!!!! Fridge cake is super quick and easy so ideal for cake sales, but the cupcakes are very very delicious so it’s tough couple to choose between 😉
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
Beautiful Katie,
Fantastic styling and photos!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Nice ideas Katie, I need to start working on my Valentine posts. I love the chocolate drops idea. Simple but very appealing.
Katie Bryson says
Thanks Jac! Yep simple is always a winner in my book, especially when the kids are “helping” 😉
Nazima says
these looks wonderful Katie – the fridge cake is calling me particularly loudly … 😉