Whip up a sweet treat for your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day with one of these recipes!
Sweetheart Cheesecake
This classic New York-style and sour cream cheesecake gets its name from using cherry pie filling and a toothpick or knife to create hearts on top of the sour cream. To sweeten the deal, the crust is made from chocolate wafer cookies, perfectly complementing cheesecake’s sweet yet sharp nature.
Dark Chocolate Pudding
Don’t worry, this dessert is nothing like the pudding cups of your youth. This from-scratch pudding recipe steps in to replace any negative childhood memory you may have of too-sweet pudding from a mix. You’ll use both bittersweet chocolate and a generous 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to make this decadent dessert.
“Hot” Chocolate Cake
Though this cake is incredible served warm; it gets its name from adding cinnamon and cayenne to the batter, adding a hint of heat to this rich cake. You can, of course, omit the spices, but they’re a pleasant surprise that’s reminiscent of Mexican-style hot chocolate, which adds the cinnamon and cayenne for a spicy kick!
Persian Love Cake
This is not your average cake. Persian Love Cake uses a combination of almond and semolina flour spiced with saffron, rosewater, citrus zest, and pistachios. The cake gets its moisture from Greek yogurt, and leavens with eggs and baking powder. Legend has it that a Persian princess created this cake to make her beloved fall in love with her, and that if you serve this cake to someone they’ll fall in love with you.
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Spiced Meringue Cake/Pavlova
The addition of cayenne makes this Pavlova the perfect balance of sweet and spicy! Pavlova is the perfect dessert to serve after a decadent Valentine’s Day meal because it is flavorful, yet light and airy. Be sure to wipe the bowl of your stand mixer out with lemon juice or vinegar to get rid of any traces of grease from previous bakes, which can inhibit your egg whites from whipping up to their fullest. If you need a whipped cream recipe, try this one – you can adjust the ratios of vanilla and sugar to your preferences.