Valentine’s Day in the bakery is the prettiest holiday!
No need to decorate the bakery because the cakes so it all by themselves!
Pink and red and hearts all over the place!
What an eye popping array of cakes in the display case when you walked into my store and saw all these cakes!
Here is one example of a cake I would sell for Valentine’s Day
It’s two simple recipes for the best vegan vanilla cake you will ever try and buttercream for the filling and icing
But of course you can use whatever recipes you love the most
Baked in a heart shaped pan for Love Day!
If you are like me, and only have one heart shaped pan
This was no problem with my Best Vanilla Cake Recipe!
Due to the baking powder in the recipe versus a baking soda recipe the last layer baked just as perfect as the first!
With Ombre colors from dark pink to light pink with buttercream filling to match.
Buttercream roses to decorate the top are optional, but I have a step by step tutorial to show you how to make them!
CLICK HERE FOR THE STEP BY STEP VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE BUTTERCREAM ROSES
The gold luster dust adornment to the white chocolate drip really made this cake pop!
For more Valentine’s Day ideas click the links below!
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- Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes
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- Red Velvet Cookies
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- Raspberry Fluff Cake
Red Velvet Cookies No Dye ~ Vegan
Notes For Success & Substitutions
For those who want to stay away from chemical dyes to color this cake and the icing
I have been using Super Flower Powder Food Colors and LOVE IT! *not sponsored
- 1 Recipe Vanilla Cake
- 1 Recipe Buttercream of your choice
- For the Sugar Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 Tbs plant milk- adjust to your desired consistency
- Gold Luster Dustfor garnish *optional
- Prepare the cake batter as per the instructions on that recipe post
- Divide the batter evenly into 4 bowls and color them from darker pink to light pink (almost white) with your choice of food coloring
- If you only have one heart pan, that's ok the batter will stay fin on the counter as each layer bakes
- Bake each layer for 25 minutes in a greased and parchment lined heart shaped pan or until springy to the touch when you gently press the center
- Meanwhile prepare the buttercream recipe of your choice as per the instructions on that recipe.
- Divide the buttercream into 4 equal bowls leaving 1 larger portion white and the other 3 portions (approximately 1 cup each) in ombre pinks with your desired food coloring.
- Decorate as shown in the video.
- For the sugar glaze combine the confectioners sugar with the plant milk keeping a more stiff consistency and pipe around the edge of the cake.
- Once the sugar glaze has dried, paint it with gold luster dust mixed with a bit of vodka to make a paint-able paste.
For longer storage keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week
Hi Gretchen, kindly let me know where I can find these gadgets for decorating cakes – I need the entire set
HI There, unfortunately I no longer sell the cake kits which included all of the tips & pastry bags, but you can find everything on Amazon nowadays.
I use Ateco tips #21 for the shell border in this video
Hey Gretchen!!! I’m in love with the gold drip! I’m actually getting ready to make an 8” round with a gold drip, but want to have the ganache on the top as well. Do you think I could get away with using just one container of luster dust? Thanks in advance for your input and as always you have amazing recipes!!
great thanks and you are welcome too! yes to 1 jar is more than enough
I just got your book in the mail. I had pre-ordered it and I’m THRILLED. I like the size, the weight, the professional pictures, and as I went through and marked the recipes I want to try, I realized I’d be quite busy for a few months. I have moderate experience as a vegan baker so a lot of recipes I sort of know by trial and error and have made a lot of mistakes. I also found out the hard way, that sometimes recipes are not tested before being published in a book. So, I compared several of my successes to proportions and ingredients and was very pleased. I know this isn’t a review of any actual recipes, but I am very confident in having successes. Thank you!
thank you for the review so far I hope you continue to love the book!
Gretchen if I don’t have cake flour, ehat can I use to have the same success with the recipe, thank you!
You can use AP i have done it that way too and its fine!
Can you use normal ingredients instead of vegan? I’m not a fan
Oh bummer, perhaps you have had some inferior vegan baked goods then because these recipes are awesome!! But, Sure you can use whatever recipe you like
This recipe was amazing, Gretchen. Don’t let the haters get you down. You are a stunning chef, keep cooking girl!
THANK YOU!!!
Hi Gretchen, this is Remy from the Philippines I just had few question about you butter cream using to make a flowers .
how long you leaved your flowers on a room temperature ?
why you flowers it look pretty it doesn’t sag?
here in the Philippines is hot and hummed one’s I make the flowers the longest I can keep on a room temperature is just 1 to 2 hours…..
thanks Remy
HI Remy, be sure to use shortening in your buttercream recipe. I sometimes freeze the flowers click here when I make them in bulk to use on alot of cakes at one time, but if you are in very humid climates, this may be worse since the extra condensation from the freezer to room temperature may cause more problems. The buttercrem roses will stay at room temp for a couple days
Hey Gretchen, if I made this in round tins how many tins should I use? Love your recipes and want to try to turn this one into a round birthday cake. Thanks 😉
4- 7″ 0R 3- 8″ cake pans! and thank you!!
Hi Gretchen, I experimented using three 8” cake tins and turned it into a Vanilla and Rose layer cake for my friends birthday today. She was absolutely delighted. Thanks for sharing your recipes! ??
ahahaha. Love it when you say things like “didn’t wash the pan, I’m unsubscribing”. I can just see people doing that. But why? It’s a tutorial video. Anyway, the cake looks amazing. I’m going to try it, even though I’m not vegan.
Love watching your tutorials, Gretchen and LOVE your recipes. Still making the white cake these days 🙂
LOL! Yeah I get a kick out of myself sometimes LOL thanksssss! <3
Hi Gretchen
I have been trying to open your old website gretchensbakery.
It is not accessible.
Have you shut it down?
Thanks
Pratibha
Hi Pratibha, Yes, my non vegan blog is shut down
I just couldn’t keep up the cost to host it on the internet and maintain it monthly anymore
I had always said I would continue to share my recipes for free & give free tutorials on YouTube for as long as I could afford to do so, and well.. I just can’t anymore
The cost to host such a huge database was close to $400 a month (with the maintenance cost, I needed to hire a tech guy to help keep it running smoothly)
So that cost was severely outweighing any small profits I had been making though running ads on the videos & blogsite.
I have not kept any of the non vegan recipes, since for over 4 years now I have been strictly vegan;
so for me they are of no use.
Not to mention I am not comfortable sharing non vegan recipes anymore,
as it promotes animal abuse and torture not to mention animal agriculture is a disease on the earth as well as human health.
Thanks for your support and encouragement though the ages!
~Gretchen
I have a 10 inch heart shaped cake pan will this recipe work for this pan?
Yes, you will only get 3 thinner layers though, so perhaps you will want to DOUBLE the recipe instead??
Hello Gretchen, thank you so much for inspiring so many people to make these beautiful cakes. I got your book, and it is AMAZING! i absolutely love it! I have a question about the recipe though, i only have one heart shaped tin, is it ok if the cake dough stays out while i bake it one by one?
HI! Thank you and yes, that is exactly what I did since I only had one pan as well
HI! Thank you and yes, that is exactly what I did since I only had one pan as well
Thank you so much!