Hidden Heart Valentine’s Cupcakes

Instructions

1. Start by making the red cake mix for the hearts. Preheat oven to 170ºC (fan assisted, 190ºC non fan) and line a 20x20cm square tin with baking parchment

2. Beat the margarine and sugar together until pale and fluffy

3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and slowly mix again and then add the flour and mix until combined

4. Add enough food colouring to make the batter a bright red colour

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth flat. Bake in the oven for approximately 14 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean

6. Allow the cake to cool slightly

7. While you are waiting for the red cake to cool, make the vanilla cupcake batter in the same way as you made the red cake batter (obviously leaving out the red food colouring!)

8. Once the red cake has cooled, cut out hearts using a small heart shaped cutter

9. Line a cupcake tin with cases and fill each case with approximately 1 tbsp of the plain cake batter. Smooth the cake batter to over the bottom of each cupcake case

10. Place a heart standing up up in each of the cupcake cases

11. Add more of the plain cake batter to each cupcake case so that it is roughly ¾ full - don't panic if this doesn't completely cover the red heart

12. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tin for a few minutes before allowing to cool completely on a wire rack