If you can make cupcakes, you can definitely pull off this heart-shaped pull-apart cake! A simple cupcake hack is the trick behind this romantic and exciting dessert, and we promise (cross our hearts and hope to die!) that when your friends see how this pull-apart cake works, their hearts will skip a beat.

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Got a date with a sweet tooth? How about a family to share the love with? Or even a gang of girlfriends you want to surprise for Galentine’s Day? This fun and heartwarming cake is just in time for February 14th. (But you don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day–just switch up the colors of the frosting to suit any event when you want to serve a treat made with love from the bottom of your heart.)

With those gorgeous swirls of rich buttercream frosting, it just might break your heart to pull this cake apart… but one bite and we’re pretty sure you and your guests are going to eat your hearts out!

Heart-Shaped Pull-Apart Cake

Makes one 10-inch cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• Vanilla or chocolate cake mix
• Vanilla buttercream frosting
• Red food coloring (optional)

Equipment

• Heart-shaped cake pan
• Cupcake liners
• Pastry piping bag
• Open star piping tip (Wilton 1M – optional)

2 platters, larger than your cake pan.

Preparation

1. Place as many cupcake liners as you can easily fit into a heart-shaped cake pan.
2. Prepare the vanilla or chocolate cake mix according to the directions on the package.
3. Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔ full with the prepared cake batter. (Each cupcake liner should be filled with about 2-3 tablespoons of batter).
4. Move the filled cupcake liners to one corner of the heart-shaped pan so that there are no gaps between each cupcake, arrange more cupcake liners so that they fill the rest of the pan, and fill each of those with the remaining cake batter. Be careful not to spill batter over the edges of the cupcake liners, or they will stick to the pan and be difficult to flip.
5. Bake the cake in a preheated oven according to the directions on the cake mix box.
6. Allow the cake to cool completely. Place an upside-down platter that is big enough to cover the cake pan over the top of the cooled cake. Carefully flip the pan and plate over together to remove the cake from the pan.
7. Place a second upside-down platter that is big enough to cover the cake over the top of the upside-down cupcakes. Carefully flip that onto the second platter so that the heart shaped cake is now right-side up on the second platter.
8. Take half of the buttercream frosting and use red food coloring to color it pink or red, if desired.
9. Put the buttercream into a pastry piping bag fitted with a star tip (we used a Wilton 1M open star piping tip). If you’re using a colored buttercream, place in a second pastry bag fitted with a second star tip.
10. Pipe roses onto each cupcake: start in the center of the cupcake and pipe a spiral going outward to the edge of the cupcake. Alternate with the colored buttercream to make a more colorful arrangement.
11. Fill in any gaps between the cupcakes with piped buttercream, or use a smaller star tip to make rosettes in between the larger roses.

Did this heart-shaped pull-apart cake steal your heart? Go ahead, pour your heart out to us in the comments and let us know how you served this awesome cake!