You don’t need a special heart-shaped pan to make darling heart-shaped cupcakes for your little one’s February birthday…all you need are a few marbles!

Simply prepare your cake batter as usual, fill your cupcake liners 2/3 full (do NOT overfill these—the heart shape will not appear correctly), and slip a marble between the liner and the pan on the side of each little cake. (If you don’t have marbles, balls of tin foil, or even a few dried beans, will do the trick.) The marble creates a divot in the cupcake, which looks just like the top of a heart once baked. This cute shape, combined with a little creative frosting work to make the bottom point of the heart, results in a whole heap of adorable cake-y hearts…without the fancy pan.

And the best part is that with a little finessing, you can still wrap your heart-shaped cakes with coordinating cupcake wrappers from Big Dot! Simply fold a wrapper carefully in half to create the bottom point of your heart, and then bend both ends in toward the center (rather than in a circle) to form the top of the heart. Secure the ends together along the top edge (leave the bottom loose to allow for some wiggle room), and place your cupcake inside. Adjust the liners a bit until they each rest levelly on the table and then arrange your hearts into a darling, customized, display.

Enjoy!

Posted by Shannon, a Dot-arilla blogger