Valentines Sweetheart Cherry Cake

Here it is! Isn't it beautiful! The Sweetheart Cherry Cake was so easy to make believe it or not ;)

Lucky Leaf sent me over the pan, cherry pie filling and measuring spoons for me to try this cake out!

Ingredients:

Cherry Cake:

• 1 (18.25) dry white cake mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. pure almond extract (optional)
• 1 (21 oz.) can Lucky Leaf Premium Cherry Pie Filling
• 1 additional can Cherry Pie Filling set aside
• Chocolate shavings or ground chips

Buttercream Icing:

1 C. butter, softened

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. pure almond extract (optional)

4 C. (1 lb.) confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) sifted

2-4 tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 325.

Lightly spray heart-shaped pan with vegetable oil spray.

Sift together the white cake mix and the baking powder. Then add eggs, extract and 1/2 of a can cherry pie filling. Mix on medium speed to combine.

Fold into the cake mix the remaining 1/2 can of pie filling. Mix to combine. Batter is quite thick at this point.

Pour into prepared pan, and level with a spatula.

Bake at 325 to 65 to 75 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cake cool completely in the pan.

For Frosting:

Cream together butter, vanilla, and almond extracts. Slowly add sifted confectioners' sugar, beating well. Add 2 tbsp. milk. Mix well. If needed, continue adding milk 1 tbsp. at a time until frosting is smooth and spreadable.

Decorating the cake:

Invert cake onto serving platter and decorate. At this point I lined the edges of the platter with pieces of wax paper to prevent the frosting from messing up the platter.

I iced the entire cake first with a thin crumb coat. I put it in the fridge to chill the frosting (this helps keeps all the crumbs from showing on the next coat. Frost the cake sides and using a decorating tip pipe on two rows of frosting as shown in the photo. This makes a wall to keep the pie filling from seeping over.

I ground up chocolate chips and put on the sides of the cake. Fill the heart in the middle with the second can of cherry pie filling. I found here I didn't quite use the entire can.

Remove wax or parchment paper, clean up the platter with a damp paper towel.

Substitutions:

You can use a standard 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 325 for 40 - 45 minutes.

You can also substitute two 16 oz. cans of prepared frosting instead of making your own.

Enjoy ;)

Don't forget to enter in the giveaway to win the heart shaped pan! You can go to

Luckyleaf.com to get more information on their great products and enter their baking contests!