• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Decorated Treats

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Cake Recipes
    • Cookies Recipes
    • Brownies & Bars
    • Bread & Dough Treats Recipes
    • Sweets & Candies
    • Jellies & Cold Dessert
    • Frostings, Fillings & Sauces
  • Designs & Tutorials
  • Tips & Techniques
    • Preparing Cakes for Decoration
    • Fondant Decorating
    • Piping Techniques for Cake Decorating
    • Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make
    • Decorating with Chocolate
    • Other Techniques
  • Submit Your Cake Photos
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Categories
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Techniques
  • Your Cakes
  • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Categories
    • Recipes
    • Tutorials
    • Techniques
    • Your Cakes
    • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » 3D Cakes

    Mini Heart Shaped Cakes with Pink Rosettes - How to Make

    Published: Oct 6, 2020 · Modified: Jan 12, 2023 by Priya Maha

    Jump to Recipe
    Two mini heart shaped cakes covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and paper heart going through the sides

    In this mini heart shaped cakes tutorial, I will be sharing with you my tips and tricks for decorating mini heart shaped cakes. The cakes are heart shaped and have a 3D arrow literally running through each of them. These romantic themed cakes are perfect for Valentine's Day and make great anniversary cakes too!

    The only difference between these two heart cakes is that one has an arrow made of craft paper and the other, an arrow made of gum paste.

    Two mini heart shaped cakes covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and paper heart going through the sides
    Mini Valentine Cakes - Heart Shaped Cakes

    If you are someone who prefer to decorate your cake a much as possible with edible items, then the gum paste arrow is something you could try. But if you need to fix the arrow within a very short period of time, the craft paper version would be useful. I have a separate tutorial on how to make these for cake decorating. You can read all about them here and here.

    Back to the mini heart shaped cakes. The whole idea of making these mini heart shaped cakes was to cater for a single serving, or at most, 2 servings. That is if you and your partner are not big dessert eaters. With an overall measurement of 4 inches in width and length and a height of approximately 1.25 inches (with frosting), these cakes would be perfect if you are looking into making small portioned cakes for Valentine’s Day. Just nice for you and your other half. 

    Table of contents

    • Decorating the Mini Cakes
    • How to Make
      • Ingredients
      • Baking the cakes
      • The cupid arrows
      • Covering the cakes in buttercream
      • Attaching the arrows to the cakes
      • Adjusting the arrows size
    • Like this heart cake design? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
    • Recipe (Printable)

    Decorating the Mini Cakes

    Decorating these heart shaped cakes is very easy. I used buttercream to decorate them, in piped rosette design. And since the cakes were small, I used a smaller star tip (Wilton tip #18) to pipe the rosettes instead of the larger 2D tip that I would normally use for full sized cakes (cakes that measure 6 inches and more in diameter).

    And for a change, I chose pink as the main color instead of the typical bright red tone used for Valentine's Day cake. The heart cakes were single tiered. And it was convenient that I had mini heart shaped cake tins that I could use to bake the cakes. So, there was no carving required. Since the tins were pretty small, it was not very practical to mix cake batter just for the cakes. So I actually made a moist lemon cake (see the recipe here) and after filling 2 of the heart cake tins I had, I baked the remaining cake in a bowl mold.

    How to Make

    Ingredients

    Cake

    • Self raising flour + salt
    • Granulated sugar
    • Butter
    • Eggs
    • Lemon zest (grated)
    • Buttermilk

    Frosting and decoration

    • Buttercream
    • Gum paste – For one of the arrows.
    • Gold dragees
    • Wilton pink food color
    • Fondant Glue

    Decorating tools

    • Wilton star tip 18
    • Disposable piping bags
    • Lollipop sticks – these were the sticks for my arrows.
    • Edible gold dust & lemon extract – I mixed these to create the gold paint
    • Gold glitter craft paper
    • Cellophane tape
    • Scissors
    • Sugar craft knife
    • Arrow template

    Baking the cakes

    • I started by baking the cakes first. Like I mentioned earlier, I had mini heart-shaped pan with me (3 in total) which I purchased from a local cake decorating supplies shop.
    • So it was very convenient for me to bake the heart shaped cakes directly in shaped special cake pan. If you don’t have the tins, you can always bake the cake in a round pan or square cake pan. The instructions below are for making the cake in a square cake tin and cutting the individual heart shaped cakes out of it.
    • I used a lemon cake recipe, but you can always make this cakes in your favorite chocolate cake, vanilla cake, strawberry cake, red velvet cake recipe or any other favorite cake recipe.
    A mini heart shaped cake on a white plate
    Mini heart shaped cake baked in a heart pan
    • Grease and flour your a 9 inches square pan or line it with parchment paper.
    • Grate the zest of lemons (about one and a half lemons) and set aside.
    • In a clean large bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl halfway through the process.
    • Sift the flour and salt and fold these dry ingredients into the creamed wet ingredients mixture alternately with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour mixture.
    • Finally add in the grated lemon zest and combine well. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven (at 175 degrees Celsius) until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean, with just one or two cake crumbs stuck to it. Do not over bake the cake.
    • Remove the cake from oven and let it rest in the cake tin for a few minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack (wire rack).
    • Once completely cool, cut out a paper template heart (measuring approximately 4 inches long and wide and use it to cut out 2 heart shapes out of the cake. Set aside until ready to decorate.

    The cupid arrows

    • While waiting for the heart shaped cakes to bake and cool down, I made the arrows.  To make them, I drew a template on a piece of paper. I used it as a guide to cut my gum paste and craft paper. In drawing the template, I estimated the size so that it was neither too big nor too small for the size of the heart cakes. 
    • I then cut out the paper template and used it to cut out the parts out of gum paste. I made two sets of cutouts for each. And I had them all painted and dried before inserting into my cake. Click here for step by step instructions on how I made the gum paste arrows.
    • Next was the craft paper version. Again, using the same template, I cut the paper out (in 2 parts) and attached to lollipop sticks. No drying time was required as I used cellophane tape. Click here for the full tutorial.

    Covering the cakes in buttercream

    • Next were the cakes. I chose not to level the heart cakes as the slight bulge on the top was actually good to give the finished hearts a puffed look. 
    • And so,  I placed the cakes on white plates and started piping the rosettes all over, including the sides. And I overlapped the rosettes in some parts on the cake to cover all the gaps between the first layer of buttercream rosettes. If you are carving the heart shape out of a square cake, it is best to give the cake a thin layer of crumb coat it first.
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes
    • For the border, I piped a row of stars using the same pink icing and star piping tip.
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes
    • With the piping work over, I added one gold dragee in the center of each rosette on the cakes.
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads
    Decorating a heart shaped cake for Valentine's Day

    Attaching the arrows to the cakes

    • And finally, I attached the gold arrows, one set on each heart shape cake. To make sure the lollipop sticks were poked into the cakes in a perfect straight line, I drew a straight line on a piece of paper and used it as a guide for poking them into the cakes. 
    A diagonal line on a piece of rectangle paper
    • I placed my cake plates on the paper (one at a time) and adjusted the position such that the line on the paper ran in a diagonal position underneath the cake plate, in the exact position I wanted my arrows to be positioned on my cakes.
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes on a white plate, against a white paper background
    • And carefully, I inserted the front part, using the line on the paper underneath as a guide, and did the same for the rear end. And I pushed both sticks into the cake right until the sticks were no longer visible. 
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and a paper heart going through the sides

    Adjusting the arrows size

    • At this point, initially, I felt that the arrows were a bit too long for the size of the cake and so decided to adjust the lengths. I removed them from the cakes and cut off a portion of the sticks, both the craft paper and the gum paste. 
    Cutting a gold paper arrow
    Cutting a gold paper arrow
    • And then I reinserted them and had perfectly sized ones for my mini heart shaped cakes.
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and a paper heart going through the sides
    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and a paper heart going through the sides

    With that, my Valentine's Day mini cakes were complete.

    Two mini heart shaped cakes covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and paper heart going through the sides
    Delicious heart-shaped cakes for special occasion - Mini Valentine Cakes

    Like this heart cake design? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

    • How to Make Easy Paper Arrows for Cake Decorating
    • Gum Paste Arrow Tutorial
    • Chocolate Heart Cookies for Valentine's Day
    • How to Make Puffed Fondant Hearts without Cutters and Molds
    • Vanilla Buttercream Cake with Buttercream Flowers

    Recipe (Printable)

    Here is the full printable version my mini heart shaped cakes recipe and decorating tutorial.

    A mini heart shaped cake covered in pink buttercream rosettes and gold beads and a paper heart going through the sides

    Heart Shaped Cakes

    These cute pink mini heart shaped cakes make perfect treats for Valentine's Day and anniversaries. Learn how to make them here!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Heart Shaped Cakes
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Decorating time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Yield: 2 mini heart shaped cakes
    Author: Priya Maha
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    • Wilton star tip 18
    • Disposable piping bags
    • Lollipop sticks – these will form the sticks for the arrows.
    • Fondant glue
    • Edible gold dust & lemon extract – mix these to create the gold paint
    • Gold glitter craft paper
    • Cellophane tape
    • Scissors
    • Sugar craft knife
    • Arrow template
    Metric - US Customary

    Ingredients

    Cake

    • 180 g self raising flour
    • 180 g granulated sugar
    • 180 g butter
    • 3 eggs
    • 1½ tablespoon lemon zest
    • 6 tablespoon buttermilk
    • ⅛ teaspoon salt

    Decoration

    • Buttercream
    • Gum paste – For one of the arrows.
    • Gold dragees
    • Wilton pink food color
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    Baking the heart shaped cakes in square cake tin

    • The instructions below are for making the cake in a square cake tin and cutting the individual heart shaped cakes out of it.
    • Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
    • Grease and flour your a 9 inches square cake tin or line it with parchment paper.
    • Grate the zest of lemons (about one and a half lemons) and set aside.
    • In a clean bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    • Sift the flour and fold it into the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour.
    • Finally add in the grated lemon zest and combine well. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake come out clean, with just one or two crumbs stuck to it. Do not over bake the cake.
    • Remove the cake from oven and let it rest in the cake tin for a few minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
    • Once completely cool, cut out a paper template heart (measuring approximately 4 inches long and wide and use it to cut out 2 heart shapes out of the cake. Set aside until ready to decorate.

    Making the cupid arrows

    • Draw the arrow template on a piece of paper. In drawing the template, estimate the size so that it is proportionate to the size of the heart cakes.
    • Cut out the paper template and use it to cut out the parts out of gum paste. For contingency, it is advisable to make two cutouts in gum paste. Paint the arrow and set it aside for the paint to dry.
    • Next make the craft paper version. Again, using the same template, I cut the paper out (in 2 parts) and attached to lollipop sticks with cellophane tape.

    Covering the cakes in pink buttercream rosettes

    • Next, decorate the cakes. For a puffed heart look, do not level the cakes. The slight bulge on the top will give the heart shaped cakes a puffed look.
    • Place the cake on cake boards or plates and pipe rosettes all over, including the sides. Overlap the rosettes in some parts on the cake to cover all the gaps between the first layer of buttercream rosettes.
    • For the border, pipe a row of stars using the same pink icing and star piping tip.
    • Once the piping work is over, add one gold dragee in the center of each rosette on the cakes.

    Attaching the cupid arrows to the mini heart cakes

    • And finally, attach the gold arrows, one set on each cake. To make sure the lollipop sticks were poked into the cakes in a perfect straight line, draw a straight line on a piece of paper and use it as a guide for poking them into the cakes.
    • Place my cake plates on the paper (one at a time) and adjusted the position such that the line on the paper run in a diagonal position underneath the cake plate, in the exact position you want your arrows to be positioned on the heart cakes
    • And carefully, insert the front part, using the line on the paper underneath as a guide, and do the same for the rear end. And push both sticks into the cake right until the sticks were no longer visible.

    Adjusting the arrow length

    • At this point, if you find the arrows to be too long for the size of the cake, you can adjust them. Remove them from the cakes and cut off a portion of the sticks, both the craft paper and the gum paste.
    • And then reinsert them to complete the decoration on the mini heart cakes.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 1442.9kcal | Carbohydrates: 158.7g | Protein: 21.4g | Fat: 82.3g | Saturated Fat: 49.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21.8g | Trans Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 444mg | Sodium: 786.5mg | Potassium: 272.4mg | Fiber: 2.6g | Sugar: 92.8g | Vitamin A: 2683.8IU | Vitamin C: 5.8mg | Calcium: 130.7mg | Iron: 2.1mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @decorated_treats or tag #decoratedtreats!

    And that's my easy recipe for mini heart shaped cake for you!

    Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

    Happy decorating 🙂

    More 3D Cakes

    • Pig Birthday Cake - A Cute Piggy Cake Design
    • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake for 1st Birthday - How to Make
    • Pink Gerbera Daisy Wedding Cake with Fresh Flowers
    • Smurfs Cake for 1st Birthday

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there!

    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by :) Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

    More about me →


    Currently trending

    • Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
    • Banana Butter Cake (Easy & Moist)
    • How to Make Tea with Milk Powder (Milk Powder Tea)
    • Earl Grey Milk Tea - How to Make Earl Grey Tea with Milk

    As featured on:

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    SUBSCRIBE TO DECORATED TREATS

    Sign up for latest recipes and tutorials!


    Thank you for joining!

    Keep watch for my latest updates in your email.

    .

    About

    • Privacy Policy & Disclaimer
    • Conversion Chart

    Resources

    • Submit your Cakes
    • Testimonials

    Decorated Treats is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Decorated Treats also contains other affiliate links, which if you purchase from may earn me a small commission. The full disclosure policy can be found here.

    Copyright © 2022 Decorated Treats