Love Heart Cake
By: McCormick Kitchens
January 30, 2026
Made With:
Make your own Valentine's Day cake with this easy chocolate cake recipe. Even better, you don't need a heart-shaped cake pan for this recipe. Topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, this is the perfect dessert to make for that special someone.
Make your own Valentine's Day cake with this easy chocolate cake recipe. Even better, you don't need a heart-shaped cake pan for this recipe. Topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, this is the perfect dessert to make for that special someone.
Key products
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Instructions
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°F. For the Cake, grease and flour 1 each 9-inch round and 9-inch square cake pan. Set aside. Beat cake mix, sour cream, water, cocoa powder, oil, food color, eggs and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Tip: If you don't have German chocolate cake mix on hand, you can swap in a dark chocolate or fudge cake mix and omit the cocoa powder.
- Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack.
- For the Frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
- Cut round cake in half into 2 half-moons. Place square cake on serving platter. Spread small amount of frosting on the cut ends of each half-moon. Press onto 2 adjacent sides of the square cake to form a heart shape. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Garnish with sprinkles, if desired.
Test Kitchen Tip: One container (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting can be used in place of the prepared Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.
