Cake with hearts: the recipe for a romantic and delicious dessert for Valentine’s Day

How to prepare the cake with hearts

Step 1

Prepare the dough: On a work surface, put the flour in a well, put the sugar in the middle, add the grated lemon peel and the cold butter cut into pieces1, a pinch of salt and mix the ingredients quickly with your fingertips.

step 2

Then stir in the egg and egg yolk2 and mix everything well until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture.

step 3

Form a palla3, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Step 4

After the resting time, roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 5 mm.4.

Step 5

Wrap the dough around the rolling pin5Carefully roll it out in a well-greased tin with a removable bottom and a diameter of 26 cm.

Step 6

Use a pastry wheel to cut off the edges (put the remaining dough aside) and prick the base with the tines of a fork.6.

Step 7

Pour in a few spoons of apricot jam7.

Step 8

Distribute it evenly in the base8.

Step 9

Roll out the dough you set aside and cut out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter9.

Step 10

In the end you should get a lot of cookies with a thickness of 2-3 mm10.

Step 11

Decorate the top of the cake by placing the hearts around the edges11and overlapping them slightly.

Step 12

Place some biscuits in the middle of the cake12 and bake at 180°C for about 35 minutes. Once the cooking time is up, remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Step 13

Place the heart cake on a serving plate13, bring it to the table and serve.

Advice
You can enrich the shortcrust pastry with 50 g of dried fruit of your choice (finely ground almonds, walnuts, amaretti or hazelnuts) or, for a more rustic bite, replace part of the 00 flour with wholemeal flour.

To obtain a perfect result, do not forget to let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour (if you have time, even longer would be better): this way it will compact perfectly and be easier to roll out. In any case, if the dough crumbles or is difficult to work with, we recommend that you adjust the dough by adding 2 tablespoons of ice water or 1/2 very cold egg white to the dough.

When choosing, give preference to a jam that is consistent and not too runny : otherwise, it could leak during baking, dirty the biscuits and spoil the aesthetic result.