Five Valentine’s Day Heart-Shaped Food Hacks

What’s more fun on Valentine’s Day than serving heart-shaped food to your special someones? These five simple hacks make it easy to say, “I Love You,” with a little flair. I tested all of them in my kitchen myself. When it comes to getting artistic with food, I’m not that great. I can barely frost a cake. So if I can do these, that means they’re easy, and you can do them too.

1. These heart-shaped Cupid’s Arrow Strawberries make a fun snack for kids. Just slice the berries in half, then straighten the side of each half where you’ll fit them together by cutting off a thin sliver. Then use a little bamboo fork to hold the two halves together. You can find the little forks at your grocery store in the section where they sell paper plates.

2. Add pizzazz to a Valentine’s Day salad with heart-shaped carrots and cucumbers. Just peel the veggies then use a knife to cut a wedge out of the top. Use your peeler again to shave down the other sides to get more of a triangular shape. Finally, just slice and serve!

3. You don’t need a fancy heart-shaped cake pan to make a heart-shaped cake. All you need is one round cake pan and one square cake pan. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake. Turn the cakes out of the pans. When cool, slice the round cake in half. Turn the square cake so it looks like a diamond. Place the two halves of the round cake on either side to make the heart shape. Use frosting to “glue” the pieces together, then frost the whole thing. You’ll never see the seams! If your cakes don’t come out of the oven flat, just shave off the tops with a knife until both cakes are even.

4. Surprise you loved one with heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Make the rolls like always, but when rolling to slice, roll each side in toward each other rather than making the usual cylinder. Slice and arrange in the baking pan, shaping so the ends make a point on each one.

5. Heart-shaped cupcakes make a nice treat for the school Valentine’s Day party. Place you cupcake papers in the pan, then insert a glass marble between the paper and the edge of each cup to make a heart shape. Leave the marble at the top, don’t push it down to the bottom of the cup. Fill the papers about half full, being careful to not overfill. Too much batter and the cupcakes will rise too high and spill out over the edge, and you won’t be able to see the heart shape. Bake as normal.