Heart Cake

     I saw this while scrolling through Pinterest and just knew I HAD to attempt this. It worked out so much better than I expected it to. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I love experimenting in the kitchen. The original recipe called for pound cake mix. Which, of course, I did not have. So scratch it was. But not pound cake. I just wanted a simple white cake. And let me tell you, it turned out so so so delicious. It was the perfect treat to celebrate my son's participation in the district Spelling Bee. It really is not as hard to make as it may look, but make sure to read the directions through once or twice before jumping in the ring. That way there are no sucker punches halfway through the round, errr, baking session.

You Will Need:
     For the cake:

• 5 large eggs, at room temp
• 1 cup of milk, at room temp, divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup
• 3 tsp of vanilla extract
• 3 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
• 12 Tbsp butter, sliced and at room temp

     For the glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 tsp butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment paper to the size of the bottom of the pan. Place in the pan, smooth out and air bubbles and give the bottom and sides another quick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine your egg whites (*remember, room temp!) 1/4 cup of milk and the vanilla.  Set this aside for now.
3. In a large bowl, combine your flour, sugar and baking powder. Mix them together to combine. 
4. To the dry mix, add the butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of milk. Mix on low for about a minute, then switch it on up to medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Slowly add in 1/2 of your egg mixture. Mix for 1 minute. Add in the other 1/2 of your egg mixture and mix again for 1 minute, being sure to scrape the sides down if needed.
6. Divide your batter in half, between two bowls. Now, tint one bowl of batter whatever color you wish it to be. I planned on red, but only managed pink before saying "fuck this. Pink is fine." Place the other bowl of batter in the fridge for now.
7. Pour the colored batter  into your loaf pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it passes the handy dandy toothpick test. (*Just a note here, when baking taller cakes or loaf pan cakes, I don't use a toothpick, I use a dry spaghetti noodle.)
8. Cool your cake completely. Remove from pan, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze that sucker for several hours. No less than 3. 
9. Now, wash and RE-prep your loaf pan just as you did before. Take your other bowl of batter out of the fridge and let it set out a bit while you take care of this next step. You want to take your cookie cutter in the shape of the design you want inside your cake. Stand it next to your cold cake and slice your cake the same thickness of your cookie cutter. You are going to slice it like you would slice a loaf of bread.
10. Using the cookie cutter, punch out your design from each slice.
11. Using the remaining batter, pour JUST enough batter into the pan to barely cover the bottom. Place your cake cut outs in the loaf pan, on top of the batter, standing upright. Keep adding them in, one in front of the other, until you have used them all. Make sure they are together nice and tight.
12. Pour the remaining batter over the top and sides. Bake again, for 30 to  40 minutes. Start checking for doneness early tho, as the cake MAY bake a little quicker this time around.
13. Let cool completely, remove from the pan and place on your serving dish. Shortly before you are ready to serve, *whip up some vanilla glaze and generously pour in over the cake, letting it run down the sides. 

*To make the glaze, simply combine all of your glaze ingredients together in a bowl and mix very well. If the glaze seems to thin, add a little bit more powdered sugar, if it seems too thick, add more milk.