Sparkle Heart Emoji Cake

♫ Listening to: Long Live the Queen by Frank Turner ♫

This recipe makes 4 small heart emoji cakes. If you like emoji-themed food, you might also like my emoji cactus paté and my ghost emoji tea sandwiches.

Vegan Sparkle Heart Emoji Cake Ingredients

• 1 cup nondairy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or substitute white vinegar)
• 1 ¼ cups unbleached white flour
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅓ cup sunflower oil
• ¾ cup organic or raw sugar*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vegan Sparkle Heart Emoji Cake Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Lightly oil four 4" mini heart springform pans with the same oil you use in the cake recipe.

Combine vinegar and soymilk, mix, and let sit.

Sift 1 ¼ cups flour, ⅓ cup cocoa powder , ¾ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon baking powder into a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Add ⅓ cup oil, ¾ cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the soymilk mixture, stirring well between each addition. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until smooth (try not to overmix).

Fill the cake pans about ⅔ full.

Bake for 30-33 minutes, until when you insert a toothpick into the center of one, it comes out clean. This recipe also makes a single layer 8” or 9” heart cake if you bake it for 35-40 minutes.

Vegan Cherry Vanilla Frosting Ingredients

• ⅓ cup vegan butter or margarine (I like the organic whipped earth balance)*
• ⅓ cup organic palm shortening*
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups organic powdered sugar*
• ½ cup frozen cherries
• pink vegan food coloring (optional)

Vegan Cherry Vanilla Frosting Directions

Simmer the cherries over medium heat until they’re no longer frozen.

Blend the cherries using a handheld blender or a stand blender.

Strain the blended cherries through a sifter.

Whisk the butter, spectrum sustainable organic palm shortening , and vanilla using a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer with the whisk attachment.

Add the cherry juice the made it through the sifter and whisk again.

Sift in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, adding a tiny splash of nondairy milk if it gets too thick.

Add wilton pink gel color if you want to make the pink color brighter. The pink color from the cherry juice is nice too, so you can just leave it that way as well. I also have a complete list of vegan food coloring you can look at for other ideas.

Frost all the cakes (only when completely cooled) with a thin layer of frosting using an offset spatula (or just a butter knife if you don’t have one).

Chill the cakes until the crumb layer hardens to the touch.

Frost each cake again with a second layer of frosting.

Vegan Sparkle Heart Emoji Cake Decorations

Melt ⅓ cup vegan white chocolate with a teaspoon of coconut oil and stir.

Add yellow food coloring or turmeric. I used Color Kitchen natural food coloring vegan food coloring because it’s all-natural, but doesn’t taste like turmeric.

Pipe sparkles onto parchment paper or spread a thin layer of the white chocolate onto the parchment paper and use a toothpick to trace the shape of the sparkles.

Chill until you’re ready to add them to the cake.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook, but I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to purchase all organic ingredients. Therefore, I only specify organic on the ingredients that really matter - when buying the organic version is the only way to ensure that the item is vegan.