DESSERTS don't have to be a labor of love. Take the treats you adore and spruce them up a bit with some inexpensive ideas.
Valentine's Day, once exclusively reserved for sweethearts, has expanded to include parents, children, other relatives and frie list.
But you don't need a dozen red roses, expensive chocolates or a pricey dinner to celebrate. Our economical ideas are simple variations on the tried-and-true. Best of all, these recipes are elegant enough for a candlelight dinner but make enough to feed a group.
An ordinary cake, for example, takes on a whole new dimension baked in a heart-shaped pan. Nine-inch heart-shaped pans are selling at local cake decorating stores for about $6. For a special sensation, we offer an easy pound cake recipe, see below, sweetened with Chambord liqueur and raspberry preserves.
If you don't have a heart-shaped pan, try this neat trick. Using one two-layer box of cake mix, bake one 8-inch square and one 8-inch round cake. Cut the round cake in half and, following diagram below, place the halves on adjoining sides of the square cake. Frost the entire cake and serve. Tip: this cake will be difficult to move once it is assembled. Be sure to put it together on a very large cake plate or even a heavy-duty sheet of cardboard, covered with foil.
Even a round cake can look festive if festooned with hearts and flowers. A wide variety of edible hearts, flowers and Cupids are ready-made and available inexpensively at cake decorating stores.
For example, a package of six small red hearts is $1.79 at the Cake Cottage in Bel Air. Candy Cupids are available in packages of three, from 1- to 3-inches tall.
Nancy Wiggenhorn, manager, says cake decorations can be made from sugar or from royal icing. The royal icing decorations have a smoother taste, she says.
Another option is to buy holiday ribbon and wrap it around the cake, securing it with toothpicks or icing. For best results, rTC choose a ribbon that is at least 1/2 inch smaller than the height of the cake. Remove the ribbon before cutting the cake.
Cupcakes are an economical way to feed a bevy of sweethearts. Your favorite cupcake recipe will win rave revies baked in heart-shaped pans. A cupcake pan with six single-serving hearts is selling at cake decorating stores for about $8. One two-layer cake mix will make between 20 and 24 mini-heart cakes.
