My heart-shaped cake

My parentals came over yesterday to see me and M The Boo, and we made a bunch of picky food to hang out and watch TV. Since it's my dad's birthday in a few weeks and I'm not sure I'm going to see him, I decided to venture back into the kitchen after being dethroned by M and made a cake. But not just any cake. My parents' 38th anniversary is coming up, as is Valentine's Day (which, after some childhood trauma, has become one of my favorite holidays) so I decided to make a heart-shaped cake. I picked French vanilla with vanilla frosting and heart-shaped sprinkles. Very cute and matchy-matchy -- just the way I like it.

There are some things to consider with a heart-shaped cake. One, you obviously need a special pan. I had picked up a silicone one at Tar-gay a few weeks back. But the average cake mix makes two layers. So with one pan, I had to bake one layer, and then the other. Was kind of a PITA.

Another thing is that a heart-shaped cake is kind of funny from a measurement point of view. They don't cover special shapes when telling you how much frosting you need. I bought a can of frosting, and I really had to skimp to make it cover the whole cake. Finally, cutting a heart-shaped cake is also an odd experience.

After all this bitching, you think I'm going to tell you it was a disaster. But no, the cake came out great, and everyone really liked it. Including me. I gave a lot of it away so it wasn't in my house. Anyone want the last piece of heart-shaped cake, which kind of looks like a boob?

PS I had Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box in my head the whole time I was baking; hence the title of this post.