Valentine’s Bake Off Round Up

Ah, I love Valentine’s day.  It’s a great excuse to be romantic and tell the people you love how much they mean to you.  Running my virtual Valentine’s Bake Off has been so much fun.  Lots of yummy entries to inspire you.  Who knows, maybe you’ll love one of these recipes enough just to bake it one day even when Valentine’s Day has been and gone this year.

So start my round up I’m going to mention Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog who has entered two chocolate inspired recipes into the bake off.  The first is Coffee Biscuits Sandwiched with Whipped Coffee Chocolate Ganache.  They sound amazing and look so cute made up into little heart shaped sandwiches.

The second entry is Chocolate Walnut Pastries which look as though they would be perfect for sharing.  I love the look of these with the little walnut on top.  Reminds me of a walnut whip whiich I have not had for a long time.

Andrea from Made with Pink blog sent in these divine looking religieuse pastries.  The choux buns took a couple of attempts to get it right, but wow, it looks to me like it was very much worth it.  I’ve had a few failed choux attempts as well so know how it feels.  Very tempted to give these a go though.

Laura from How to Cook Good Food blog combined the traditional idea of chocolates and flowers and made this Raspberry, Rose Petal and Almond cake.  I adore the scattered rose petals on top and the thought of the whipped white chocolate butter cream makes my mouth water.  I bet this tasted amazing.

Caroline from Caroline Makes blog also entered two bakes into this competition.  The first is a very handy recipe for anyone who is counting calories after Christmas as it is a low fat Strawberry Valentine’s Heart Cake.  I certainly can’t tell any difference and the use of sweetened quark as the topping along with fresh strawberries looks fab.

Caroline’s second entry is a Honey Beehive Cake which I think is a great idea. I can imagine the warm honey taste this cake had and even though it was not completely smooth sailing to make, I would be thrilled to bits if I got given this on Valentine’s day.

I also had a photo entry from Laura Elliot who has made these divine looking cupcakes.  The chocolate coated raspberries on top of a few caught my eye! Laura also handmade all the roses.

I love the sound of this next cake sent in from Vanilla Sugar Steph blog.  Sweet heart raspberry and coconut sponge….what a combo!  Thinking I might have to sneak in making this at some point in the very near future.

Finally, but my no means least, Supergolden Bakes blog sent me this very impressive crown of love cake.  Love the pure white frosting in contrast the the perfect red of the sugar crown.  Mr Supergolden Bakes is one lucky man that’s all I can say.

So this completes my Valentine’s Bake Off round up.  All that needs to happen now is for Holly Bell to take a look and to pick her favorite bake.  As soon as she let’s me know I’ll be announcing the winner via Twitter and email, so keep you eyes on your inbox and twitter feed.  Big thanks to everyone who entered, Holly for judging and for Cornishware for providing the super prize below.

*UPDATE*  The winner is….the crown of love cake made by Supergolden Bakes Blog.  Big congratulations and here is what Holly said:

“My winner is the Crown of Love Cake, not only does this look impressive it also uses two of my favouite flavours, coffee and Swiss meringue buttercream! I would love a HUGE slice with a cup of strong black coffee. Thought it was also worth mentioning that I really liked the look of the chocolate walnut pastries and the sweetheart raspberry and coconut sponge. Though in fact they’re all winners as anything made with love for the one you love is very special indeed.”

Big thanks again to Holly for taking time out of her busy schedule to judge. xxx

Tagged Cornishware, Holly Bell, Valentine's Bake Off round up