Happy Sunday! This week's celebration is Valentine's Day. As a family we have never done the "go out to a romantic dinner" thing but have always celebrated at our own home with a special dinner and dessert. So this week I thought I'd make up a special treat for my own family and share with you all how easy it is to make something special that doesn't take a lot of time or effort but looks like a wonderful splurge!

I know that chocolate is traditionally associated with Valentines day but we have a few members of our family who are not wild about it. So today I made a simple yellow cake and then decided to dress it up with a "heart" of goodness! I baked the cupcakes in a gorgeous dark purple liner...that I got in my local grocery store! Yup, it's amazing what you can find there now. 

 While the cupcakes were cooling I placed them inside a decorative liner. Often the liner you bake the cupcakes in gets lost in the moisture of the cake and you don't get to see the wonderful patterns. This way you get just a bit of the moisture that helps hold the two liners together but only on the bottom. Once the cupcakes were cool I used a small circle cutter and dug out a little circle in the center of the cupcake. If you don't have a circle cutter just use a small spoon to scoop some of the middle out. Then I mixed seedless blackberry jam with some buttercream, placed that into a piping bag that didn't have a tip and then just filled up each hole.

 I covered that with more buttercream and drizzled it with some more of the jam that had been melted and placed into a squirt bottle. You can just put a small amount into a spoon and drizzle it over, just make sure it has cooled off enough to not melt your buttercream! I then topped each one with a little fondant heart. You can certainly use "conversation hearts" candy instead.

When your guests open them up they find a wonderful heart of blackberry goodness waiting for them! They are completely yummy and much more special than a "regular" cupcake but they didn't take hardly any extra work to make them wonderful. My son is very disappointed that I won't be making all of my cupcakes like this! 

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, splurge just a bit and treat your loved ones with something just a bit special. Keep checking in each day on our Facebook Fan Site for daily tips and tricks to make your celebration that much more special!

For those who are local to Northern California, our Valentine to all of you is a great sale! The entire month of February we are giving 30% off any cake booked for events that are coming up this June 1st through November 1st. And we give an extra 10% off for a second cake booked and an extra 20% off a third cake booked! (yes, that means the 3rd cake is 50% off!!!) So if you have some special events coming up this year then this is the time to book your custom cake and save some BIG bucks! Just Contact Me Here to get your cake or cakes booked for the upcoming Summer and Fall season.

See you next week with a special birthday cake here and a special birthday party plan over at the Cherry Party Blog to go with it!

Cat