This Might Be The Easiest Way To Make A Heart-Shaped Valentine's Day Cake

During Thanksgiving, you're bound to notice pumpkin pies everywhere. Over Christmas, it's got to be hot cocoa and peppermint candies. Close to the Labor Day weekend, you'll see all sorts of barbecue-related stuff in supermarkets. Similarly, nothing will scream Valentine's Day like the sudden influx of heart-shaped things.

According to author and medieval literature professor Eric Jager, hearts weren't always a symbol of love (via Time). On the contrary, prior to the 13th and 14th centuries, hearts were nothing short of a decorative shape, much like triangles and squares. It was only during the medical period when the concept of romance and love emerged that people saw the heart "as books of memory, a place where God's commands are written, and [believed] feelings for the beloved were somehow written on your heart."

Naturally, if it's Valentine's Day that you're baking a cake for — or making anything for that matter — it's got to be in the shape of a heart. However, instead of going about and buying a brand new heart-shaped baking pan that you will only use once a year, you can use any regular cake pan and simply shape it as a heart after it is baked.

In a video shared on Instagram, chef and author Rocco DiSpirito shows what is possibly the easiest way to give a cake the shape of a heart. The chef first bakes a cake in a simple round cake pan. Then, he makes two diagonal slices on either end of the round cake, giving it a V shape similar to the bottom half of a heart. With the help of frosting, he then places the two semicircle slices on either end of the broad half of the cake, completing the V and turning the cake into a heart!

Martha Stewart, on the other hand, recommends baking two cakes — one in a round pan and another one in a square pan (via Martha Stewart's website). Once the cakes are baked, slice the round cake down the middle into two equal semicircles. Then take your square cake and place it in the shape of a diamond with one corner facing you. Arrange the semicircle cakes on the top left and top right sides of the square, and voilà! You have a heart-shaped cake without using any special cake pan. All you have to do is use some frosting on top to hide the gaps, and no one will ever know the secret!