Copycat Little Debbie Valentines Cakes
This recipe is a perfect copycat for the Little Debbie Valentine Cakes sold in stores! Soft vanilla cake filled with marshmallow creme, then layered and coated in thin pink chocolate makes for the perfect dessert!
Servings: 16 cakes
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 box white cake mix
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ⅓ cups water
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup full fat sour cream
For the filling:
- 7 oz marshmallow creme you can also use marshmallow fluff
- ¾ cup salted butter room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 2-4 tbsp heavy cream room temperature
For the coating:
- 32 oz almond bark
- 3 tbsp crisco
- pink gel food dye it must be gel based or the chocolate can seize
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350° and spray and line with parchment paper 2 half sheet pans (18×13-inch). In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand held mixer, mix together the boxed cake mix, sugar, water, eggs, vanilla and oil until combined, about 1 minute. Add in the flour, salt and sour cream and mix on medium until incorporated and there aren't any lumps, 2-3 minutes.
- Divide the batter evenly between both pans and smooth. These cakes will be thin! Bake for 15-18 minutes or until completely cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before refrigerating for 30-60 minutes.
For the filling:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand held mixer beat the marshmallow creme and butter on medium high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and 2 tbsp of heavy cream or milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth and add additional heavy cream until it reaches desires consistency. You want it spreadable but not too thin.
For assembly:
- Once the cake has cooled cut out 32 hearts using around a 3 inch cookie cutter. Spread the filling on top of half of the hearts and top with another heart. Place on a jelly roll sheet pan lined with wax paper or parchment paper and freeze for 1 hour.
For the coating:
- In a large heatproof bowl melt the almond bark, 30 seconds at a time mixing in between, until totally melted. Stir in the crisco until smooth. Remove ½-1 cup of the white almond bark and add to a separate heat proof bowl for the decorations. Mix about ½ tsp of pink gel color food dye into the larger bowl of almond bark and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before dipping in the heart cakes.
To decorate:
- Dip the frozen cakes completely into the pink melted chocolate and place onto a cookie rack covered in wax paper or parchment paper. Allow to set for 10 minutes before drizzling on the leftover white chocolate in random circles to create design.