Valentine's Buttercream Heart Cake

I have an easy Valentine's Day cake for you today. Total time to prepare your icing and decorate this one is probably less than 30 minutes.

What You Need:
8-9" Round Cake
1 Recipe Decorator's Buttercream Icing
Pink or Red Icing Color
Plastic Wrap (for Icing Bullets)
Piping Bags with Couplers
Round Tips (varying sizes - I used 3, 5, 7, 12)
Toothpicks

First, ice your cake smooth with buttercream icing.
Click the link for my complete tutorial on how to ice a cake.

Color remaining icing in varying shades of pink. I had about 2 1/2 cups of icing remaining after covering the cake. (You probably only need about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of icing total for the hearts, though I did it all because I tend to over-make. I can't help it. I do it with everything.)
Color about 1/3 of the icing the darkest color of pink you want. (Remember that it does get darker as it sits.)
For the lighter colors, I then used bits of that darkest color and mixed it with white. For the second-darkest shade it was about 1/3 pink, 2/3 white. For the next step down it was maybe a Tablespoon of pink with 1/2 cup or so of white. And for the lightest color, I pretty much just added white to the bowl that I'd colored the other pinks in, and that pink in the bowl gave it the really light pink shade that I wanted.
I realize now that I could have photographed this process. At the time I didn't see why I would do that. Sorry.

Load your icing into icing bag bullets, and fit with round tips. I started with the largest that I wanted to use, Tip #12.

To make the hearts, hold the bag straight up from the surface. Squeeze, and move slowly towards yourself to make one half of the heart. Add another half right next to the first.
These take a little practice to get the shape right. I practiced a few on the lid of my icing container before I committed to adding them to the cake.

Also, to save myself extra cleanup, I used the same tip on each color. With the coupler, you can remove the tip from the bag, use a toothpick to clean out the previous color, then put that tip right on the next lighter (or darker) color. I only noticed a slight trace of the previous color when I moved down in shade more than one shade at a time.

That's really it. I made my biggest hearts first, then moved down in size. Honestly, the most time was spent switching tips and cleaning out the colors from the tips.

If you want, you can smooth the hearts a bit with your finger after they have set up or 'crusted' a bit. You'll still end up with that line in the middle, but you'll be able to smooth out the ends a little.
But I decided after I did that... that I liked it better before. Of course.

Click the Links Below to See:
An Easy Fondant Valentine's Heart Cake
Bee Mine Valentine's Cookies
More Basic Cake Decorating Ideas and Tips

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