Romantic Valentine’s Day Table Setting With Heart Cake Dessert & Spring Tulips

Welcome to the 802nd Tablescape Thursday! With Valentine’s Day just a week away, I decided it was time to bake some cute heart cakes. It has been ages since I made these for Valentine’s.

Heart Cakes for Valentine's Day

 

I did the dumbest thing this time, though! I always, always grease and flour a cake pan when baking a regular layer cake, but for some crazy reason, I didn’t flour the heart cake pan after greasing it this time. I couldn’t remember if I had always done that in the past, and I was worried that the flour would stick to the sides of the little cakes and end up showing underneath the powdered sugar. So I ended up not flouring the pan. Big mistake!

Heart Cakes for Valentine's Day_wm

 

I also overfilled the little hearts with cake batter, something I tend to do each time I make these since the recipe makes a lot of batter. This time, it seemed to make even more batter than usual. I wonder if using “cake” flour made the cake batter extra fluffy? Even with filling the little hearts way more than 2/3rds fulls (as specified in the recipe) I still had enough batter left over to make a little cake in a small loaf pan.

Baking Heart-Shaped Cakes for Valentine's Day

 

Fortunately, with this cake pan, if you use too much cake batter and overfill the hearts, it’s easy to slice off the overfill once the cakes are done. I’ll spare you the photo of all the tops that I cut off, but let’s just say I’ll be eating cake for days without even touching the heart cakes! lol Since I foolishly didn’t flour the pan after greasing it, I had to really work to get the cakes out of the pan. Also, the cake texture itself was a lot fluffier/looser, maybe due to using cake flour this time around. In any case, using a knife around the edges to loosen them for prying them out, kinda made a mess of the normally pretty, fluted sides. To partially hide that, I used a lot of powdered sugar—way more than I normally would. So if the cakes look extra sugar-powdery in today’s table, that’s why! Next time I make these, I think I’ll use all-purpose flour to keep them a bit firmer, and I will definitely be flouring the pan, not just greasing it!

Delicious Heart Cakes for Valentine's Day

 

I almost didn’t use a tablecloth for this table setting, but at the last minute, I decided to use a red damask tablecloth that I’ve had for many years.

Valentine's Day 2024, Table Setting

 

For the centerpiece, I brought out these beautiful, realistic-looking faux tulips, a find back in 2021.

Valentine's Day Table Setting Tablescape

 

I think I’m going to buy a few more of these tulips, I love how realistic they look in photos and in person!

Valentine's Day Table Setting with American Atelier Origami Red Plates

 

Amazing how realistic-looking faux flowers can be! I prefer real flowers when they are available, but these work great when spring flowers aren’t in bloom or available.

Valentine's Day Table Centerpiece with Tulips and Heart-Shaped Cakes

 

These tulips are available in many colors where I purchased mine, here: Faux Tulips.

Tulip Centerpiece, Faux Tulips

 

I’m sure you recognize these tartan plates from Williams Sonoma. I love using tartan dinnerware all throughout winter. It adds an extra coziness that I really crave this time of year. The rattan chargers were a find this past autumn and surprisingly they are still available and on sale here: Rattan Charger. I love them and can’t believe how many times I’ve already used them in table settings. I think this is the third table that I’ve used them this fall/winter. They pair so beautifully with a lot of my fall/winter dish patterns. I have a feeling they are going to work great for spring/summer, too.

Plaid Dinner Plates in Valentine's Day Table Setting

 

The salad plates are American Atelier and the design is called Origami Red. Not sure if it was intentional, but this pattern always makes me think of red hearts, perfect for a Valentine’s Day table setting. Do you see red hearts, too?

American Atelier, Origami Red Plate

 

I powdered-sugared these little heart cakes within an inch of their life. Ha! The icing is a simple confectioners sugar frosting that’s easy to make and super yummy since it includes a few drops of vanilla and almond extract. I had not baked in so long, my Wilton’s food coloring concentrate had become extra concentrated. Thankfully, I had enough to color the icing a bright Valentine’s Day red. On the rare occasions that I want colored icing, this is the food coloring I prefer to use: Intense Icing Food Coloring Concentrate. A tiny bit goes a long way since it is very concentrated. (Note: A printable recipe for these heart cakes and the icing is available here: Heart Cakes Recipe.)

Heart Cake for Valentine's Day, Red Icing Center

 

I love using these red napkins at Christmastime, but they also work great for a Valentine’s Day table, too. The scalloped gold trim of the inner napkin, along with the gold beading of the outer napkin, add a bit of glitz and sparkle for this Valentine’s Day setting. Both napkins are from Pier 1, back in the day.

Red Flatware for Valentine's Day

 

Sparkly, gold-tinted, snowflake napkin rings (originally from Pottery Barn, but a find on eBay) work well in this wintertime Valentine’s Day table.

Red Flatware, Snowflake Napkin Rings

 

Valentine's Day Tablescape, Tulips and Heart Cakes

 

Hope this table provides a bit of inspiration as you celebrate Valentine’s Day this year with your loved one(s). Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️

Valentine's Day 2024, Table Setting

 

Looking forward to all the beautiful tables linked for this week’s Tablescape Thursday! (Pssst: If you enjoyed this post, subscribe for email updates (it’s free) so you’ll know when a new post is available. Subscribe here: Subscribe for post updates.)

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Comments

  1. LOVE this! I missed out ordering that flatware a few years back. Wonder if it is still available.

  2. Very pretty table and cakes, in spite of all the setbacks while baking!

  3. I love the tablecloth! Pretty cakes and I’ll guess they’re delicious as well!!

  4. very pretty, but that tablecloth is stunning! I can see it being used in so many ways. Have a LOVELY Valentines day!

  5. I definitely see red hearts on your salad plates, and I LOVE the tartan! This whole table is lovely and cozy – I love the way it looks with the tablecloth. Great choice! Thanks for the inspiration and the party, and the baking tips!

  6. The tablecloth was a good decision – it’s beautiful and adds warmth to this gorgeous table!

  7. What a lovely table setting Susan! So cozy and warm. Although you had a few hiccups with the cakes, they still look so yummy and pretty on the table. I love everything about this table setting, just gorgeous! Hugs, Brenda

  8. Lovely table. If you had not shared, I don’t think we would have noticed the snafu. We will be right over to taste test the cakes !
    Do you grow tulips and daffodils in the yard ? Too hot here.

    • Here in the ATL area and probably the whole state, daffodils grow great but tulips only come up the first year after planting the bulbs. After that, all you get is foliage. In the past, because I love tulips so much, I’ve planted them in planters so they were easier to dig up after they were no longer blooming. I wish we could grow them here but either our summers are too hot, or our winters aren’t cold enough–not sure which. Maybe it’s both things. Daffodils do great, though! Those always come back each year.

  9. What a lovely tablescape. Thank You for sharing.
    HAPPY VALENTINE’ DAY
    Joan,Marion and Marilyn

  10. Lovely table, Susan! You got me in a Valentine mood. Good call on adding the richness of the tablecloth. I love how it enhances the setting. Should I be ashamed for chuckling at your little baking goof? It’s just so darned good to hear I’m not the only one occasionally asking myself, “What was I thinking?” I just added those tulips to my shopping list at Amazon. They may be just what I need, to “plant” in my Spode Soup Tureen this spring, in lieu of worrying about fresh ones going limp too quick. Tulips can be unpredictable at my house. Thank you for all your continued inspiration. Happy Valentines Day!

    • Yay! Mission accomplished! lol
      I’m calling that a moment of temporary insanity–learned my lesson–always, always flour the pans, no matter the shape/style pan! You know, one of the harder issues I have with live tulips is arranging them in a way that I like. Also, they seem to go limp and fall over pretty quickly. I really do love these faux tulips. I first saw some in a post on Instagram and couldn’t get over how real they looked!
      Aris, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a beautiful Valentine’s Day!

  11. What a perfect table for Valentine’s Day. I would never have thought to use the plaid plates for accent…so clever. And all I see are perfect little heart cakes

  12. Your table is lovely and the cakes are adorable. Happy.❤️ Day!

  13. Bravo, Susan ! A lovely colorful table perfect for a Valentine’s Day celebration!
    Your cakes look yummy and festive.!
    Rosie @ the Magic Hutch

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