Food Lovers Central: Articles, Tips, and Recipes

Romantic Valentine’s Desserts

What will you give your sweetheart this year for Valentine’s Day? If the gift includes a quiet dinner at home or out, consider a few romantic ideas for dessert. Turn on the charm as you provide a sweet ending to the meal.

Maybe you want to get out for dinner this Valentine’s Day. If you have kids, a little rest and relaxation as a couple instead of a couple of parents is probably in order. Skip dessert at the restaurant and share some cozy moments at home with a dessert made for two.

Even if you are not the baking type, you can still have tasty desserts. Order one from a gourmet bakery or the bakery section of your grocery store. There will be no shortage of interesting desserts available for the tasting on this day.

How about fruit? Fruit always has a way of sneaking into Valentine’s Day somehow. Try chocolate covered strawberries. If you want a twist on the traditional milk chocolate, try plump red strawberries dipped in white or dark chocolate. Let them come to room temperature before eating them with a glass of champagne.

Try some puddings. We often think of chocolate on Valentine’s Day but that is not the only flavor of pudding. Try banana or vanilla. Top it off with whipped cream and some cherries for a light yet sweet dessert.

Whatever you choose for a romantic dessert, eat it in moderation. On the one day set aside for romance, you don’t want to gorge yourself on rich dessert and fall asleep before the romance can begin. Choose a dessert that you can feed to each other (for a little extra fun), or one that is not too filling.

Instead of a large cake, use ramekin dishes to bake individual cakes that are perfect for a romantic dessert treat. Chocolate lava cakes, strawberry shortcake, and others will bake nicely in smaller dishes. Top with rich sauce, icing, or powdered sugar. There will be just enough dessert to satisfy.

Another idea would involve preparing an assortment of desserts like with fondue. You can create a sweet sauce in the fondue pot like chocolate (white or dark) and then dip cubed pieces of dessert into it. Small inch squares of cake and fruit slices go well with chocolate. Even marshmallows can be included. Take turns feeding each other the tasty tidbits.

Romantic desserts set the stage for an amorous evening. Choose something simple that will satisfy the sweet tooth without making you too tired for couple’s time afterwards. 

Homemade Chocolate Desserts for Valentine’s Day

Chocolate is one of our favorite treats. On Valentine’s Day, we are surrounded by chocolate. Instead of buying that box of chocolates, create some chocolate treats at home.

Chocolate is actually good for us. Let me rephrase that before you make a run on the store. Dark chocolate is actually full of good things like antioxidants that help to keep our bodies healthy. Consuming a little dark chocolate each day has a beneficial effect.

Remind your sweetie of that on Valentine’s Day. As long as you purchase dark chocolate, they don’t have to feel guilty about eating sweets. Use some dark chocolate to create homemade chocolate desserts to enjoy on Valentine’s Day.

A favorite chocolate dessert is lava cakes. Just like the name implies, once you cut into the cake, the gooey chocolate runs out of the center. Use a stencil to create a powdered sugar heart on top of each one.

When making chocolate desserts that call for melted chocolate it is important to do it right. We have all had those boo-boo’s in the kitchen with chocolate that we’d rather not mention. For instance, turning the burner on high will not melt the chocolate any faster—neither will adding water to the pan and swirling the chocolate around. All you’ll end up with is a very expensive mess.

Chocolate bricks are not cheap so use them sparingly and wisely. If you need to melt chocolate, do so in a non-stick saucepan. Chocolate melts best over low heat.

You don’t need to stir the chocolate for it to melt. Once the chocolate takes on a glassy appearance, it has melted. The chocolate can be removed from the heat and stirred into the recipe.

Even a hint of chocolate in the dessert can be tasted by us chocolate connoisseurs. If you are making a cake, add a bit of melted chocolate to turn it into a chocolate pound cake or a chocolate cheesecake.

For a sinful dessert create icing to top your chocolate creations. A chocolate cake, cupcake, or pie covered in chocolate icing or chocolate sauce makes it heavenly. Only those with a really sweet tooth can handle such a chocolate dessert. It is not for newbies.

There are tons of chocolate desserts you can create for Valentine’s Day to surprise your gal or guy. Try out some chocolate truffles or a chocolate trifle bowl dessert. Chocolate is also an aphrodisiac so watch out if you eat too much!

Valentine’s Day Desserts for Kids

Kids love to cook. They especially love to cook sweet treats that they can gobble down later. Here are some ideas for Valentine’s Day desserts kids will enjoy making and eating.

Everybody loves chocolate or at least they should. Recent research shows that eating a little chocolate is good for you. Don’t tell your kids though, or they’ll never let you forget it.

Valentine’s Day was made for chocolate. Let the kids make some chocolate cupcakes. For most cake and cupcake recipes, it is easy to throw in a bit of melted chocolate for an extra sweet tasting dessert. Top them with icing fit for the occasion—red or pink.

Jell-O has been a kid favorite since it was introduced to the world. Turn the popular treat into a Valentine’s Day treat with some cookie cutters. Cookie cutters shaped like hearts, kissing lips, cupid, or letters create holiday cut-outs for the kids. Let the kids cut the shapes after the gelatin has set.

Kids love to decorate with icing and sprinkles and candy. If you make cupcakes, brownies, or cake for them this Valentine’s Day, let them decide how the finished confections will look. Put the icing in a bag designed for that purpose so the kids can pipe the icing through to create words or pictures on the dessert. A plastic storage bag with a small hole cut into the corner works just as well as a cake decorating bag.

Cookies go well with any holiday. For Valentine’s Day, use sugar cookies. With sugar cookies, they can be topped with icing, sugar, and sprinkles. Try to get sprinkles shaped like hearts. Our tried and true cookie cutters can be used again to cut the chilled dough into the same shapes as the gelatin treats.

How about a dessert pizza? Using cookie dough, roll it out to the shape and diameter of a large pizza. Follow package instructions for baking the cookie. Once it’s done and cooled, top with icing. White or vanilla icing can be tinted pink or darker with some red food coloring. Then, let the kids top the dessert pizza with their favorite candies. Plain M&M’s, candy sprinkles, and other chewy sweets can top the pizza.

Try a new twist on some dessert favorites. Add large candy hearts to the top of cupcakes.  Create a cake shaped like cupid. Use heart-shaped foil cups to bake brownies. All of these ideas are easy enough for your kids to help you create them.

Feed that sweet tooth with some great treat ideas this year. Your kids might have a few ideas of their own to add to the pot for more Valentine’s Day fun.