There’s a hidden heart in every slice of this bundt! Here’s how to make it…

A hidden heart cake is actually pretty easy to make!

This bundt cake is all dressed up for Valentine’s Day. It has the sweetest surprise inside: a hidden heart in every slice!

Baker Alyssa Bybee shared her technique to this darling hidden-heart bundt.

This recipe starts with a box cake mix—but we’re not following the box instructions. Instead, we’re upgrading it to make it extra moist and flavorful. Here’s how:

• Pudding Mix: Adding a dry pudding mix gives the cake a richer texture.
• Sour Cream Instead of Water: This makes the cake moist and slightly more dense, like a pound cake.
• Almond Extract (Optional): If you love almond flavor, add a splash! Otherwise, you can skip it.

You’ll need two white cake mixes—one for the hidden hearts and one for the bundt cake. To make the hearts, dye one batter pink and bake it in a loaf pan. If you want a flavorful shortcut, use a strawberry cake mix instead of dying the batter pink!

Once the pink cake has cooled, slice it into thick pieces and use a heart-shaped cutter to create your cake hearts. Don’t let those cake scraps go to waste—they’re perfect for making delicious cake bites, cake pops, or truffles! Here’s Alyssa’s simple formula:

Cake Truffles

INGREDIENTS

• Leftover cake, crumbled
• Frosting
• Candy melts or almond bark coating
• Sprinkles (optional)

METHOD

1. For every 1 cup of cake crumbs, add 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons of frosting. Start with less frosting—you can always add more if needed. The mixture should have the consistency of cookie dough.
2. Roll about a tablespoon of the mixture into small balls. Place them on a parchment-lined tray.
3. Freeze for 10 minutes to firm up.
4. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt your candy coating in 20-second intervals, stirring between each round, until smooth.
5. Dip each chilled cake truffle into the melted coating, tapping off the excess.
6. Add sprinkles if desired, then place them back on the tray to set. Since the truffles are already cold, they’ll firm up quickly.

These bite-sized treats are a fun bonus to your hidden heart cake!

Since the hearts inside the cake are already baked, the key is not to overbake. Use the shake test (the cake should jiggle slightly but not be wet) and the spring-back test (press lightly, and it should bounce back).

Hidden Heart Bundt Cake

By Alyssa Bybee

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Pink Heart Cake

• 1- white cake mix or try a strawberry cake mix
• 4 ounce vanilla instant pudding mix dry
• 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 4 large eggs or 5 egg whites
• ½ cup oil
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• red food coloring

Bundt Cake

• 1 white cake mix
• 4 ounce vanilla instant pudding mix dry
• 1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 4 large eggs or 5 egg whites see notes
• ½ cup oil
• 1 tablespoon almond extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• ½ cup butter room temperature
• ¼ cup or 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• ⅛ teaspoon salt small pinch
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
• 1-3 tablespoons of milk as needed
• sprinkles or sliced almonds for decorating (optional)

METHOD

Cakes

1. Start by making your pink cake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take your white (or strawberry) cake mix and add your dry instant pudding mix to it. Add in your eggs or egg whites and oil. Whisk until smooth.
2. Add in your almond extract (if desired), sour cream or Greek yogurt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in your red food coloring (if not using a strawberry cake mix) until you achieve a good pink color.
3. Pour cake batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
4. Let cool completely before using. Once cool, slice off the ends of the cake, trying to remove as little of the cake as possible, you really just want to remove the crust.
5. Take your heart cookie cutter and cut slices of the loaf the same width as the cookie cutter. Use your heart cookie cutter to cut as many little hearts out of each slices as possible, avoiding the brown crust around the edges. You should get 2-3 hearts per slice.
6. Then prepare your white cake for the body of the bundt cake. Take your white cake mix and add your dry instant pudding mix to it. Add in your eggs or egg whites and oil. Whisk until smooth.
7. Add in your almond extract (if desired), sour cream or Greek yogurt. Whisk until smooth. Grease and flour your bundt cake pan so it does not stick. Then add half of the batter to the bundt cake pan, evenly distributing it around the pan.
8. Take your pink cake hearts and place them topside down/point side up, into the cake batter, fanning them out from the center.
9. Then take your remaining cake batter and drop spoonfuls around the cake pan, covering the pink hearts. Make sure the batter is smooth and evenly distributed.
10. Bake for 35-40 minutes until cake springs back at the touch and a toothpick inserted only has few moist crumbs stuck to it. Let cool for 15 minutes before attempting to remove it from the bundt cake pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. While cake is cooling prepare your frosting. Beat your cream cheese until light and fluffy. Then add in your room temperature butter and cream them together until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add in your vanilla extract, almond extract, salt, and 1 cup of powdered sugar until smooth. Add in 1 tablespoon of milk and remaining powdered sugar. Add more milk 1 tablespoon at a time as needed.
3. Once cake is cool, you can pipe your frosting on or use a spatula to spread it over the top of the cake. Decorate with sprinkles or sliced almonds if desired.

Notes from Alyssa

You can either use four large eggs or five large egg whites. Alyssa likes to use egg whites to keep the cake and as white as possible, but if you don’t mind your cake having a yellow tint, use whole eggs.

Find the full post on Alyssa’s site, here.

Find more recipes from Alyssa on Instagram, @infinetaste, or on her website, infinetaste.com.