Recipe details

Method

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3.
2. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking parchment.
3. Cream 175g butter and 175g sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat 3 of the eggs and pour in, a little at a time, mixing after each addition. Sift together 140g flour, 1⁄2 tsp baking powder and the cocoa, then fold into the butter mixture along with the almonds. Combine 100ml milk, 11⁄2 tsp vanilla and all the food colouring and add to the batter, then mix until evenly coloured.
5. Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hr 10 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack. When cool, cut the cake into 4cm slices. Using a 5cm heart shaped cutter, stamp out the hearts (save any remaining cake for another treat).
7. Repeat step 1 to make a second cake mixture – you won’t have cocoa or food colour in this batch.
8. Pour 3⁄4 of the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
9. Push the bottoms of the hearts into the batter in a tightly packed row.
10. Spoon over the remaining cake mixture, covering as much of the hearts as possible.
11. Bake for 1 hr or until a skewer comes out clean.
12. Cool for 10 mins in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
13. For the icing, gently heat all the chocolate and butter over a low heat until combined. Leave to cool before covering the cake with chocolate icing.