Welcome the season of love. Time to bake everything into the shape of a heart such as heart-shaped cookies and heart-shaped cakes. The bakery departments in almost every store will be glittered in red, pink and white with hearts spewing from the ovens in a sweet explosion. The temptation to buy these treats can be almost to much to deny as the smell of fresh baked goods tickles your nose, but take a step back and imagine just how much better it will be to bake your own. Not only will that wonderful sweet smell bellow through your house, but each homemade baked good could make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift made from the heart (pun intended).

Cookies can be easy to do. Simply roll out some of your favorite cookie dough and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make a perfect Valentine’s Day cookie. Then bake it and Tada! The perfect Valentine’s Day treat. However, cakes are a little different, especially if you are like me and find that there isn’t a heart-shaped cake pan anywhere in your house. Oh I have a Darth Vader cake pan, an R2-D2 cake pan and even a Ninja Turtle cake pan, but a heart never made it into my collection. I suppose it just wasn’t geeky enough.

Now if I wanted to, I could decorate Darth Vader into a Valentine’s Day cake. Add the quote “Join Me” and it would be a love message for any geeky Valentine. However, we are here to learn how to make a heart-shaped cake without a heart-shaped cake pan. Thanks to my High School Home Economics Teacher and the fact that I paid attention in class several years ago, I will be able to share simple instructions on how to build a heart cake. Once you learn this trick you won’t ever have to buy a heart cake pan. I mean you can if you want here, but it isn’t necessary.

Use this diagram to build a cake in the shape of a heart. All it takes are a few easy steps.

How to make a Cake in the Shape of a Heart

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

What you will need: 1 – 8 inch round cake, cooled 1 – 8 inch square cake cooled Frosting piping tools decorations

Directions Place the square cake on a large cake tray Cut the round cake in half along the diameter Using a small amount of frosting to hold the pieces together, place the flat edge of one of the round cake halves along one of the edges of the square cake. Place the other half of the round cake on the corresponding side of the square cake to form a heart, flat edges together Frost the entire cake and blend the edges Decorate as desired using the piping tools and decorations

Photo from Family.Disney.com

The little robot that captured the hearts of Disney Fans everywhere can be made into an adorable love-struck cookie. In the movie Wall-E, Wall-E falls for the new girl on the plant. Who knows what first kicked him in the bolts, it could have been her sleek shape, shiny exterior, or maybe her futuristic nature. All we know is Wall-E fell hard for the Eve probe.

Their love spread across the galaxy as Wall-E chased after his love. Not even an evil plot could keep him away from Eve. Disney celebrates the love between Eve and Wall-E with this unforgettable Sugar Cookie recipe of the lovable Wall-E eyes. Simply follow the instructions below to create this yummy recipe.

By Disney:

In his role as a trash compactor, the love-struck WALL-E has developed a real knack for making good use of spare parts — like turning his collection of extra robot eyes into irresistible treats.

Sweet WALL-E Cookies

• Time: 32 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients Wall-e Eye Template Batch of chilled sugar cookie dough Rolling pin Flour Wax paper Kitchen knife Baking sheet Spatula Wire cooling rack White cookie icing Butter knife Chocolate Candy Melts Chocolate M&M’s candies Small microwavable bowl Toothpick Small round pretzels

Photo from Family.Disney.com

Directions Heat the oven to the specified temperature for the cookie dough. Meanwhile, print and cut out the template pieces. Roll out the dough on a floured sheet of wax paper to ¼-inch thickness and then use the template and kitchen knife to cut out a bunch of WALL-E eyes (both left and right). Bake the cookies according to the recipe directions and then transfer them to the wire rack to cool completely. Working with one cookie eye at a time, frost the surface with white cookie icing, and gently press a candy melt in place for the iris. Next, use a blob of cookie icing to “glue” a chocolate M&M’s candy atop the candy melt. Melt a few chocolate Candy Melts in a microwavable bowl, heating them for 10- to 15-second intervals until they are soft enough to stir into a smooth consistency. Use the tip of a toothpick dipped in the melted chocolate to add three “rivets” to each eye. Use more of the melted chocolate to stick each completed pair of WALL-E eyes to the top of pretzel.

I finally got the chance to see Star Wars The Force Awakens in theaters on Christmas Day/ Let me tell you (This is Spoiler free so no worries), I liked BB-8 before I saw the movie. I made printables featuring the adorable droid, I gave away a Christmas Gift featuring BB-8, and I even made a DeviantArt Gif for my avatar. However, After seeing the film, I now love this little droid. He is not only adorable, he has a hilarious sense of humor, an aggressive attitude and displays emotions almost as well as R2-D2.

For those of us who love this new droid, Disney has released a recipe inspired by this Star Wars The Force Awakens character. BB-8 is now immortalized in pancakes. Now, we can roll out of bed in the morning and prepare a scrumptious breakfast by transforming regular pancakes into a Star Wars breakfast from another galaxy. With just a little powdered sugar and some fruit, BB-8 will be art on our plates. He is also very easy and quick to make!

Save this recipe by clicking Print and saving it as a PDF. Then go forth and make an out of this world pancake that the First Order will want more than the actual droid.

BB-8 Pancakes

• Time: 20 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

NOTE: All cutting should be done by an adult. Ingredients 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour 3 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 TB of White Sugar 1 1/4 Cup Milk 1 egg 3 Tbsp butter melted 1 tsp Vanilla extract Powdered sugar 1 orange Handful of blueberries

Photo from family.disney.com

Directions In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Pour in milk, egg and melted butter and whisk together until there are no lumps Heat an oiled frying pan on medium heat. Fry the pancakes until they are brown on both sides. Make an equal number of Large and medium=sized pancakes Place a large pancake in the center of a plate. This will be BB-8’s body. On a cutting board cut the medium pancake almost in half, but with one side slightly larger than the other. Take the larger half and trim the corners. This will be BB-8’s head. Place above the large pancake. Sprinkle the pancakes with powdered sugar. Cut an orange into round slices. Take one slice and cut a crescent off of it. Place the whole orange slice on the top left part of the large pancake. Place the other slice on the bottom right. Place two blueberries on the medium pancake as BB-8’s eyes. Serve and Enjoy