Valentine’s Day can be hard for single people. Though there is a twisted kind of joy in lecturing your friends in relationships about how Valentine’s Day is just a capitalist holiday, and that you should show your partner how much you love them all year round, you secretly wish someone would surprise you with flowers and chocolates. But not to worry! You can still enjoy the best part of Valentine’s Day (obviously the food), which is heavily discounted the days after. Relish in the smugness of enjoying the chocolate just as much, and at a far cheaper rate than your coupled-up friends. Here are a couple of recipes to spice up (sadly not your love life) the mountains of discounted chocolate you’ll be buying the next day. 

Big Chocolate Mug Cake

Is there anything more comforting than a warm mug of cake?

Ingredients:

60g of butter, plus extra for greasing

60g of chocolate – I would recommend something that melts easily, such as chocolate hearts or Lindor

2 eggs

4 tablespoons of caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 tablespoons of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

To decorate (optional):

A few boxed chocolates

Method:

1.In a large (500ml) mug, melt the butter with the chocolate in the microwave (800W) for 50 seconds.Beat the 2.mixture until smooth, then allow to cool slightly.
3.Grease the mug with a bit of butter.
4.Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder and whisk together with a fork.
5.Cook in the microwave for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
6.Allow to cool for one minute and decorate with a few boxed chocolates.

Broken Heart Cake

Something to share with your friends, single or not.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

175g of softened unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

175g of caster sugar

3 eggs

50g of cocoa powder

100g of self-raising flour/100g plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder

1-2 teaspoons of milk

For the chocolate buttercream:

50g of melted chocolate – I would recommend chocolate hearts or Lindor

85g of softened unsalted butter

175g of sieved icing sugar

For the red buttercream:

50g of softened unsalted butter

100g of sieved icing sugar

A few drops of red food colouring

For the caramel

120g of caster sugar

3 tablespoons of water

Method:

1.Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. With the extra butter, grease two 20cm sandwich tins and line with baking parchment.
2.Whisk the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
3.Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl, then work into the butter and sugar mixture.
4.Sieve the cocoa powder and flour into the wet ingredients and fold in until the batter is thoroughly combined. If the mixture is too stiff, add the milk.
5.Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth the tops down with the back of a spoon.
6.Bake for 20-25 minutes until springy. Take out of the oven and leave in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7.In the meantime, make the chocolate buttercream by beating the butter and 87.5g of the icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and melted chocolate and mix together.
8.Make the red buttercream by beating the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add a few drops of the red food colouring and stir that in, until the icing is at the desired colour.
9.Make the caramel by putting the sugar and water in a medium pan. Stir with your fingers until the mixture feels like wet sand. Place over a medium heat and cook without stirring to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat and boil to a rich golden caramel, swirling but not stirring the pan occasionally.
10.Remove from the heat and pour onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment and leave to harden.
11.To assemble the cake, place one cake on a plate or cake board, glued down with a small dollop of icing. Spread the top of the cake with half the icing. Then put the second cake on top and push down slightly. Spread the remaining icing on top.
12.Put the red buttercream into a piping bag. Pipe the outline of a large heart in the centre of the cake, filling it in with the remaining icing.
13.Once the caramel has hardened, smash it into shards. Stick the shards into the red buttercream heart.

Enjoy!