Delicious Valentines Day Gifts

I’m not easily impressed and I pride myself on having a will of iron. Once my mind is made up, there are very few things that can change it. It has its upside and it’s down side. The upside being I can walk into a store and put together an entire outfit in under thirty minutes. Its down side is if my boyfriend for five years manages to forget my birthday, and I swear on my very iron will that I’ll never forgive him, I might end up eating my words.

It happened last year, he forgot my birthday and it just boiled my kettle. We’d been dating for five freaking years and he goes and forgets my birthday! He wasn’t even ashamed of himself and it made me madder, my anger swelled and bubbled way up to February and he was definitely looking at a solitary valentines dinner. My sister told me in a very annoying know-it-all tone that come valentines day and the mountain of valentines heart and valentine’s day chocolate that my BF would get me and my anger would be gone with the wind. I seriously doubted that would ever happen. I mean I wasn’t some brainless high school girl who would go crazy over a heart shaped valentine or a valentine chocolate box, I had a will of iron! I personally went online and scoped out the big stuff being rolled out for Valentines Day, the newest thing in valentines bouquets and romantic gifts for that special someone. Once I knew all the stuff that was out there I spent the fourteen days of February reinforcing my resolute to not let any valentine gift deter me. Come Valentines day and my BF shows up on my door step with my valentines day gift basket; a huge fruit bouquet! That was my fastest melt down ever! The fruit had been cut and arranged like flowers and was even dipped in chocolate. Of all the unique Valentines Day gift ideas I had seen and read about online, nothing could have prepared my resolute to stay angry at my boyfriend after that awesome gift. I forgave him and he eventually apologized for forgetting my birthday (something about losing his daily planner). The fruit bouquet was delicious and we had a great time eating it for dessert after our Valentines dinner.

10 Perfect Valentine’s Day Desserts

It seems that most people fall into one of three categories when it comes to Valentine’s Day:

Group #1: They enjoy the holiday and celebrate. Usually gifts and dinners at nice restaurants are involved.

Group #2: They think Valentine’s Day is nice, but over the top. They still recognize the day with cards, maybe a small gift, and prepare a nice dinner in.

Group #3: This last group completely hates the holiday, brands it a “Hallmark holiday” and wants nothing to do with acknowledging it.

Where do you fall on this spectrum?

Well, for any of you that fall somewhere in the #1 or #2 range, I have prepared for you a list of the most Valentine-worthy desserts that have graced this site over the last three years. Rich and decadent, just like the love you’re celebrating, these dishes are the perfect way to cap off a wonderful meal together.

Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

This lovely Chocolate Cupcake is all about having your own little cake that you do not have to share. Did you know that the name "cup cake" was first used, not to describe its size, but to how the cake's ingredients were measured? It seems that before the 1880s ingredients for baking cakes were 'weighed' so when recipes started to be written with 'cup' measurements, they were named 'cup' cakes to reflect this difference.

Fast forward to today and cupcakes are now individual cakes that are baked in either muffin pans or in cup-shaped molds. They are usually topped with a frosting and candy sprinkles are entirely optional.

Cupcakes may come in many flavors, but chocolate and vanilla are still the most popular. With that in mind, I give you my favorite Chocolate Cupcake recipe. This recipe produces a Chocolate Cupcake with a moist texture and mild chocolate flavor that comes from using Dutch-processed cocoa powder that has been dissolved in hot water to bring out its full flavor. Of course, no cupcake is complete without a frosting, and for these cupcakes I have used a rich and creamy chocolate fudge frosting.

The frosting recipe comes from the cookbook Chocolate Bar by Matt Lewis and Alison Nelson who run a chocolate boutique that they call a "candy store for grown-ups" in New York. It is the type of chocolate frosting my mother always used to cover cakes. Made with butter, confectioners (icing or powdered) sugar, vanilla extract and unsweetened chocolate, it is perfect for piping lovely swirls. It uses unsweetened chocolate which is also known as baking, plain or bitter chocolate. This is chocolate in its rawest form. Chocolate liquor that has been refined and contains 50-55% cocoa butter. Since no sugar has been added to the chocolate it has a strong, bitter taste that is used in cooking and baking but is never eaten out of hand. When used in this frosting it imparts a deep chocolate flavor.

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