If you think cutesy pink Valentine cupcakes are too sentimental and passé then wait until you check out these Bleeding Heart cupcakes. Instead of being cutesy hearts, they're almost gruesome, and the best part is that they actually bleed jam! I love how fun they are, and especially adore the use of marbles to create the indentations! To check out the recipe and create your own bloody valentine, read more.

Bleeding Heart Cupcakes
From Hey There, Cupcake! by Clare Crespo

20 glass marbles or small balls of tinfoil
1 recipe batter for White Cupcakes (see below)
2 to 3 cups strawberry jelly or smooth strawberry jam
1 recipe Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting (see below)
Red and blue food coloring
Pastry bag and medium round tip (optional)

1. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Fill the liners two-thirds full with the batter. Place 1 marble or tinfoil ball between each liner and the tin. This will make a dent in your cupcake when it bakes to make it heart shaped. Bake the cupcakes as directed in the recipe. If you are using marbles, be careful when removing the cupcakes from the tins because the marbles will be very hot.
2. With a small paring knife, cut out a circle about the size of a dime in the center of each cupcake, going about two thirds of the way in. Pull the little plug of cake out. Cut off the top of this piece (about 1/2 inch thick) and eat or discard the bottom. Use a teaspoon or a squeeze bottle to fill the hole partway with the strawberry jelly "blood." Put the little cake plug back in. Continue with the rest of the hearts.
3. Put one-third of the frosting into two separate bowls. Color one bowl of frosting with the red food coloring. Tint the other bowl of the frosting blue. Tint the remaining two-thirds pink.
4. Frost the cupcakes with the pink frosting. Make it super smooth by dipping a butter or frosting/palette knife in a bowl of hot water and smoothing it over the top. With the pastry bag or a knife, use the red and blue frosting to make veins on the hearts.

White Cupcakes Batter
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake tins as directed as directed in the recipe you are following.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate, larger bowl, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
5. In a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla.
6. To the butter mixture, add about one quarter of the flour mixture and mix well. Add about one quarter of the milk mixture and mix well. Continue alternating the flour mixture and milk mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.

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