30 Days of Pinterest: Day 2- Valentine's Brownie Cake

This is an adorable recipe for a Valentine's Day dessert.  The original recipe called for it to be made with white cake mix and peanut butter icing, but I changed it to strawberry cake mix and vanilla icing.  It could be made as cupcakes (48 according to the original recipe) but I chose to use my heart-shaped pan.  I like to bake from scratch, but you can't beat this for convenience because it uses boxed mixes and prepared frosting.  I do think it would be even more delicious with homemade buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

• 1 (19.5 ounce) package brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 package strawberry cake mix
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 egg whites
• Vanilla Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F  Line 48 muffin cups with paper liners or grease and flour cake pan.
2. Stir together the brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 1/4 cup water in a bowl. Stir just until fully incorporated, about 50 strokes; set aside.
3. Mix the cake mix, 2 tablespoons canola oil, 1 1/3 cup water, and 3 egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Spoon the brownie batter into prepared pan (filling only about 1/3 full). Spoon the cake batter over the brownie batter until pan, or muffin tins, are about 2/3 full.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes for cupcakes, 40 minutes for heart shaped cake.

Fresh from the oven (the middle fell in)


Turned out pretty...and tasty.

Full disclosure: I accidentally reversed the water and put the 1 1/3 cup in the brownie part and the 1/4 cup in the cake part.  I then added another 1/2 cup or so to the cake part.  The brownie was a bit watery, and spongy, and just not quite right. However, I think this recipe is great and it would have been perfect had I not messed it up.