CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON
It took a little creativity to make this tasty heart-shaped berry cream cake; the perfect addition to any Valentine’s Day meal!

With V-Day on its way, I thought I would give you an idea for a delicious meal to cook for your partner. I chose to make one of my all-time favourite pasta dishes and a new dessert. Baking isn't usually my forte, but this cake turned out to be light and delicious. But, before we get to the dessert, let's start with the main course.

Dinner:
This is a Martha Stewart recipe that you can adapt to your personal tastes. It's relatively inexpensive, yet it tastes gourmet! It's pasta with prosciutto and peas. Sound simple enough? Here's what you'll need:

- 12 oz. fettuccine (or the pasta of your choice)

- 1 tbsp. butter

- 1 shallot, finely chopped (1/4 cup) (a small cooking onion works too)

- 2/3 cup heavy cream (also known as whipping cream or cooking cream)

- 1 package (10 oz.) frozen/canned peas

- 8 slices prosciutto (about 4 oz. total), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, about 1 cup

- 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

- Salt and pepper

- 1/2 cup finely grated

Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)

This recipe does involve a bit of multi-tasking, but it's nothing you can't handle. Before you start cooking don't forget to cut up your shallot and the prosciutto so they're ready when you start making your sauce.

Now for the fun part. Boil a large pot of water for your pasta. While that's heating up, make the sauce in a large skillet. Melt butter over medium-low heat, add the shallot, and allow it to soften for five minutes. Throw your pasta into the boiling water to cook. Pour in your cream, and add the peas and prosciutto, bringing to gentle simmer over medium heat. If you're using frozen peas, make sure they are heated through (three or four minutes). Now all that's left to do is stir in the lemon zest and juice. Now that you have your sauce, you can pour it over your pasta and add the Parmesan and salt and pepper.

Dessert:
Making this heart-shaped berry cream cake was a bit of an adventure. The recipe I have called for Sponge Cake Mix, powdered sugar, strawberries, raspberries and whipped cream. But, after calling ValuMart and visiting Real Canadian Superstore, I learned that this "Sponge Cake Mix" may not be as popular as I thought. In the spur of the moment I decided to grab some Angel Food Cake Mix and pray that it would work out, but if you're feeling adventurous, you can make sponge cake from scratch (check out the recipe at tinyurl.com/spongecake3).

The angel food cake mix was simple: add water! What I did not think of was the fact that angel food cake is typically baked in a large tube pan. This heart-shaped cake needed to be baked in my small heart-shaped pan. So I only filled my heart-shaped pan about three quarters of the way. The recipe told me to bake for 35 to 45 minutes, so I set my timer for 30 and checked it. My cake had risen to almost double the size of the pan, and I was starting to worry. I cooked it until the top was brown and crackled as per the instructions. When I took it out, the cake fell a bit and the golden brown crusted top looked delicious.

The next challenge was slicing the cake in half horizontally. The idea is to place the raspberries and strawberries in between the two halves. I discovered that using a paring knife worked better than a steak knife. I also discovered that sponge cake would probably be easier to cut than angel food.

Once you have your heart cake cut in half, it's time to add a thick layer of whipped cream to the top of your bottom half. Then decorate with as many raspberries and strawberries as you desire. One tip is to cut the strawberries fairly thin so that the cake doesn't end up being monstrous and is still manageable to eat. Don't forget to save a few berries for to decorate the top! I made a few heart-shaped strawberries by peeling the leaves off, hollowing out the top of the berry in a v-shape, and slicing thin pieces from top to tip.

For your final touches, sprinkle powdered sugar across the top of the cake and on the plate for decoration. Add whipped cream on top if desired, but remember that the whipped cream will make any cake soggy — especially angel food! Serve immediately and enjoy with your boo this Valentine's Day.

If you have a restaurant or recipe suggestion for Mel's Munchies, email her at m_anderson6@fanshawec.ca.