Swirled Chocolate Heart Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Make easy swirled chocolate bark out of your favorite candy melt colors, then cut out heart shapes to make cute & easy Valentine’s Day cupcake toppers.

Close-up of cupcake with white buttercream, pink and red sprinkles, and a large chocolate heart on top.

🧁 Candy Melt Cupcake Toppers for Valentine’s Day

These Valentine’s Day cupcakes, topped with swirled chocolate heart toppers, will win YOUR heart–and your stomach! All you need are a few colors of candy melts and some small cookie cutters to make these eye-catching hearts. You can use them as cupcake toppers, decorate a full cake with them, or even package them individually as cute valentines for kids!

If you’re looking for more Valentine’s Day Cupcake ideas, don’t miss my Sprinkle Heart Cupcakes, Fondant Rose Cupcakes, or Chocolate Rose Cupcakes.

Group of red velvet cupcakes with white buttercream and pink and red hearts on top.

🧾 What You’ll Need

Components

You can use practically any cupcake and frosting recipe you’d like as the base of these cupcakes. Here are my top recommendations, but if you have a tried and true recipe you love, chances are it’ll work too. Just pick a cupcake and a frosting flavor, and get ready to swirl!

Cupcake Recipes to Try

Frosting Recipes to Try

Storebought vs Homemade

Looking for shortcuts? You can definitely use a cake mix to make cupcakes, or even buy baked cupcakes to decorate. You can also use store-bought canned frosting — just be aware that this kind of frosting doesn’t pipe well, so you’ll want to do a small spatula swirl on top of the cupcakes instead of a tall piped swirl.

Group of red velvet cupcakes with white buttercream and pink and red hearts on top.

Equipment

Here’s everything you need to decorate these cute cupcakes!
These are affiliate links and I earn a small commission when you purchase something through them.

Close-up of cupcake with white buttercream, pink and red sprinkles, and four chocolate hearts on top.

📋 Instructions

How to Make Swirled Candy Melt Bark

Since the star of the show is the candy melt cupcake toppers, this tutorial will focus on how to get those perfect swirled hearts.

Drizzling red and pink candy melts on top of each other on a parchment-covered baking sheet.

Step 1: Melt the different colors of candy melts in individual bowls in the microwave. For these hearts, I used red, bright pink, and light pink colors.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper, and spread one color out in a rough oval shape as the base color. Use a spoon to drizzle the other two colors on top of the first.

Swirling red and pink candy melts together to make swirled bark.

Step 2: Take a bread knife or mini spatula, and swirl it through the candy melts before the candy starts to set up. Avoid over-swirling, or the colors might become muddy and indistinct.

Let the candy bark partially set at room temperature, but stay close by and watch the tray carefully. You want the candy to be firm enough that you can touch it without smearing it, but still pliable enough to be easily cut. Depending on room conditions and temperature, this will probably be in the 5-10 minute range.

Hand cutting heart shapes out of pink and red swirled candy melt bark.

Step 3: Take a small heart-shaped cookie cutter and press firmly through the swirled candy melt bark. If you have timed it right, you should be able to easily cut through the candy. TIP: the candy melts will start setting from the outside edges in, so cut your first hearts out around the edges, then move into the center when it feels firm enough to cut.

Baking sheet covered with parchment, with swirled chocolate hearts arranged on it.

Step 4: Once all the hearts are cut out, let the bark set completely–this can be at room temperature or in the refrigerator. When it’s firm, carefully pop the hearts out and set them aside while you frost the cupcakes.

Piping a tall swirl of white buttercream on top of a pink cupcake.

Step 5: Pipe generous swirls of buttercream on your baked and cooled cupcakes. I’m using my Easy Swiss Meringue Buttercream here, piped with Ateco #846 large star tip.

Hand pressing red, white, and pink sprinkles around the edge of a buttercream-frosted cupcake.

Step 6: If desired, you can press jimmies or nonpareil sprinkles along the base of the frosting for an extra festive flair. Finally, add a few chocolate hearts and you’re done!

Hand placing a swirled chocolate heart on top of a buttercream-swirled cupcake.

❤️ More Heart-y Desserts

Close-up of a red velvet cupcake with white buttercream, sprinkles around the edge, and a chocolate heart on top.
Sprinkle Heart Cupcakes
Sprinkle Heart Cupcakes are the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, or any special occasion. Use this easy cupcake decorating hack to make cute, customized, sprinkle-covered cupcakes in no time!
Get the recipe!
Close-up of a cupcake with a red heart-shaped sprinkle shape in the center.
Fondant Rose Cupcakes
Learn to make fondant ribbon roses, the sweetest little flowers that are super easy and fast to make. They can be used to decorate cupcakes or cakes, and can be made in whatever size and color you’d like. These easy fondant flowers add the perfect romantic touch to any dessert.
Get the recipe!
Close up of cupcake with white ruffled frosting and pink fondant flowers.

Don’t miss the step-by-step tutorial showing how to make Swirled Heart Cupcakescheck out the web story here!

Leave a review!

If you make this recipe, let us know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe below, and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram @elabau, or use #sugarhero on IG!

Close-up of cupcake with white buttercream, pink and red sprinkles, and a large chocolate heart on top.

Swirled Chocolate Heart Cupcakes

5 from 3 votes
These Valentine’s Day cupcakes, topped with swirled chocolate heart toppers, will win YOUR heart! Make easy swirled chocolate bark out of your favorite candy melt colors, then cut out heart shapes to make cute & easy cupcake toppers.
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Yield 24 cupcakes
Calories

Ingredients
 

CUSTOMIZE: 24 cupcakes

Instructions
 

  • Place each candy melt color into its own bowl. Microwave the candy melts, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.
  • Cover a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper, and spread one color out in a rough oval shape as the base color. Use a spoon to drizzle the other two colors on top of the first.
  • Take a bread knife or mini spatula, and swirl it through the candy melts before the candy starts to set up. (Avoid over-swirling, or the colors might become muddy and indistinct.)
  • Let the candy bark partially set at room temperature, but keep a close eye on it as it sets. You want the candy to be firm enough that you can touch it without smearing, but pliable enough to be easily cut. Depending on room conditions and temperature, this will probably be in the 5-10 minute range.
  • Take a small heart-shaped cookie cutter and press firmly through the swirled candy melt bark. The candy melts will start setting from the outside edges in, so cut your first hearts out around the edges, then move into the center when it feels firm enough to cut.
  • Once all the hearts are cut out, let the bark set completely–this can be at room temperature or in the refrigerator. When it’s firm, carefully pop the hearts out and set them aside while you frost the cupcakes.
  • Fit a piping bag with a large star tip, and fill it with frosting. Pipe a generous swirl on top of each cupcake.
  • Hold a cupcake over a bowl of pink and red jimmies. Pick up a small handful, and gently press the sprinkles into the bottom of the cupcake’s frosting, creating about a ½-inch sprinkle border around the base.
  • Press a few chocolate hearts into the top of the frosting. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, until all of them are decorated.

Video

Recipe Notes

If you find yourself with leftover melted candy after making the bark, pour the candy out onto a piece of waxed paper and let it set completely. Once set, wrap it well and keep it for the next time you need candy melts!

MEASURING TIPS

Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.

Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.
Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest

THE BEST VALENTINE’S DAY CUPCAKES

27 cute and delicious Valentine’s Day cupcake ideas — click here to get all the recipes!

Collage of 4 Valentine's Day cupcake pictures.
Picture of Swirled Chocolate Heart Cupcakes with text overlay for Pinterest.
Elizabeth LaBau

About Elizabeth LaBau

I’m Elizabeth, but you can call me SugarHero! I’m a former pastry chef turned blogger, cookbook author, and baking instructor, and I consider myself sugar’s #1 fan. Learn more from my About page, or connect with me on social media:

What You'll Need
Editor's Note

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  For more information, see my Disclaimer and Disclosure Policy.

More Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Leave a Review

Your comment will be visible after approval. Your email address will not be published.

Rate This Recipe!




What type of comment do you have?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  • veenaazmanov wrote:
    • Emily From SugarHero wrote:
  • Anjali wrote:
    • Emily From SugarHero wrote:
  • sonia’s recipes wrote:
    • Emily From SugarHero wrote:
  • Kechi wrote:
    • Emily From SugarHero wrote:
  • Danielle wrote:
    • Emily From SugarHero wrote: