The Easy Way To Achieve Beautiful Decorative Hearts On Your Cheesecake

The seasonal festivities are barely over when many of us begin prepping for another favorite holiday – Valentine's Day. What's not to love about a day dedicated to love in its many forms? If you too are preparing in advance and looking for ideas to amp up your V-day celebrations this year, here's an easy and captivating culinary idea to try: Decorate your cheesecake with beautiful and simple hearts, with just a little bit of tasty and tangy raspberry sauce.

You could choose to make the cheesecake at home – whether you prefer a classic baked cheesecake or a slightly boozy cherry cheesecake – you are covered either way. However, our decoration tip works perfectly well even if you are not much of a home baker or simply don't have the time to devote to making cheesecake at home from scratch. This little trick will liven up even a store-bought cheesecake to make it look personalized and lovely.

This sweet little decoration hack was first shared by @gratefulheartcollective on her Instagram reels. First, she made some raspberry sauce at home, which can easily be recreated. All you need for this sauce is fresh or frozen raspberries, water, sugar, lemon juice, and if you want to add a slight thickness to it, some cornstarch. Cooking these ingredients together produces a delicious raspberry sauce.

To fashion this sauce into hearts, you need to load up a medicine dropper with it and dot the circumference of the cheesecake till you achieve four to five dotted concentric circles. The next step is the one where you see the beautiful results. Take a toothpick and with a steady hand, run it across the dots of raspberry sauce without lifting your hand, so the hearts remain connected to each other without a break. And there you have it, a stunning (and easy-peasy) Valentine's Day dessert.

If you don't have time to make the raspberry sauce at home or are just looking for other Valentine's Day decoration ideas, here are a few more: Sticking with the theme, why not make mini hearts with cut strawberries or raspberries? Just arrange the half-cut berries in the shape of hearts to rim the cheesecake. After all, fresh fruits are a time-tested option for decorating cheesecakes.

You could also use caramel sauce as a base, top it with whole strawberries or raspberries, and then glaze some chocolate flakes over it for added sweetness. If fresh fruit isn't quite your thing, try some cooked fruit instead. Stewed or caramelized peaches will make for a delicious and aesthetic addition. Nuts, whether whole or flaked, add texture to the gooey goodness of a cheesecake and also pair well with fruit. If additional sweetness is what your heart desires most, you can never go wrong with chocolate and jam, or other syrups.