Sweets and romance go hand-in-hand, and with Valentine’s Day coming up, these heart cupcakes will surely win over all your loved ones!
This tutorial is so easy – with just a few items, you’ll be forming their shape in no time. You just use some marbles or aluminum foil in a regular cupcake pan to form the shape, and there you go…something unique and eye-catching! Perfect for upcoming Valentine’s Day!

Of course, you don’t have to wait until Valentine’s Day to put these heart shaped cupcakes together. This recipe is perfect for weddings, anniversaries, date nights, and other times when a bit of love is in the air.

Or you can make them for a little girl’s birthday, or for baby showers…you know what we’re going to say here: get creative! Since the recipe is very customizable (like many of our recipes!) you can use different colors, sprinkles, batters, etc to get the effect you want.
Let us show you how to make these wonderful cupcakes!

Heart Shaped Cupcakes: Ingredients & Utensils
Serves 18-24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Ingredients
- Cupcake batter (your favorite will do)
- Frosting (again, use your fave!)
- Our Valentine Nonpareil Sprinkles (or any other sprinkle mix!)
Utensils & Other Items
- Ceramic marbles (small ones from Amazon or Hobby Lobby)
- Decorator icing bags
- Decorator tips (we suggest a #10 round tip or #21 star tip)
- Greaseproof cupcake liners

How To Make Heart Cupcakes
- Prepare the cupcake batter according to the instructions on the batter recipe.
- Add liners to the cupcake pan.
- Drop a marble into each hole of the cupcake pan next to/outside of the liner, so that the liner forms a heart shape.
- Add batter. Be sure to only fill the liners about half full to maintain the shape of the heart so rests a little below the liner top when baked and cooled.
- Use a skewer or pick to gently push back liner and position the marble close to the liner, so that it’s touching the bottom of the pan. You want to maintain that heart shape!
- Bake the cupcakes according to the instructions on the batter recipe.
- Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Frost cupcakes as desired.
- Decorate with our Valentine Nonpareil Sprinkles or any other sprinkle mix!

Heart Shaped Cupcakes Recipe: Tips & Tricks
As always, we love to share ideas about customizing the recipes we post. Here are ideas for our heart cupcakes if you need sweet inspiration!
For the cupcake batter, we recommend using…
- Our simple strawberry cream cheese cupcakes—you can use the frosting we listed on this one too if you want! They’re pink, light, fluffy, and just feel like Valentine’s Day.
- Of course, our vanilla cupcake recipe is a beautiful and elegant classic if you don’t want to get too complicated with flavor, but still want something scrumptious. It’s a really easy recipe, too!
- Just having fun? A quick cake mix will do too!

For the frosting, we recommend…
- Our buttercream frosting, which is smooth and creamy. It’ll definitely become a favorite of just about everyone who tries it!
- You can also check out our homemade cream cheese frosting. It’s just four ingredients and tangy-sweet! Somehow it’s completely appropriate for Valentine’s Day, or any other holiday you want heart cupcakes for.
Now for a few other tips…
- If you can’t find ceramic marbles, bits of balled-up aluminum foil will also work!
- Remember to use food coloring if you want seasonally appropriate pink or red frosting…or any other color, for that matter. It’s a cute finishing touch!
- Lost the heart shape after baking? Be sure to let the cupcakes cool completely in the pan so they keep the shape. You might also want to roll up bits of aluminum foil or use smaller marbles on the bottom left and right of the liner to create an even more defined heart shape.

Fun Valentine’s Day Tutorial
Isn’t this SUCH a creative way to bake something adorable without having to buy a whole new pan you’ll only use a few times? Comment down below with your heart cupcake experience! Did these turn out well for you? Think it’s a great idea? Do you have any other tips for your fellow bakers? We’d love to hear from you.

Check out more cupcake inspiration right here!
If you’re looking for another fun baking project, here are a few of our favorite cupcake recipes we’ve posted especially for Valentine’s Day:
- Easy Strawberry Banana Cupcakes
- Simple Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes
- Strawberry Funfetti Cupcakes
- Hi Hat Cupcakes – How perfect in Valentine colors?!
- Square Cupcake Tutorial
- Valentines Cakesicles
- Heart Chocolate Bombs