My husband has a sweet tooth. He grew up with homemade desserts at the end of every meal. Scrumptious pies and cakes, cookies, puddings, crumbles — You name it and my mother-in-law made it from scratch! Truth be told, I won my husband over with my decadent cheesecakes and baked goods, but I’m not a fan of overly sweet sweets! This said, I do bake and make sweets on special occasions like birthdays, dinner parties, Christmas and of course, Valentine’s Day. It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day with out Valentine sweets!
Since Little One isn’t much of a sweets person and Hubby is, I was trying to figure out what Valentine sweets to make that would please them both. I remembered that though my kid seems to have an aversion to anything super sweet, she seems to really like whipped cream!
3 Valentine Sweets that call for Gay Lea whipped cream
Chocolate Valentine’s Pudding
Ingredients:
- 1 c granulated sugar
- 1/2 c baking cocoa
- 1/4 c cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 c milk
- My mother-in-law says “butter the size of an egg”. I use about 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp vanilla (I use my homemade vanilla)
- Gay Lea Whipped Cream to garnish just at the end
- Strawberries to garnish
Directions:
- Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a heavy saucepan.
- Add milk gradually. Bring to a boil over med heat.
- Boil and stir for 2 about minutes. Let it thicken.
- Remove from the heat and then stir in the butter and vanilla.
- Spoon into individual serving dishes. You can chill until serving and then add the whipped cream on top of each serving. Garnish with sliced strawberries. We like eating our chocolate pudding while it’s still warm!
I don’t bake cakes often especially since A) our waistlines don’t need them and B) Little One doesn’t even like cake. She likes the idea of cake, but not actually eating them. She’d prefer an apple over a slice of cake! She will not turn down ice cream though! For this reason, I’ve come up with a few ice cream cake recipes. Here’s one:
Valentine Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients:
Option A: My Strawberry Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream Cake recipe
OR
Option B:
- 2 pints strawberry ice cream
- 1 pint coconut vanilla ice cream
- shortbread crust, baked and cooled (homemade or bought)
- strawberries to garnish
- Gay Lea whipped cream to garnish
Directions:
- Line an 9×11 inch baking dish with parchment paper
- Add layer of shortbread crust to dish
- Add a layer of strawberry ice cream, then a layer of coconut vanilla ice cream, and another layer of strawberry ice cream. You can freeze ice cream for 30 min in between adding layers, but it’s not necessary
- Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 4 hrs
- Remove from dish & decorate with Gay Lea whipped cream and strawberries
My 5 year old decorated this ice cream cake
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
- 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa
- 3/4 c granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 c boiling water
- 4 c milk
- Torani Syrup’s Salted Caramel
- Gay Lea whipped cream
Directions:
- Combine the cocoa & sugar in a saucepan. Slowly add in the boiling water & blend.
- Bring cocoa & sugar mixture to an easy boil, stirring all the while.
- Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch while stirring to make sure that it doesn’t scorch.
- Stir in 4 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil!
- Remove from heat and add vanilla.
- Divide hot chocolate between 4 mugs. To each mug of hot chocolate, add 2 squirts of Torani’s Salted Caramel syrup (that’s if you have the dispenser. If not, then a bout 1 tsp to each mug). Stir. Add the whipped cream to the hot chocolate and enjoy!
There you go! 3 different Valentine sweets for your sweethearts!
For more delicious recipes using Gay Lea Foods products, visit them on Facebook, their website, and Pinterest. I’ve also created a Pinterest board for all my favourite Gay Lea whipped cream recipes! Check it out here!
Disclosure: I am part of the Gay Lea Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”
Thanks for sharing
These are so good!!! They would be great for anniversaries too! Thanks so much!
those recipes all look great. especially the salted caramel hot chocolate. my husband will sometimes make us packets of hot chocolate and put a very generous spray of gaylea whipped cream. (they have been generous with coupons so we tried their whipped cream and liked it better than cool whip.) when we are done the hot chocolate the whipped cream can goes back in the fridge and the kids get to finish it the next day.
I think my favourite of these is the Valentine Ice Cream Cake, but they all look and sound delicious.
they all look good but nothing says love more better then the homemade chocolate pudding..mmmm
I really loved your Valentine Recipes. I can’t wait to try the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate! It never occured to me to put Caramel in Hot Chocolate. It sounds so good. Thank you for these yummy recipes.
Elva, the combination is “different”, but so good! I’ve got a collection of Torani syrups in my kitchen so I can play “barrista”!
They all sound yummy! May have to make the chocolate pudding as part of our Valentine’s Day meal!
That looks so yummy.
Oh those look amazing, I really really am going to have to try the salted caramel hot chocolate, that sounds incredible! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Darlene! LOVE the salted caramel hot chocolate. At first I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but it’s a FAVE here now! Such a great combo!
Your recipes always look so delicious! Love the Valentine’s Ice cream cake and I will try to find the salted caramel syrup! I pinned all 3.
🙂 Thanks so much, Lyne!!!
Oh my! What a great collection of desserts! Can’t wait to try them. And, with Gay Lea Whipped Cream I know they’ll be delicious 🙂
Oh my. My little one is all about the whipped cream. She’d eat it as is!
The salted Caramel Hot Chocolate looks so yummy! And looks easy enough. Maybe I should surprise hubby this weekend with a sweet treat 😉
Amy, it’s so good! If you and your hubby try it, let me know what you think!! 🙂
I love chocolate pudding, and I have never actually made it from scratch. And I have to confess – I just love using spray whipped cream!
LOL! Dani! Shhhh! I love it too 🙂
To be honest, I never used to make my own chocolate pudding, but being married to a farmer, I kinda have to make pretty much everything from scratch! 😉 lol
I am all over that salted caramel hot chocolate! Must assemble ingredients immediatly. Must.
Deanna, it’s so good! Just had some! Keeping me toasty warm! It’s so cold today!
Oh my goodness…these treats look SO yummy! These are great ideas…because I’ve been looking for something sweet to make my family for Valentine’s. Will definitely try these out!
Thanks so much, Brandi! <3 Can't wait to hear what you end up making for your fam! xo
Love the salted caramel hot chocolate idea. I too have a sweet tooth. It is my Achilles heel.
Ooooh! Paula, now I feel like making some!
they all sound delish!
Thanks so much! 🙂 Thank you for visiting the blog and taking the time to comment! I really do appreciate it!