Because you have to do a Valentine's post

I was feeling a little bit left out this morning as I was catching up on my favorite blogs - almost everyone had some kind of Valentine's post. I've never been a big Valentine's celebrator (something about all the pink, and the fact that there's no real occasion... you should love people everyday), so I hadn't exactly planned ahead on this one. Luckily, my Facebook page is filled with photos of food, so its always easy to pull something together!

I made these cupcakes last year, for a my Grandpa's birthday, which happens to fall close to Valentine's Day. I'm also not big on cupcakes either, so this is a pretty rare post!

Nevertheless, they looked gorgeous, and they were rather delicious. The batter was just a regular white cupcake recipe with smashed up frozen raspberries added. The icing was also simple, a standard icing sugar frosting - but for the liquid I used the juice of the raspberries! That added color and flavor. The chocolate hearts on top are the real reason for this post, though. They look so amazing, and they really are easy! Observe:

Melt Chocolate (use your discretion as to how much you need.... no one ever complained about leftover chocolate!) in the microwave, going about 15 seconds at a time and stirring. Stop when there are just a few chunks of chocolate left, and stir until it's all melted. You CAN actually burn chocolate in the microwave.
Fill a piping bag or a plastic bag with the chocolate. (Snip off a very small tip if using a plastic bag)
On a baking sheet lined with wax paper pipe a heart shape (the chocolate may come out very fast) and fill in the center with random swirls and lines. Make sure most of them connect to the outline of the heart.
Repeat.
Pop the tray in the freezer for about 15 minutes. The hearts will come off very easily, and you can stand them up or lay them on your cupcakes!