10 Classic Sweets to Celebrate Valentine's Day

No question about it: On February 14th, the bar for romantic gestures is set higher than on any other day of the year. If your special someone has a refined sweet tooth—and especially if they have an interest in history—why not try recreating a dessert or cake from yesteryear? Here are 10 nostalgic, old-fashioned sugary treats that are sure to impress.

Kisses 

While Hershey’s is the most well-known producer of these sweet chocolate morsels, the term 'kisses' dates back to the 1820s, when it was used to describe a small wrapped candy. Eliza Leslie’s 1832 cookbook, Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, includes a recipe with just four ingredients (and no chocolate): sugar, egg whites, lemon extract, and currant jelly. To begin, beat the egg whites, then slowly add a pound of sifted sugar along with lemon extract. Line a tin pan with wet parchment paper, and drop spoonfuls of “stiff currant jelly” at even intervals. Over the jelly, drop spoonfuls of egg white mixture to form a smooth round shape, as described by Leslie. Bake in a cool oven for just enough time to give them a golden color. Once cooled, press the bottoms of two kisses together to form a ball or oval shape.

Strawberry Delight

This recipe from “Aunt Babette’s” Cook Book: Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household, published in 1889, calls for “the yolks of ten eggs, three-quarters of a pound of powdered sugar, and a wineglassful of red wine.” Stir these ingredients for ten minutes before adding a pint of strawberry juice (which you get by pressing a quart of ripe strawberries through a sieve). Then, place the mixture over a fire (or stovetop) and stir until it begins to boil. Finally, beat the egg whites into a stiff froth and gently fold into the cream. “Aunt Babette” recommends serving this delicious creation chilled in parfait glasses.

Heart Cake 

This traditional Sri Lankan recipe emerged in colonial Ceylon with elements from Portuguese and Dutch settlers’ cuisines. It is usually baked at Christmas, but given its name, you might want to try your hand at one a couple of months late. It starts with toasting semolina (coarsely ground durum wheat flour) until fragrant, mixing it with butter, and then combining with a mixture of beaten egg yolks and sugar. Add chopped cashews and bits of candied melon to end up with a thick, sticky batter. Spices, almond essence, rose water, and beaten egg whites are then folded in before it’s baked in a greased pan for around an hour at 300°F. 

Queen Cake

Treat your valentine like royalty with this recipe from Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell’s A New System of Domestic Cookery, published in 1807. You’ll need to mix a pound each of flour, sifted sugar, and currants, then “wash” a pound of butter in rosewater and beat these four ingredients together. Then, beat the yolks and whites of eight eggs separately and add to the butter mixture. Rundell suggests beating “the whole an hour, ” but modern cooks can probably use a stand mixer to achieve the same results with less arm strain. When the batter is ready, fill small cake tins halfway, “sift a little fine sugar over, just as you put into the oven,” and bake for about 20 minutes.

Fudge Hearts

Looking to surprise your sweetheart with homemade fudge? Maria Parloa’s 1909 book Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes offers a perfect recipe. Start by boiling a third of a cup each of condensed milk and water with two cups of granulated sugar. Then, add a quarter cup of butter and 1.5 squares of chocolate. Once the mixture cools, stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract to finish it off. “Beat the candy until it thickens and begins to sugar,” Parloa advises, and pour it into a pan lined with paper to set. Cut it into heart-shaped pieces using a cookie cutter or a sharp knife.

Gooseberry Fool 

Fool desserts, typically made of sweetened custard and fruit, date back to at least the 17th century. This gooseberry variation from “Aunt Babette’s” Cook Book is quite straightforward to prepare. Begin by stewing a quart of gooseberries with 1.5 cups of sugar, then stir in a tablespoon of butter. Prepare a custard with “the well-beaten yelks of six eggs,” then layer the custard and the berries in a glass dish, adding meringues on top if desired.

Macaroons 

Before the distinction between macaroons and macarons, both terms likely originated from the Sicilian word maccarruni. Eager to make your own version for your loved one? To recreate Rundell’s recipe from A New System of Domestic Cookery, you’ll need to blanche four ounces of almonds, grind them into a paste with orange flower water, and whisk four egg whites until frothy in a separate bowl. Mix the egg whites with a pound of sifted sugar until thick, fold in the almonds, and then drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper sheets.

Éclairs 

The name of this beloved treat, once known as “petite duchesse,” emerged in the 1860s and translates to “lightning” in French. A recipe from Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus, published by chef Rufus Estes in 1911, calls for a variation topped with coffee-flavored icing. Start by boiling a cup of hot water with half a cup of butter and half a teaspoon of salt. Once it boils, stir in 1.5 cups of sifted pastry flour and continue to stir for five minutes before gradually adding five whole eggs. Drop the dough in 4-inch pieces onto a buttered baking pan and bake until puffed. After cooling, fill the éclairs with cream and drizzle with coffee icing.

Praline Pecans 

In the 1904 book Cooking in Old Créole Days, author Célestine Eustis guides bakers in creating this irresistibly sweet treat, which was once sold on street corners throughout New Orleans. Begin by simmering half a cup of water with two cups of brown sugar until it reaches a candy-like consistency. Stir in a cup of pecans and continue to cook until the sugar syrup coats the nuts, ensuring it doesn't burn. Once ready, spoon the mixture into individual patties on parchment paper to dry and harden. “The same thing can be done with peanuts,” suggests Eustis.

Candied Violets

Flowers are a timeless symbol of love, so why not create a sweet treat using them? This recipe from Rufus Estes’s Good Things to Eat recommends picking fresh violets early in the morning “while the dew is still on them” and placing them on a wire rack to dry, but not crisp. To prepare the syrup, boil half a pint of water with half a pound of sugar. Then, carefully dip each violet by the stem into the hot syrup, leaving them to dry again on the rack for a few hours (you may need to dip them a second time). Finally, coat each flower with melted fondant and dust with powdered sugar. Estes notes that “rose leaves may be candied in the same way.”