By Heath Goldman for Food Network Kitchen

Whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day or just looking to prepare an extra cute treat, you’ll love how easy it is to cut strawberries into hearts. Here’s how.

1: Choose the right strawberries. Your hearts will be prettiest if you use medium-size round strawberries – not the huge ones that have lots of folds.

2: Remove the stem with a paring knife. But instead of slicing it off with one flat cut, cut around the stem in a "v" shape. There you have it! A heart-shaped strawberry.

3: If you’d like, you can make flat-sided hearts. Simply proceed to cut your strawberry in half lengthwise to create two heart-shaped strawberries perfect for decorating cakes or cookies.

Now that you’ve made some heart shaped strawberries, how about a few fun ideas for using them?

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

What could be cuter than these bite-size red velvet cupcakes? Easy: bite-size red velvet cupcakes topped with heart shape strawberries.

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Hot Chocolate Pancakes

Chocolate and strawberries go together like peanut butter and jelly. Dress up your loved one’s breakfast with a cute shower of heart-shaped strawberries.

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Chocolate-Almond Torte

You can serve this warm chocolate torte garnished with confectioners' sugar and whipped cream, by why not up the ante with some festive strawberries too?

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Chocolate Sheet Cake

A simple chocolate sheet cake is like a blank canvas. You can decorate however you’d like, and fresh heart-shaped strawberries are a simple, elegant way to do that.

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Strawberry Poke Cake

We make this beloved dessert with not-too-sweet buttermilk cake and very lightly sweetened whipped cream. The cake tastes best just slightly chilled, so let it sit out to warm up a bit while you whip the cream for the topping and slice your strawberries.

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Chocolate Pavlova with Strawberries and Cream

If you’re whipping up this gorgeous pile of meringue, you’ll have strawberries on hand already. Might as well turn them into cutie hearts.

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Related Links:

Heart Shaped Foods for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Dinner Recipes

Healthy Fruit Desserts