Ina Garten's Go-To Valentine's Dessert for Jeffrey Is Pure Romance

Ina Garten does Valentine’s Day the way she does everything else: with good taste, a hint of French influence, and absolutely no interest in anything that feels forced.

If you’ve followed Ina for any amount of time, you know the real love story isn’t a grand gesture. It’s a long arc of dinners at home, measured in roast chicken and candlelight with Jeffrey always, reliably, at the other end of the table.

So when Ina chooses a Valentine’s dessert, it isn’t a gimmick or a sugar-coated afterthought. It’s something elegant and deliberate. Something that feels like it belongs on a white plate after an exquisite meal.

What dessert does Ina make for Jeffrey on Valentine’s Day?

Ina’s pick is a coeur à la crème with raspberries, a classic French “heart of cream” dessert. It’s rich, chilled, finished with raspberries, and every bit as romantic as it sounds.

On Barefoot Contessa’s official Valentine’s Day menu, it’s the designated finale—served after the steakhouse steaks, zucchini gratin and matchstick potatoes. And if you’ve ever spent time with Barefoot in Paris, Ina’s dreamy cookbook love letter to French food, you’ll recognize it there, too. Coeur à la crème with raspberries is one of the book’s most elegant desserts: sophisticated, refined and quietly theatrical in the way Ina does so effortlessly.

Why Coeur à la Crème Is the Perfect Romantic Dessert

Ina’s coeur à la crème is a decadently billowy, chilled cream dessert made with cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar, then enriched with cold heavy cream, vanilla and a touch of lemon zest. She beats the mixture until it’s thick, then lets it rest overnight in a heart-shaped mold lined with cheesecloth to let excess liquid drain away. The whole thing sets into something silky and sliceable. When it’s unmolded, Ina finishes it with a bright raspberry sauce—made from fresh berries, seedless jam and a splash of framboise—around the base like a beautiful Valentine’s Day ribbon.

It’s an Ina dessert through and through: timeless, a little French, and meant to be served to someone you adore.