The forecast is the same every February 14th: a high pressure front followed by a flurry of cards, flowers, chocolates, lingerie, and teddy bears, with possible precipitation, i.e., tears of disappointment over an ill-chosen gift, or, worse, tears of rage because you forgot the significance of the day altogether.

It doesn't take much effort to buy some token, pre-fab Valentine's tchotchke, and that's my point. A homemade Valentine is so much more meaningful, and shows you cared enough to make something for your sweetie. An edible homemade Valentine is better, still: you can score some brownie points and eat them, too.

So instead of buying a dozen roses that required a gazillion gallons of fossil fuels to get here from Ecuador and owe their perfect appearance to pesticides, why not bake a dozen heart-shaped chocolate cupcakes instead?

I found a cheery red heart-shaped silicone muffin pan at, of all places, Old Navy, and, mindful that not everyone has the aptitude (or the time) to bake from scratch, I experimented with some cake mixes to see if you could get a satisfactory cupcake out of a box.

Betty Crocker's still the cake mix queen, but there's a new generation of more wholesome cake and brownie mixes available now. Whole Foods sells several, and some conventional grocery stores have even started to carry them.

I tried two of the most widely available alternative mixes, Dr. Oetker Organics chocolate cake mix, and No Pudge! original brownie mix. Of the two, I found the No Pudge! to be the best; it's ultra easy to make, and the mix yielded a rich, chocolatey treat. No Pudge! is, as the name implies, fat free, but because you mix it with nonfat vanilla yogurt, it's nice and moist, with a pleasingly chewy texture.

My Dr. Oetker's cupcakes seemed a bit dry by comparison, despite the 3 eggs and half cup of canola oil I added to the mix, as called for. I frosted them with a pretty pink blood orange-tofu-cream cheese frosting:

Blood Orange Tofu Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces firm silken tofu

4 ounces cream cheese (I use Neufchatel)

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

zest and juice of one blood orange

Puree tofu in a food processor. Add cream cheese and powdered sugar and process till smooth. Add zest and juice, mix till combined. Chill for one hour.

Bob's Red Mill makes a gluten-free chocolate cake mix, and I also saw a brand called Pamela's that looked pretty good, too. But I could only consume so many cupcakes for the common good without exceeding my own personal cupcake capacity. So I'll recommend the No Pudge! mix, which provides instructions on how to modify the mix to yield a more cake-like brownie.

Valentine's may be a kind of hokey, Hallmark card holiday, but if you bake a batch of these fudgey treats, you can give your honey a gift that's sweet and gooey in a good way.