Grab your tea sets and stick out your pinkies: we're making petit fours today! These little cakes are time-consuming, but completely worth it. They consist of very thin layers of cake spread with jam, cut into small cubes, and covered with fondant. In other words, delicious and very cute!
We made these together over spring break, and it was a super fun project! It definitely went faster with both of us (Monica and Caroline) working on it together. So if you have a few free hours, you should definitely consider making these little treats.
First make, the cake. We used a half-recipe of Bakerella's pound cake, and baked it in a jelly roll for about 15-20 minutes.
The cake is very thin and bakes very quickly, so don't let it go for too long. Ours was still pretty pale on top when it was done.
Trim off the edges.
Cut the cake into 3 even sections. A ruler is very helpful.
You're going to stack the cake, so brush jam on the bottom two layers.
Carefully stack the three layers.
Cut the cake into cubes. Our squares were about 1.5 x 1.5 inches, and yielded 32 little cakes.
Place them into a pan, and freeze them for about 10 minutes, while you make the fondant.
The fondant we used came from King Arthur Flour, and contained white chocolate, so it wasn't the traditional sugar-only fondant.
Melt the white chocolate. Mix together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, and hot water. We forgot the vanilla extract, but it would have been a nice addition.
Add the white chocolate to the powdered sugar mixture, and mix well.
Now you're ready to dip! We found it best to dip the four sides of the petit fours in the fondant, and then spoon a little over them to cover the top. The fondant sets very quickly, so you'll probably have to re-heat it in the microwave a couple of times.
Oh, and feel free to add some food coloring to the fondant. We went with pink (:
We added a few drops of color, dipped some cakes, and then added some more, so our cakes got progressive pinker.
Ombre Petit Fours (:
We drizzled some fondant over the petit fours for decoration. Then let them dry, serve them up on a fancy tea tray, and impress everyone!
And some Pass the Cocoa love (:
Enjoy!
-Monica and Caroline
Petit Fours
Click here for the printer-friendly recipe of Petit Fours.
Pound Cake adapted from Bakerella, Fondant from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
Cake:
½ cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup milk
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
Fondant:
4 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup corn syrup
¼ cup hot water
1 cup white chocolate chips
food coloring (optional)
For Assembly:
2 tablespoons jam, any flavor
Directions
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream together the butter, sugar, and cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Gently beat in the milk and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredient to the wet, and mix well.
Line a jelly roll pan with foil, and grease it well. Pour the batter in the pan, and spread it evenly.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely.
For the Fondant:
Melt the white chocolate chips, either over a double boiler, or in the microwave on LOW power.
Mix together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, hot water, and vanilla extract. Mix the white chocolate into the powdered sugar mixture. Add food coloring if using.
Assembly:
Trim the edges of the cake, and cut it into 3 even sections. Gently heat the jam. Brush two sections with jam, and stack the three layers of cake.
Cut the cake into small, roughly 1.5 inch, cubes. Freeze the cubes for about 10 minutes while you make the fondant.
Dip the sides of the cakes in fondant, then spoon a little of fondant over the tops to cover. The fondant sets quickly, so you will need to gently microwave it to reheat.
Drizzle extra fondant over the top for decoration, if desired. Let the fondant dry, and serve!