Perfecting Petit Fours: The Ultimate Guide to Adorable French Mini Cakes

    If you are in search of an exquisite sweet treat to impress your guests with then you should consider petit fours. Besides being sinfully pleasurable to look at, these morsels of French confection are just as thrilling to prepare. Here is your complete guide in making petit fours that you will surely want to prepare for any occasion, from tea parties to birthdays.

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What Are Petit Fours?

    Another type of cake, petit fours is a small cakes that were first produced in France. The term ‘‘petit four’’ is a French term for ‘‘little oven’’ because of the size of these treats. These delicious cakes are indeed glazing cakes and can be either savoury or dry bakery cakes. For this recipe, we are going on the best known and most used petit four, the glace, or glazed petit four that is based on pound cake.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

**Quick and Easy** 

Some of these may seem indulgent but do not let the fancy look fool you, they are pretty easy to make.

**Simple Ingredients**

Very simple, you are unlikely to find exotic ingredients you have to rush out to buy. I bet you have them at home.

**Perfect for Entertaining**

Mini versions of desserts are ever amazing, and these will be the centerpiece.

**Customizable**

To individualize them, one can layer them or alter the frostings that are to be applied on top.

Ingredients Needed

For the Cake:

Butter

It is preferred that no salt be added; the butter should be at room temperature.

Superfine Sugar

Another name for the sugar is caster sugar. Other close related products to icumsa classification 42 include; granulated sugar, normal sugar, caster sugar or powdered/confectionery sugar.

Vanilla Extract

Used for that perfect vanilla flavor that all dishes and bakes should have.

Eggs

it is preferable room temperatures.

Self-Rising Flour

You can prepare with flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt Home made is very tasty and healthy.

All-Purpose Flour

Filtered so that they don’t form lumps. Gluten-free options work too.

Milk

Any type of milk can be used here; I used unsweetened almond milk.

For the Icing:

Powdered Sugar

This is the layer of the icing on which everything else is founded.

Light Corn Syrup

For that fine grain, hard wearing surface that will be easy to work on.

Vanilla Extract

Used in making of vanilla icing necessitating its purchase.

Water

Only to rinse for a moment in order for the icing to become less thick.

Decorative Flowers

Auxiliary, but it looks very cute 😍

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Prep Work In case you are using a fan forced oven, then your required temperature is 180c/160c and make sure to grease a loaf tin.

Step 2: Make the Cake Batter Thus – in a bowl that has been fitted with an electric mixer – cream the butter with sugar and vanilla until soft. Put in the eggs, one at a time mixing after each addition. Just whisk and stir the flours together and then fold into the mixture with the milk until the wet ingredients are blended, just barely.

Step 3: Bake the Cake Pour this batter into the baking pan and bake for 1 hour or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely in the wire rack.



Step 4: Trim the Cake Slice the cool cake neatly and make one and half inches thick servings. Using a knife, slice each piece of the dough into neat squares while it still in the baking pan. Prepare the cake squares on wire rack over baking tray having parchment paper to avoid thee dripping.



Step 5: Make the Icing In another container of same bowl place the icing mixture over a pot of lightly boiling water, exclude the flowers. Beat until smooth and slightly pourable, about 4-7 minutes.



Step 6: Decorate To finish it off, spread the icing over each of the cake squares so that they are fully coated with the icing. Shampoo desired, top with a decorative flower if desired. Repeat for other cake squares to prepare all of them for serving.

Pro Tips 

Monitor the Cake

If it browns too quickly, then at the end of 15 minutes before the time is fully up, cover this foil over the meat.

Freeze Before Icing

That aids the icing firm up in a short while.

Avoid Over-Mixing

Avoids a tough outside crust like candy, a situation brought about by over-development of gluten.

Layer for Extra Flavor

Frost the cakes and then cut them, then fill with raspberry jam, strawberry jam or lemon curd and recover.

Icing Alternatives

It is recommended that one should try to melt white chocolate and pour it over, or replace butter cream mixture with it.

 

Storage Instructions

To Store

Store it in a shallow dish in the room temperature for 3 days, or in refrigerator for 7 days.

To Freeze

If there is any leftover food, put it in a hermetically sealed container and it should be placed in the freezer to be used within the next six months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Must I prepare the cake mix for these?

Absolutely! Using a cake mix is ideal and the best brands are vanilla or snickerdoodle.

What are the different types of petit fours?

Petit fours come in three varieties: Créme (frostings), étincelant (shiny), glacé (glazed), salé (savory), and sec ( dried such as meringues , macarons, and puff pastries)

Prepare to be amazed with this cute and crunchy petit fours that you can serve your guests. It has a soft feature that can easily be molded concerning the flavors that are desired and therefore suitable for all occasions. Enjoy baking, and do not forget to share your fun in the comments section.

Happy baking!