A dessert by popular demand. 🙂 We’re in peak wedding/brunch/bridal shower/spring season, so there’s been a lot of buzz about petit fours lately. Admittedly, I’ve never made them before but have always enjoyed the several varieties I’ve tasted. Always up for a new baking adventure, and eager to expand my spring dessert recipes and Mother’s Day recipes, I decided to make these petite cakes my personal goal for the spring season. And I’m excited to share my results with you!! These lemon berry petit fours are flavorful and moist, cute and tiny, simple and sweet.
What are Petit Fours?
Petit fours are bite-size decorative cakes, typically of the sweet variety. The term petit four is French and also includes savory bite-sized appetizers and other small pastries like French macarons and meringues. Petit four is translated as “small oven.“ Today we’re focusing on glacé petit fours, which means “glazed.” Think of these as miniature layer cakes, perfectly pint-sized with no fork required. They’re most commonly found at bridal showers, baby showers, tea parties, weddings, and the like. Classic petit fours are made with delicate sponge cake, then enrobed in fondant and topped with intricate decor. They’re certainly beautiful and delicious, but the preparation can be tedious and complicated for the home baker. I wanted a recipe that was approachable for both you and I, but still produced the same elegance and dainty aesthetic as the fancy varieties. I couldn’t really settle on any petit four recipes that were both straightforward and delicious, so I created one my favorite pound cake, vanilla buttercream, lemon curd, and raspberry jam. There’s approximately 1 billion petit fours varieties and this one’s my new favorite. The recipe is perfect for beginners and I even include a video demonstrating exactly how to shape and layer them, plus other flavor options.
How to Make Lemon Berry Petit Fours
I stuck with a cake recipe that I know works: my cream cheese pound cake. Pound cake has an ideal texture for petit fours because it won’t squish when you layer or cut the tiny cakes. Let’s walk through the whole process together: This recipe yields 48 petit fours, but you can cut them smaller if you need more. As long as the layered cakes are sufficiently chilled, cutting into tiny squares is easy.
Video Tutorial: How to Assemble Petit Fours
Assembling petit fours can be confusing, as I’m sure I lost you explaining the process above. I knew I’d have a hard time clearly explaining this, so I made a video showing you exactly how to cut, assemble, and layer them. Now I know the following picture looks like I’m making a jelly sandwich on white bread, but I promise that’s pound cake under there!!
White Chocolate for Petit Fours “Icing”
Like I mention above, petit fours are usually covered in fondant. I wanted something a little less finicky, so I opted for white chocolate. Sure, they’re not as fancy looking but they’re still super cute… and really good! When applied lightly, the white chocolate thickens and sets, making these petit fours perfect for transporting and serving. Melt the white chocolate with a little oil so it’s a thinner consistency for topping. One tip: Use pure white chocolate or white chocolate that’s meant for melting. Pick up a 4 ounce bar of white chocolate from the baking aisle or white melting chips. (I use Ghirardelli brand white vanilla flavored melting chips.) White chocolate chips DO NOT melt down into the proper consistency; it will be too thick and taste grainy. You could even use the lemon icing from this lemon pound cake instead. Much easier than fondant! Garnish with sprinkles, edible flowers, white sixlets, or edible dragées.
Petit Four Flavors
Like always, there’s flavor options! Let me know if you try these for any special occasion!
More Simplified Fancy Treats
Choux Pastry & Eclairs Almond Poppy Seed Tea Cakes & Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes Madeleines Lace Cookies Chocolate Truffles
