Monday, April 12, 2010

Petit Fours




These petit fours were fun to make, though I certainly don't recommend making them from start to finish in one day as I did--well, I did bake the pound cake the night before I finished them, but that was by far the easier part of making these sweet little treats. Making the gum paste flowers alone took nearly two hours. The icing was simple to make, but incredibly messy! These are so cute though so they are well worth the time put into them. I'd definitely save them for special occasions, however. Tea party anyone?

I used this vanilla pound cake recipe which is very much your traditional pound cake--in one word: dense. But delicious nonetheless. I sliced the pound cake into 1-inch thick slices and used a 1 1/2-inch round cutter to make little petit fours. I kept them simple and iced them with this petit four icing which is essentially a very, very thick glaze. Instead of the clear vanilla extract (I don't have any) and almond extract (which I'm not a big fan of) called for in the recipe, I used 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract which gave a very pleasant hint of citrus flavor. When I make these again, I'd like to try using a cream cheese pound cake, splitting the layers of the cake and filling them with thin layers of buttercream and/or fruit curd for some added flavor and texture. I was able to get 20 petit fours out of one pound cake loaf. I think these would be even cuter on a slightly smaller scale. I made due and used the smallest round cutter I had. The resulting petit fours are darling little 2-3 bite treats. Perfect for nibbling on between sips of tea.

12 comments:

  1. Those are SO sweet! I can't believe you made those yourself...I would surely be a disaster. I want to gobble them all up!

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  2. I have worked with gum paste quite frequently, but have never made my own. Which recipe did you use? Also, which flower punch do you use?
    Yours are darling.

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  3. Thanks, Jen!

    Nickea, I actually used this Gum Paste Mix from Wilton to which you simply add water and knead with a little confectioner's sugar. Easy peasy! I've been wanting to try making it entirely from scratch as well, but haven't given it a go yet. There are a few different recipes here that I'm interested in trying sometime. I only have a few cutters that I use. They are from the Wilton Floral Collection Flower Making Set. They are very simple cutters. I shape the cut gum paste flowers a bit using tools from this tool set. I'd like to get some cutter that also punch and emboss designs on the flowers but they are a bit pricey (I get all of my tools at Michael's with coupons) so I'll have to hold off on buying some for a bit.

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  4. These are so cute! I have no hand-eye coordination, so I'm always so impressed with people who can pull this sort of stuff off. Love them!

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  5. ooh! mini cakes! I love petits fours! they look lovely!

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  6. These are so lovely. This is definitely something I want to try. You've done a great job!
    Beautiful blog, and great pictures.
    *kisses* HH

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  7. so adorable! I need you to teach me all of your baking skills!!

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  8. These are so pretty. What a lovely job you did!

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  9. This is what I have been looking for! Need these for a bridal shower in May and now have plenty of time to practice - thank you SO much for the gum paste idea too, so much better than pre-made!

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  10. I made a fabric design on spoonflower using your picture as a basis for my vector image. I hope you don't mind, if you do I will take it down of course! See pin below:
    http://www.pinterest.com/pin/369647081887503372/

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    Replies
    1. Jenny, unfortunately I do not allow any of my images to be used or reproduced in any way for profit without my express consent. As such, I do have to ask that you please do remove the design from Spoonflower and cease use.

      Delete

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