Hi! I'm planning on making petit fours for the first time. My dad LOVES them, so I thought they'd be a nice Christmas surprise for him. I read through a bunch of articles and threads about them, but I still have a couple of questions.

1. Can I make them now and freeze them until Christmas? I'd love to be able to get them done and not have to worry about them right before the holiday.

2. What kind of cake should I make? Does anyone have a tried-and-true recipe? Should I do a pound cake or a regular yellow cake?

3. Should I do the poured fondant or should I coat them in melted white chocolate? Which tastes better? Which is easier to use? (I've done things with white chocolate before, but I've never made poured fondant)

4. Should I frost them with buttercream before coating them? (either with fondant or chocolate)

Thanks!!

I can kinda tell you what not to do(or at least what went wrong for me)....
I had a great dense chocolate cake base recipe that I made into an 11"x15" pan(or something like that)...the cake came out crispy on the edges, but I figured that would happen anyway(my oven is way off)....

I froze the cake over night, then cut it into squares(about 2"x2") some were a little off shape.....

filled an icing bag with whipped ganache and pipe it into the middle of the squares(very little)....then poured warm ganache over that.
this is where the problem began:

I ended up having to completely cover the sides of each littel square with ganache(like icing 24 tiny little cakes) it was driving me nuts.....then I froze them, while I used this stuff called "choco-fix(dont ever buy it)....

I thought there was enough in the choco fix to cover them , but when I opened the box, there was one measley bag of what basically appeared to be candy melts!!!

ugh.

so I pulled the cakes out of the freezer, let them set a while(10 minutes or so) then covered them with the choc-fix stuff...immediately they started to get hard, and I forsaw the next problem, they started to crack when I took them off the drip pan.

since they were all mishapen by now, I decided to can them(well actually just eat them all and give them to friends etc)....


so , dont use choco-fix!
now I know why choc petit fours are hard to find!

and I do know for sure you need a dense cake base for your layer(s) and you definately need to measure them correctly.(post baking)
I did mine half-as**d and they were odd shaped....it's what I get for rushing.

anyway, hope that helps.
I do like petit fours that are iced THEN covered but it is a PIA.

good luck!

I can tell you what I was taught in a petit fours class, though I have only had one go at them at home, so I can also add to the "what NOT to do" suggestion list! LOL

Use a pound cake recipe, either follow the directions on a mix for pound cake, or you can add an extra egg to any regular cake recipe you already like. Put parchment paper on the bottom, grease it. Pour cake batter in a jelly roll pan (they showed a nice one with square 1" tall sides. Fill 1/3 to 1/2.

After it's done, let it cool and pop in the freezer for a bit for easier icing and cutting. Put on a thin layer of buttercream, preserves (seedless) or marzipan. (or preserves toped with buttercream or marzipan even!) Freeze briefly again to set. You can make a grid on parchment if you want to get them super square - they said about 1.25" was a good size usually.

I didn't like the taste or texture of the pre-made poured fondant they sell for petit fours. I'm a chocolate person - if you like that, it will work just fine, but add a little bit of corn syrup or butter so it doesn't totally harden back up. I think they're both equal as terms of ease of use. The poured fondant may need to have water added as you're coating so it's thin enough to go on smoothly.

I would guess you could freeze them. I plan on making some and freezing them for Christmas.

WHAT NOT TO DO: don't overfill the pan or add meringue powder to the cake batter (I know, I know, I should have known better!). DON"T be tempted to shove any and all mistakes directly into your mouth! I think I had like 7 in a 15 minute period. It wasn't pretty.

HTH

Hi there..

I have only made them once but they were REALLY yummy..so I will tell you what I did.

I used this recipe from epicurious.com


http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/109603

If the link doesn't work go to www.epicurious.com and do a search for vanilla petits fours with raspberry filling.

I followed the recipe to a T except for the icing. For that I used the poured fondant recipe here. It was a pain in the butt but they were delicious and well worth the effort!!

I'm doing them next week again but instead of raspberry filling I'm doing a lemon curd filling. Anyone have any opinions on whether or not to do the cognac layer and the marzipan when you use lemon curd? I'm not sure how the flavors would work together.

Anyhoo..I hope that helps [/url]

The first I ever made were flower shaped petit fours, with layers of buttercream/strawberry jam/buttercream in the middle, then glazed with heated strawberry jelly and frozen. Icing was poured twice over each one and the sides covered with chopped nuts. Everyone loved them, but What a pain-those angles were dreadful, stick with a square shape... it is much easier to work with. Any way you go these are very labor intensive!

czyadgrl!!!!
that is so funny, I DID end up eating most of my mistakes, mmmmmmmmmm chocolate mistakes, is there such a thing???

I wish I would have asked more questions before I did mine, I never thought of using corn syrup to diltue chocolate so it would harden.

mmm, leftover chocolate petit fours anyon?????????

Thank you for the advice! Has anyone successfully frozen the petit fours?

And what is more like the store-bought petit four coating--white chocolate or poured fondant? I think we usually got them from Swiss Colony when I was a kid.

I believe the store-bought petit-four icing is actually poured fondant, it's not like white chocolate at all anyway.

Funny to hear (glad!) that I'm not the only one eating mistakes! LOL.

What kind did you make?

Hey, the only way to REALLY learn is through trial and error! I'm making some for christmas cookie plates, I'm sure it will be another learning experience.

Funny how you can recite directions you've read or been taught, but when it comes to actually DOING it, it's a different story!

I have never heard of adding corn syrup to thin chocolate. It has always done just the opposite for me, it turns chocolate into chocolate clay. Just how much corn syrup do you use to do this?

I have heard of using butter in ganache, and cocoa butter or paramount crystals for thinning chocolate for drizzle or pouring as a coating.

Theresa

usually just a tablespoon of corn syrup to a pound of chocolate.
butter would do the trick to soften it a bit too, probably the same as cocoa butter I'd imagine.

what are paramount crystals? the same thing as parafin wax? I may be totally wrong in guessing that. do they keep the chocolate from setting back up hard when it cools?

hee hee, tmriga I just noticed your signature, I love it!

so....i HATE petit fours. but i work in a bakery where people LOVE them, so i make them alot. the key is to work with frozen cake. level it, ice it, then put it in the freezer. i would not recommend cutting petit fours out of cake that was not frozen. bad idea. crumbs everywhere and you can't get them square. i use a type of faux poured fondant. 2 lbs powdered sugar, 2 tbsp corn syrup, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp almond extract or vanilla. heat it on the stove until a pourable consistancy. i actually dip my petit fours with a candy fork. they must be frozen to dip or they fall apart. i usually make a large cake and cut them so i have them frozen and read wheni have an order. if you are going to freeze them after making them, i would recommend not decorating them before you do it. wait till they thaw and then decorate

P.S.
i just use white cake from mix because when it's frozen it is very sturdy

I made chocoalte ones from a copy cat recipe from the cheescake factory "blackout cake'...the petit fours were a disaster but we all love the mistakes!

I got this quote from the Barry Farm Foods website:

"Paramount crystals are used to aid in the melting of carob, chocolate, and yogurt. It will help make the coatings smooth and easier to pour into molds or will thin for ease in dipping and coating. Use up to 1/4 c per lb of coating. Add a little at a time in the melting process, stir between each addition, until you have your desired consistency."

They are made of palm kernel oil, and are considered edible.

Theresa