Please! What's The Trick With Petit Fours And Minis???
Decorating By PennySue Updated 23 Jul 2007 , 11:49am by LittleLinda
Ok, I made my cake yesterday. Torted, filled and frozen. Cut it up today into little rounds and squares. Tried to cover them several ways. Poured fondant alone (warmed it up in the micro with a little water) and buttercream alone (how in the world?????) 
I just don't get it. I'm not going to give up because I really want to do this. Is there a secret to this I'm not knowing?
Thanks for any help!!
well it could be a few things... first make sure you freeze the cakes really well before using poured fondant.. when i do petit fours, i ice the whole cake together with bc first,then freeze it. When it is good and frozen i take it out and cut it. Do all of this while you have the poured fondant cooking.. i do mine on a double boiler. Then i individually dip them.. i haven't had many problems.. good luck!
After mine are frozen, I cut them and put them back in the freezer until I am ready to cover them. I only pull out a few at a time so they don't thaw completely. They are unfortunately time consuming. Let them dry completely. You may also use melted choc.
Thank you all!
JoJo - Yesterday, after I cut it into smaller shapes, I tried melting the fondant, coloring it and such. It seemed to cover ok but was a bit heavy-ish. I tried to cover one with bc first but it just sort of got all crumbly and was very hard to do. Plus, how in the world does one hold onto it? The round one was about 3in diam. and the one I poured the fondant on was about 1 1/2 ins. Goodness, there has to be a better way. I've see pics of some beautiful mini cakes, esp on www.carriescakes.com
Anyway, I'm not going to give up, but there just has to be a trick I'm missing.
After you have them cut and are ready to ice pull a few out at a time and place them on a cooling rack (the ones with wire going both horizontal and vertical) place the cooling rack on a 1/2 sheet pan and pour the icing over, making sure to cover the tops and the sides. Do not worry about the bottoms. Let icing set and decorate from there. This is how I learned to do it in culinary school.
Here is a simple recipe for the icing:
Petit Fours Icing
9 cups confectioner"s sugar (about 2 pounds)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Combine all of the ingredients. Heat the mixture on top of a double boiler until lukewarm.
Remove the double boiler from the heat. Leave the icing over the hot water to keep it thin. If the icing is too thick, add a few more drops of hot water to thin it to the desired consistency. You want it to be thick enough to coat a wooden spoon, but thin enough to pour. Remove half of the icing, and put it in a small bowl. Add a few drops of food color to each part to tint the icings in delicate colors. If the icing becomes cool and thick, reheat it over the warm water. You can also thicken an icing that is too thin by stirring in confectioner"s sugar a teaspoon at a time.
Good luck! 
forgot to mention that you can scrape up the icing that falls through the rack and reheat it to use again!
I use the Kathy Scott petit four molds. They are awesome. I do have a picture in my photos but it didn't come out good. They really come out beautiful and they look like you spent hours making them.
I bought the Tiffany Box Kit #1 set. I love them. They come out so professional looking. The molds are expensive but they are so worth it. The silicone molds are awesome too. They go on top of the petit four. You can use fondant, gumpaste or marzipan, put them in the molds and then pop them out. Then I take and paint pearl dust on them. I wish my photo of them had come out good.
Hi Pennysue,
I think carriescakes petit fours are covered with rolled fondant. You're not going to get that look with poured fondant. However, I think poured fondant is lovely. I'll be making almost 100 dozen for rush this month! If you add 2 to 4 oz of almond bark to the poured fondant recipe above, that's very close to what I use. Icing the top of your cake with a stiff buttercream then freezing the cake before cutting, then keeping them frozen while you're working really helps.
mvhatteras, thanks for that recipe. I have printed it out to save. I 've never made petit fours ... one day I know I will!
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