Which Is Better - Cupcakes Or Petit Fours?
Decorating By imartsy Updated 23 Oct 2006 , 7:22pm by TooMuchCake
Okay so my church does a "Christmas tea" every year - basically, people sponsor a table and set it up really nicely with cute plates and napkins and all sorts of stuff and they serve tea and some desserts and it's basically a night of fun at church and an "outreach" ministry - meaning you can invite anyone to come and enjoy this nice evening out with a great group of women.
My question is - I've been asked to make some cupcakes or petit fours for a table. There's 8 people at the table and the hostess wanted everyone to be able to have two - so 16, but she's doing the tea two nights (so 32). She basically has a budget of about $20.00 - so I want to have fun with this - but I don't want to stress myself out too much for $20.00. Sooo....
Do you think I should try to do cupcakes or petit fours? Which would be easier? Which would be more appropriate for a tea? Anyone have good recipes or pictures for either? I've never done petit fours before so it would be fun and an appropriate occassion to do them - but I've seen some really cute Christmas cupcakes too so I'm looking to you all for suggestions! Thanks!
imartsy,
That sounds like so much fun TO ATTEND. Can I come, can I, huh, huh??? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 
Now to answer your questions.
I think petit fours are way more labor intensive, and very small - one per person isn't going to be satisfying 
However, cupcakes are the perfect individual portion. And as you said they can be made quite festive and even filled if you choose to take them to the next level 
Oooh, you could also do mini-cupcakes, and they'd still be less work than the petit fours.... and look equally dainty!
I recall seeing the mini cupcakes done as small christmas trees in one of the Wilton yearbooks, with just a little bit of work to them. All you did was use a large star tip and swirl the frosting on top to form the "tree" and then sprinkle with christmas sprinkles for decoration. The frosting was done in a pale green and they used fancy mini cake papers for the cakes 
I think petit fours are more "tea" themed, but they are so tedious, I don't know if it's worth it!
Someone did this with cupcakes.... I can't remember who, but it looked SO pretty - they decorated a cupcake with a large buttercream rose, wrapped the bottom in tissue paper (that matched the cup)and set it in the tea cup. I just LOVE this idea, and would like to try it sometime.
You could find a deep candy mold of something appropriate for the holiday, and mold a shell of candy melts in it. Then pack it with cake truffle and cap it off with more chocolate. It's sort of like a petit four, but way less work, and people really love them. You just save up your trimmings from the cakes you're already making and freeze them until you're ready to use them, so the $20 budget would come closer to covering your expenses. We even sold those at a chocolate shop I used to work at.
Otherwise, I think dainty mini cupcakes like JanH said would be adorable and ladylike.
Deanna
OMG, how could we overlook CAKE BALLS 
They're any size you want them to be, and can be decorated any way you like.
I know this wasn't an option, imartsy, but it just came to me
Don't mean to offend, but when I have an idea, I have to blurt it out or else I forget....
JanH, sure you can come if you wanna drive down to Louisville, KY! I think the "tickets" might cost something - usually the hostess pays for her friends... but I don't know where you live (I saw IN - but it's a big state!) so it could be a mute issue!
Anyway - thank you all for your ideas!
TooMuchCake - that sounds really interesting but I really can't visualize it!
JanH - oh yeah - and cake balls were an idea I had too - but I've had a few mixed reactions w/ cake balls and I just thought petit fours or cupcakes might be a little more "dainty" I guess.... like I made cake balls and dipped them in chocolate ganache and boy were they yummy - but your fingers got a little chocolate-y - not so dainty! 
You know what I'd really love to do - those cupcake ornaments from the Wilton contest - yes it would be way to costly but I've gotta figure out how they were done - I've seen some "gueses" here - but I'd love to figure out the "real" technique!!!
Thanks everyone! I think it might be cupcakes!
Cake truffle is the same thing as cake balls, but I don't like the sound of "cake balls" and I first learned to make them as them being called cake truffle. Basically, if you were to buy a filled chocolate candy, but instead of a creme filling in the chocolate shell, there was cake in there.
Deanna
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