First of all, I cannot find a recipe for petit fours with enough information for me! How big are they usually? I've seen everything from 1" to 5", what's the most common? How tall should they be? How tall should the layers be? How many layers? ARRRRGGGHHH! Is poured fondant or the wilton candy melts recipe better? I need some help oh wise makers of beautimous cakes!!!

The below instructions are from LisaMS of CC. She is an AWSOME petits four maker!! The link below takes you to some of hers and she has more in her photos.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=LisaMS&cat=0&pos=28

************
From LisaMS -

Here are my detailed petit four instructions:

1) Bake 1 Pillsbury white cake mix in an 11 x 15 pan at between 325 and 350 degrees (only 15 to 20 minutes until it is very light golden brown). I always spray my pan with Pam then line with a sheet of waxed paper to keep cake from sticking and drying out on edges.

2) Cool cake in pan on wire rack for app. 10-15 minutes. Flip cake out of pan; let completely cool on wire rack (another 20-30 minutes) then wrap well in plastic wrap and put in freezer. (Don't remove waxed paper.)

3) 2 hrs. later or even the next day, take cake cake out of freezer and ice only top part of cake with a thin layer of buttercream. Apply a sheet of wax paper over the buttercream making sure to get all the wrinkles out of the wax paper. Rewrap well in the same plastic wrap and return to freezer. Let cake with buttercream freeze for 24 hours.

4) Next day mix up fondant ingredients in a 3 qt. pot with handle. (My recipe is similar toWilton's...2/3 cup water stirred in a measuring cup with 3 TB clear karo syrup, then mixed in the pot with 2 lbs. confectioner's sugar...add 1 tsp. almond extract right before pouring)...

5) Turn stove onto lowest heat and get cake out of freezer. Unwrap and cut off all edges with a long, sharp knife dipped in hot water then wiped dry.

6) After edges are cut off take ruler and toothpick and measure 1 1/2" increments around cake. This will insure uniform sized cakes. Make cuts by again using sharp knife dipped in hot water then wiped clean. (Keeping knife dipped in the water then dried is best way to have clean cuts and less crumbs.)

(***In the process of making these cuts I periodically stir my poured fondant. You kind of get a feel for when to stir it. The bottom of the pot really should never get so hot you can't put your hand on it comfortably. If you feel it is getting too hot while you are cutting your cakes take it off the burner for a bit. I've gotten pretty fast at cutting.)

7) Put individual cakes on wire rack placed over a 12 x 18 cake pan. (They should not be touching each other but I can get 4 1/2 dozen on one wire rack.)

After all cakes are cut and placed on wire rack, stir fondant again making sure all lumps are gone (it should be ready by this point); then add almond extract; mix well and begin pouring. ***Pour directly from 3 qt. pot with handle; starting in the middle of the petit four cakes and then circling around the edges until sides are covered.*** Continue on until all fondant is poured. (The first round I usually get about 22-24 petit fours coated.)

9) Take wire rack off of 12 x 18 pan so that you can scrape fondant back into pot with plastic spatula; reheat; adding just a drop of water if necessary to thin it a bit. Reheating shouldn't take more than 2-4 minutes.

10) Repeat pouring procedure and scraping procedure til all petit fours are coated.
This method makes 4 1/2 dozen petit fours from one cake mix.

WELCOME TO CAKE CENTRAL, MSTORMOT!!

I make an angel/sponge type cake with almond flavoring. I use a mix, most of the time.

Bake it in a 13x9 pan, and when you're done baking it, PUSH DOWN on top of the cake with a CLEAN dish towel. This will flatten it out, level it and also compresses it somewhat.

After that, flip it out of the pan, and place it into the freezer until it's firm. Cut it (while frozen) into squares, about 1 inch each. The pieces should be pretty close to square "cube" shapes, now. About an inch tall, and an inch wide.

After you've cut them, just take enough out of the freezer at a time to work with, and dip into your poured fondant. The WILTON site has a great recipe, as well as the one here on CC!

You'll need to dip them, and then place them on a cooling rack that's been placed over a CLEAN jelly roll pan. If you want to, you can just scrape the poured fondant "drippings" off of the pan, and re-heat them.

After they've set up, you'd just need to pipe on the decorations on the top that you like!

Don't store them in any air-tight containers, though; They'll get soggy and lose their little "shell."

HTH,
WELCOME AGAIN,
--Knox--

Thank you both very very very very very much!

You're very, very, very, very welcome!

thanks for posting this yall i have been wondering about them and now i know what to do ...i will making some of them for a gathering that i have on wed night...how long will they store for? could i make them on say sunday and use them on wed night?

Y'all are very welcome!

TiffTurtle: I'd say you could use them about 3 days past the day you've made 'em.

I don't truly know, but I don't see why not. Just don't cover them up air-tight. Leave them to rest in a cake box! That way they don't get soggy on you.

POST PICS, TURTLE!!

--Knox--