Mocha Almond Petit Fours

Almond Cake:

8 oz almond paste

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ sticks butter, soft

4 eggs

½ cup cake flour

½ cup bread flour

--Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare 12x18 sheet pan by greasing and lining with parchment paper.

--Soften almond paste by beating it for several minutes with the paddle. Add a little egg to soften, then add the sugar and butter and cream till very light, about 7 minutes.

--Pour the eggs in very slowly, taking about 5 minutes over all.

--Stir in the flour and spread into the pan. Spread out and bake till firm, about 20 minutes.

--Remove from oven, let sit in pan 5 minutes and remove from tray. When cool, cut in thirds.

Prepare simple syrup:

½ cup hot espresso

¼ cup sugar

3 T cream de cocoa

--Mix all ingredients till the sugar is dissolved.

Prepare the ganache filling:

8 oz bittersweet chocoate

2 oz milk chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

--Boil the cream and then pour over the chocolate. Stir till combined and let cool to room temperature.

Assemble the petit fours:

--Brush one cake layer with simple syrup and then spread some ganache on it. Top with next layer and repeat twice.

--Freeze cakes overnight.

--Cut cakes into desired sizes.

Prepare ganache fondant:

2 cups cream

2 cups bittersweet chocolate

2 tsp vanilla

--Boil cream, pour over chocolate and combine. Add vanilla.

Pour ganache over cakes, which have been placed on a wire cooling rack. Decorate as desired. Suggestion: chocolate covered coffee bean.

Black Forest Petit Fours

cake:

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 ½ cups sugar

1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 large eggs

¼ cup strong coffee (or 3 T espresso powder and ¼ cp warm water)

¾ cup yogurt

• Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare 2 9 X 5 loaf pans by greasing and lining with wax paper.
• Combine all the dry ingredients together. Add softened butter and beat for 2 minutes on low.
• Combine all the wet ingredients together. Add these to the flour-butter mixture one-third at a time, beating for 2 minutes on medium speed between each addition.
• Pour into prepared pans and bake for 50minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack and cool completely.

simple syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup kirschwasser

• Heat and stir till sugar is dissolved.
• Set aside to cool. When cooled add kirschwasser.

filling:

1 jar tart cherry preserves

• Mince in food processor.

• When the cakes are cool, cut them into ⅜” slices and brush the tops with syrup.
• Spread a thin layer of cherry preserves over half of the slices and top with the other slices.
• Place slices on cookie sheets and put in freezer.

ganache fondant:

2 cups cream

2 cups bittersweet chocolate

2 tsp vanilla

• Boil cream, pour over chocolate and combine. Add vanilla.
• Reheat on low as needed.

buttercream:

1 cup water

2 tsp almond extract

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

2 tsp butter flavor

3 cp Crisco

¼ tsp popcorn salt

2 T meringue powder

4 T cornstarch

4 lb powdered sugar

• Pour flavorings in a cup. Add water to equal 1 cup. Stir in salt.
• Cream Crisco till smooth.
• With mixer on low, slowly add flavorings and water.
• Add meringue powder and cornstarch. Cream together well.
• Add sugar in two batches, stirring to incorporate.
• Beat till smooth.

assembly:

• Drain juice from maraschino cherries and place on paper towels.
• Remove cake slices from freezer. Using a 1 ¾” round cutter, cut each (sandwiched) slice into four rounds.
• Place rounds on cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet.
• Pour ganache over cakes, making sure all sides are covered. When pan is empty, move the cooling rack over to the other cookie sheet and scrape the fondant back into the pan. If there are any crumbs, pick them out with a knife or toothpick.
• As soon as the cakes are dried, slide a thin metal spatula underneath them and transfer them to a parchment-lined cookie sheet for decorating.
• Pipe a swirl of buttercream on each cake and top with a maraschino cherry.
• Makes 24 1 ¾” petit fours.

Petit Fours (Blue Ribbon-Winning)

These little babies are delicious, but rather tedious to make. I've read about people making the cake in 9 x 5 loaf pans and slicing it, but I have not tried that. I did recently try making round cakes and using that, but it was wasteful--I had to end up make a couple of trifles, darn it! Anyway, I would highly recommend putting the cookie sheet on a turntable when you're pouring the fondant on them. That way, you can easily turn them round to see if they're covered on all sides. You can also use Nick Malgieri's Pound Cake to make delicious petit fours.


White Cake (from King Arthur Flour)

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 T baking powder

1 3/4 cup superfine sugar (granulated can be ground fine in food processor)

3/4 tsp salt

2 3/4 cup White Lily All-Purpose flour (or cake flour)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

4 large egg whites

1 large whole egg

1 cup full-fat plain yogurt (I prefer Stonyfield organic because it has a superior taste.)

1.      Preheat oven to 375F.

2.      Grease and flour a 12x18x1” jelly roll pan.

3.      Combine the dry ingredients, add the softened butter and mix on low speed for 2 minutes.

4.      Meanwhile, combine the wet ingredients.

5.      Add the liquid ingredients one-third at a time, beating on medium speed for 2 minutes after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl in-between each addition and at the end.

6.      Pour the batter in the pan and use an offset spatula to spread around evenly. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles, and bake for 10-15 minutes, till the cake springs back when touched.

7.      Let sit on cooling rack for 5 minutes. Place a piece of parchment paper over cake and turn it out onto a rack and then place another piece of parchment paper on the cake and another rack on top and flip them over. Let cool at least 1 hour.

Filling:

Buttercream

22 T (2 3/4 sticks) salted butter, slightly softened

2/3 cup Crisco

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

5-7 T heavy cream

2 lb confectioners’ sugar

2 T corn syrup

1.      Cream butter and Crisco till smooth.

2.      With mixer on low, slowly add flavorings and 5 T cream.

3.      Stop mixer and scrape down the sides.

4.      With mixer on low, slowly stream in the confectioners’ sugar

5.      Add1 T corn syrup and 1-2 T cream if desired (depending on consistency, which is dependent on your environment). Mix on low.

6.      Add 1 more T corn syrup if desired. Mix on low till smooth and fluffy.

3/4 cup cream sherry

1.      Level cake.

2.      Divide cake into two by cutting down the middle, so that you have two ca. 12x9x1” pieces.

3.      Brush one piece of cake with sherry—just enough to taste, not to dampen cake.

4.      Spread a thin layer (ca. 1/4”) of buttercream on top of the sherry layer. Press lightly on the cake to make sure it seals with the bottom layer.

5.      Place the other cake layer on top of the one with the buttercream.

6.      Spread a thin layer (ca. 1/4”) of butter cream on top of the top cake layer.

7.      Let cake sit for 5-10 minutes so that a crust forms on the buttercream.

8.      Place a Viva paper towel on top of the cake and lightly rub your hand across it to smooth out the buttercream.

9.      Transfer the cake to a plate/cookie sheet and refrigerate overnight. (This is necessary to make the edges smooth when cut.)

10.  Remove the cake from the fridge and cut it into small pieces (ca. 1 1/2” x 1 1/2” or 1 1/4” x 2”), wiping off the knife after each cut.

11.  Place the cakes on a cooling rack that has been set on top of a rimmed cookie sheet. Leave about 1 1/2" around each piece. Place another rimmed cookie sheet next to this one.

12.  Make the fondant icing.

Quick Fondant Icing (from Wilton)

6 cups (ca. 1 1/2 lbs.) confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup water

2 T light corn syrup

1 tsp almond extract

1.      Combine water and corn syrup. Add to sugar in a saucepan and stir over low heat till well-mixed and heated to 92F. (If fondant is heated too high, it will lose its shine when it dries.) (I'm a nervous nelly, so I used a chocolate thermometer--it's quick and measures low temps.)

2.      Stir in extract and icing color, if desired.

3.      Pour fondant over cake, making sure all sides are covered. When pan is empty, move the cooling rack over to the other cookie sheet and scrape the fondant back into the pan. If there are any crumbs, pick them out with a knife or toothpick.

4.      Reheat icing—only to 92F. Continue as above.

5.      As soon as the cakes are dried, slide a thin metal spatula underneath them and transfer them to a parchment-lined cookie sheet for decorating.

6.      Decorate with buttercream icing, above.

High-Ratio Pound Cake

This is my favorite pound cake and it's so easy to make! It's from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes. This is one of the cakes I use for petits fours. *See note below for explanation of "high ratio."

2 1/2 cp (10 oz/300g) bleached all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
1 3/4 cp (14 oz/350g) sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cp milk
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Set a rack in the lower third of th eoven and preheat to 350F.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and beat on the lowest speed for about 2 minutes, or until the ingredients are well combined.

Meanwhile, whisk all the remaining ingredients together in a mixing bowl until well combined.

Increase the mixer speed to medium, add one-third of the liquid ingredients, and mix for 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and beater. Add another third of the liquid, beat for 2 minutes, and scrape again. Finally, add the remaining liquid and beat and scrape as before.

Use a large rubber spatula to give the batter a final vigorous stir, then scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes in a 12-cup Bundt pan, buttered and floured, or until a toothpick inserted int the cake halfway between the side of th epan and the central tube emerges clean.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack t finish cooling.

Yield: 7 cups of batter (perfect for petits fours made in 12 x8 x 1 pan)

*High-Ratio Cakes (from Perfect Cakes, pg 44)
A high-ratio cake is one in which the weight of the sugar equals or exceeds the weight of the flour. (This applies to many pound and butter cakes, but not all). The high proportion of sugar can make the batter separate, resultin in a coarse texture in the baked caked. The "high ratio" mixing method, developed in the 1940s by Procter and Gamble, prevents the batter from separating and yilds a particularly fine textured cake.

Basically, you first mix all the dry ingredients with the softened butter. Then the liquids, including the eggs, are combined and added in three parts. The resulting baked cake has a great texture and moist crumb. To convert a recipe to the high-ratio method of mixing, first check to see if the sugar equals or exceeds the flour: calculate 8 ounces for a cup of sugar and 4 ounces for a cup of all-purpose flour. If and only if the recipe passes the test, you can combine all the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl, add the softened butter, and beat for 2 minutes on low speed. The add the liquids, mixed together , one-third at a time, beating for 2 minutes on medium speed between each addition.