Petit Fours Recipe: How to Make Petit Fours Glacés
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 11, 2024 • 3 min read
Petit fours are little cakes perfect for special occasions, like Easter brunch, tea parties, bridal showers, and baby showers.
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What Are Petit Fours?
A petit four, which translates to “little oven,” is a small French sweet. In France, petit fours are served at restaurants and sold in bakeries and patisseries for home consumption. Petit fours, also known as mignardise or friandise, can be mini cakes, choux pastry buns, cookies, chocolates, or small versions of larger, more elaborate desserts.
Origins of Petit Fours
It's often assumed that the name “petit four” is a reference to the size of these tiny cakes, but "little oven" may be a reference to the temperature at which petit fours were baked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At the time, bread was baked in wood-fired ovens, and as the ovens were heating up or cooling down, petit fours were made in moderate heat. It's also possible that small ovens were invented during the seventeenth century for the express purpose of accommodating these tiny desserts.
4 Types of Petit Fours
You can make petit fours in various shapes, sizes, and textures. Toppings can include confectioners’ sugar, chocolate dips, and icing. Consider the following petit four variations:
- 1. Petit fours glacés: Petit fours glacés is a bite-size sponge cake or pound cake with layers of marzipan, almond paste, and/or jam with a glacé (glaze) topping of poured fondant or chocolate.
- 2. Petit fours sec: Sec means "dry" in French. These cookies bake at a low temperature for a long time, similar to sables (shortbread cookies), langues de chat (cats’ tongues), and macarons.
- 3. Petit fours frais: “Frais” means "fresh" in French, and these moist treats are best eaten fresh, like madeleines, financiers, and choux pastry items such as mini éclairs.
- 4. Petit fours déguisés: These "disguised" petit fours are made by dipping fruit in chocolate or sugar syrup.
Easy Petit Fours Glacés Recipe
makes
49prep time
total time
cook time
35 minIngredients
- 1
Lightly grease an 8-inch square cake pan.
- 2
Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper. Line the sides of the pan with a strip of parchment paper.
- 3
Lightly grease the parchment paper and dust it with flour.
- 4
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 5
Sift the all-purpose flour and salt together into a medium bowl.
- 6
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large stainless steel bowl using a balloon whisk or a hand mixer), whisk the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed. Whisk until the egg mixture holds a ribbon trail for 10 seconds when the whisk is lifted, about 5 minutes if using an electric mixer.
- 7
Add vanilla extract and whisk until just incorporated, a few seconds more.
- 8
Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and gently fold to incorporate, being careful not to deflate the egg mixture.
- 9
Sift the rest of the flour over the batter and gently fold to incorporate. Avoid overmixing.
- 10
Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven. Bake until the cake shrinks away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes back clean, about 25 minutes.
- 11
Leave the cake in the pan until cool enough to handle, then invert onto a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
- 12
Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into two layers of equal thickness.
- 13
Spread the bottom cake with a thin layer of ganache (or other desired filling), and place the second cake layer on top.
- 14
Set the cake on a wire rack on top of a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- 15
Prepare a double boiler. Place a large bowl on top of a saucepan filled with an inch of water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium-low heat.
- 16
Add the butter and chocolate chips to the bowl and stir until completely melted and glossy.
- 17
Add desired food coloring to the white chocolate glaze.
- 18
Pour the colored chocolate glaze onto the cake and use an offset spatula to cover the top of the cake.
- 19
After glazing, let the layer cake set on a cooling rack until it reaches room temperature, about 1 hour.
- 20
When the glaze has set, use a sharp knife to trim the edges of the cake neatly. Rinse the knife in hot water and cut the cake into 1-inch squares, rinsing between slices.
- 21
Decorate each cake square with royal icing using a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
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