Perfect Petit Fours Recipe (with Tutorial) (2024)

Today (finally), I'm going to share my Perfect Petit Fours Recipe. These bite-size cakes are perfect for weddings, showers, or parties of any kind! Buttery cake with raspberry filling, cream cheese frosting and a hint of almond in the white chocolate icing makes them packed with delicious flavors!

Originally posted April 2015, updated December 2023

These vanilla petit fours don't always look perfect... but the taste and texture... yep.Perfect!

I mentioned to a client they weren't perfect and she said, "If they looked perfect, I wouldn't believe they were homemade!"

Good point. Mine aren't perfect, but once you bite into one, you won't care!

So, I kept making them... over and over again... to be sure it wasn't a fluke and now I can say with confidence, I'm in love with this recipe & method for making them!

They're delicious. One of my clients declared them "the best cake she'd ever had in her life!"

I won't say they're super easy... you do have to work for them! But I can say without hesitation they're worth every minute of work! And if you want to make them for Christmas, keep reading and see a pic down below! Or for Valentine's Day - be sure to check out my post here on Heart Shaped Petit Fours!

Perfect Petit Fours Recipe

Okay... so here we go. First, you're going to make up the recipe below for a simple butter cake. This is a scratch recipe (which y'all know is rare for me) but it's soooo worth it! It's also actually a pound cake recipe - courtesy of my friend Angela.

She gave it to me to make her daughter's wedding cake and told me (in passing) that it was good for petit fours.I'll be forever grateful for that tidbit!!

To keep this petit fours recipe easy, let's start with the ingredients for the cake batter. They're all very basic, which make it even more impressive how good this cake is!

Vanilla Petit Fours Ingredients:

• Sugar
• Butter - I prefer salted, but unsalted works as well. The tiny salt difference will not affect the recipe. The butter should be softened to room temperature.
• Shortening - Crisco is the only brand I use. I have a full post on shortening here if it's not an ingredient you use often.
• Vanilla extract - I'm partial to homemade vanilla extract, but store-bought works just as well!
• Eggs - large eggs at room temperature
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Evaporated milk - be careful here to not use condensed milk. And please don't use any substitutions. I'm not sure why, but evaporated milk is almost a secret ingredient here.
• Sour cream - use full-fat sour cream here and no substitutions
• Raspberry Filling (optional, and variations below) - if you want to use the homemade filing (which is far superior, I highly recommend making it a day or two beforehand).
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Petit Four Icing

What's the best filling for petit fours?

Because the cake, cream cheese frosting, and petit four icing are all sweet and rich, I love to contrast the filling with something tart. But really, the sky is the limit. Here are my favorite petit four fillings (and some other options):

• Raspberry Filling - this is one of my top two popular fillings. You could also use strawberry filling if you like but the raspberry is a perfect complement to the almond and white chocolate. You will likely want to make this ahead of time!
• Lemon Curd - this is my other most popular filling. I also have a microwave version here or you can buy it pre-made at your local grocery store.
• Fruit Jams - instead of making your own filling, you can use any store-bought jam that you love as filling!
• Marzipan (almond paste) - this is another classic and traditional filling for petit fours. I much prefer the fruit filling, but if you love almond flavor, you will love petit fours filled with marzipan.
• Caramel - I haven't ever tried this, but I imagine it would be amazing! I'd probably skip the almond flavoring in the icing and use vanilla instead!

• Half Sheet Pan (bonus points if you have a lid for it!)
• Parchment Paper or Silicone Mats
• Mixing Bowls
• Hand Mixer
• Flexible Cutting Boards
• Cake leveler or Agbay or large serrated knife
• Ruler
• Skewers (optional) for dipping
• Cooling rack or wire rack

Petit Fours Recipe

This is the recipe for the butter cake that is the STAR of these petit fours. I have recipes for the filling, frosting, and icing below.

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Prep a 13"x18" half-sheet pan. These Nordic Pans are my favorite... I have about a dozen of them! I line the pan with parchment paper, then spray down the edges with non-stick baking spray.
3. In a large bowl, cream together thesugar, butter andshorteninguntil smooth then beat in vanilla. Addeggs, one at a time, until fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour,baking powder, andsalt). To save some time, you can also whisk it all together.
5. Add thisflourmixture and theevaporated milkto the original mixture alternately. With an electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, then fold in the sour cream.
6. Pour the batter onto a prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (check at 25 minutes!).
7. See the instructions above for assembling the cake and icing the petit fours.

How to Make Petit Fours

1. Flip the cooled cake out onto a work surface on another piece of parchment paper.

2. Torte the cake into two thin layers. Y'all... torting (or splitting cake layers) is pretty new for me, but you really should for petit fours. You get to add in a little extra special bit of flavor and it makes them pretty too!

Note: Torting is easily done with my Agbay,(which I LOOOVE)but you can also use a less expensive cake leveler such as this extra-wide cake leveler. As a last resort, you can also torte the cake free-hand using a long serrated bread knife - just be careful because this cake is thin and it would be easy to mess it up!

3. With the cake bottom-up on parchment paper, lift the top layer onto another sheet of parchment paper. I've found the easiest way to do this is to slide a flexible cutting board into the cut, then simply lift it off.

See Also

French Petit* Fours : What are the 4 types of petit fours?How To Make Petit Fours: A Brief History & Recipesdessert buffets | Sweet Life in EugeneThe Super Bakers Guide to Easy Peasy Petit Fours - cabfoods.co.za

4. If you're using a filling, such as raspberry or lemon curd, spread a thin layer onto the cut side of the cake.

5. Then spread a thin layer of frosting. I use both filling and frosting, but you could use frosting only if you don't want to use a fruit filling.

Note: for the filling - today I'm using raspberry. You could make your own raspberry fillingor use raspberry jam. I have my Raspberry Filling recipe here and it's perfect and so easy! My only tip would be to make it ahead of time! For other ideas, check out the list below.

6. Using the flexible cutting board again, place the top layer of cake over the filling and/or frosting layer, lining up the edges.

6. Finally, the last step before freezing the cake is to put another layer of frosting on top. I use this as an opportunity to level out any low spots and make a really smooth, clean surface for the poured frosting!

This layer of frosting can be as thin or thick as you like, so long as it's level and smooth. Why? Because the poured icing on top will only be as smooth as the surface it's poured over!

8. Once you have that top layer of frosting smooth, cut off the edges so you'll have really nice squares. Plus, you get to eat the edges and I have to tell you - they're much fought over in this house!!

9. Freeze the cake.I lift it (with the parchment underneath), put it back on the sheet pan I baked it on, put a lid on (love these with lids!!), and then I put it in the freezer for around an hour.

Petit Four Icing Recipe

To keep this post from being miles long, I'm not going to share the full step-by-step icing recipe here. I do have it in the recipe card below or you can read a full post about it here: Petit Four Icing.

How to Make Petit Four Icing and Set up

I have a dedicated post to my Petit Fours Icing recipe here, but I'm also going through it on this post.

1. Make the icing. While the petit fours are freezing, I work on the set-up and the icing.I use this Petit Four Icing recipe(be sure to start prepping it before you take the cakes out of the freezer).

Here's my icing setup... a make-shift double boiler:

2. Line a baking sheetwith parchment, wax paper, or a silicone mat, and lay a cooling rack over it.

I like to use cooling racks larger than the sheets so there's good space between the cooling rack and the surface beneath.

3. When the cake comes out of the freezer, use a sharp knife to cut it into squares (1-1.25 inches square). Sometimes I just eyeball it, sometimes I use my sewing ruler and/or a straight edge to get them perfect. I've also found the smallest biscuit cutter in this set works great! Do whatever makes you happy!

4. Place them on a cooling rack.
5. Working quickly (they're easier to keep pretty and square when they're cold), I move a small batch of them to the preppedcooling rack and immediately start covering with icing.
6. TIP: Freeze the remaining cake while you work and only take out as much as you can dip before it begins to thaw (I usually do 10-12 at a time on small baking sheets).

How to Ice Petit Fours (2 ways)

Icing Method #1: skewer each frozen square in the side and dip the cake in the melted icing.

Place the dipped petit four on your prepared cooling rack and twist the skewer while pulling it out of the cake. Let it sit until the icing is set.

Video

Below is a short (informal) video of us skewering from the bottom. Now we do it from the side as seen above, but you'll get the idea!

NOTE: If you're using an adblocker, you must turn it OFF to see this video!!

Icing Method #2: ladle the icing over the frozen cakes while they're sitting on the cooling rack. I first ladle the icing around the sides and then into the middle. You must work quickly because it will set up fast.

• Whichever method you choose, when you place the dipped or coated petit fours on a cooling rack, the excess runs off and onto the paper or silicone mat below. It can be reused if it doesn't have a bunch of cake crumbs in it. Let it firm up and you can peel it off and put it back into your bowl to re-melt! No waste... which I love!!
• If you're adding sprinkles or any decorations that need to stick, add them before the icing sets (which is quick because the cake is cold).
• Otherwise, let them set then decorate.

After the petit fours are iced, let them firm up for a few minutes - the icing sets fast because they're cold - and then you can move them to a platter or individual candy cups (my favorite way to present them).

Pro-Tips for Perfect Petit Fours

• If you don't have an Agbay and/or flexible cutting board to torte your cake into layers, you can make this job less stressful by cutting the cake into fourths before you start working. Then use a serrated knife to torte the smaller cake squares. It'll be much easier to handle in small portions when removing the top layer to fill with fruit and frosting.
• Do not skip the freezing step! Dipping the small cake squares is exponentially easier with frozen cake.
• In that same vein, dip or coat the cubed cake in small batches and keep the other cake in the freezer while you work.
• Spread any fruit filling that you choose very thin. If it's thick, it will cause the cake to slide around and be more difficult to handle.
• Use almond bark (my preference) or white chocolate bars for the poured icing recipe. White chocolate chips are very difficult to melt and get smooth.
• As with almost all baking recipes, it's best to have your ingredients (eggs, butter, cream cheese, etc.) at room temperature.
• Follow the detailed instructions or alternating the wet and dry ingredients when mixing.
• For perfectly square and uniform petit fours, use a biscuit cutter to cut your squares. I recommend the smallest one in this set.
• If you don't need several dozen petit fours, you can use a portion of the sheet and freeze the remaining cake (before or after filling).If it's wrapped up tight and/or covered well, it will keep in the freezer for 3-4 weeks!
• If you want to use homemade raspberry filling or lemon curd, I highly recommend making it ahead of time (hours or days ahead). Otherwise, a store bought alternative might be best!

How to Decorate Petit Fours

Brush of color - My favorite way to decorate petit fours is a brush of gold or color across one side. For the petit fours in this post, we did a brush of hot pink. Beneath that picture, you can see others where we used a brush of gold. I always use Sweet Sticks Edible Paints for this.

Fondant decorations - I used a tiny bow mold to make the burgundy bows on the petit fours below. They were for a dessert display at a wedding.

Flowers: You can also add fondant, buttercream, or royal icing decorations to petit fours. Examples are the bows above and the flowers (buttercream and fondant) below.

Initials or monograms are great decorations for petit fours for baby showers, bridal showers, or weddings.

Drizzle of white or colored icing or chocolate is simple and fits most any decor. I recommend gel food color if you want to change the icing color.

Candy or sprinkles can be added to petit fours to make them fun! You should do this before the icing sets!

Wafer Paper - I used wafer paper butterflies on the petit fours below and they were so lovely!

Stamps: One last idea is to use a stamp. I made custom chocolate medallions stamped with the couples initials for their more formal wedding.

Serving Recommendations

• Petit fours are best served at room temperature.
• I always serve petit fours in candy cups. These are slightly smaller than cupcake liners but cupcake liners will work in a pinch!
• Petit fours are so versatile - you can serve them as a stand-alone dessert or as one dessert of many on a dessert bar. They're perfect for weddings, birthdays, baby and bridal showers, or even family gatherings and holidays.

Christmas Petit Fours

Here's a bonus nugget for you! If you're a fellow home baker like I am, Christmas petit fours are one of my top sellers! This past year we adapted the recipe to a Christmas Petit Fours recipe!

We baked two sheets, one red, and one green, then mix-matched the top and bottom layers to make them red and green on the inside. To finish them off, we added a brush of gold on the outside and they were perfection! Here's a quick (slightly blurry) photo we snapped:

How many petit fours are in one batch?

NOTE: This recipe will yield ~84 petit fours at the size listed above (1.25-inch squares). However this will vary if you cut smaller or larger petit fours or you free-hand them. My daughter cuts them slightly larger and gets around 60-70 petit fours per batch. If you cut smaller 1-inch squares and don't trim too much off the edges, you can get as many as 130 petit fours from one batch.

How to Store Petit Fours

Petit fours are one of those desserts that can be made ahead of time and kept for days, weeks, or months at a time as long as you can refrigerate and/or freeze them.

• Petit fours are okay at room temperature for a few hours.
• To keep them overnight or longer, they need to be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for up to a week.
• Petit fours are best eaten at room temperature, so set them out for at least 30 minutes before serving (from the fridge). If frozen, thaw them in the fridge overnight, then set them out for about an hour before serving.

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Perfect Petit Fours Recipe (with Tutorial)

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4.9 from 56 reviews

• Author: Rose
• Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
• Yield: 6 dozen 1x

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Description

These vanilla petit fours are the perfect bize-sized cake for weddings, showers, or parties of any kind! Buttery cake with raspberry filling, cream cheese frosting and a hint of almond in the white chocolate icing makes them packed with delicious flavors!

Ingredients

UnitsScale

For the cake:

• 2 ¾ cups sugar
• ¾ cup salted butter, softened
• ¾ cup shortening
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup evaporated milk
• ¼ cup sour cream

For the cream cheese frosting:

• ½ cup salted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
• ¼ cup Crisco* shortening (just under 2 oz. on a kitchen scale)
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1.5 pounds powdered sugar
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk (add to get the consistency to pipe or spread)

For the filling:

• Raspberry filling recipe here
• OR Raspberry Jam

For the icing:

• 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup (or 6 ounces) of chopped white chocolate or almond bark

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Prep a 13"x18" half-sheet pan by lining the pan withparchment paper, then spray down the edges with non-stick baking spray.These Nordic Pans are my favorite!
3. In a large bowl, cream together thesugar, butter, and shorteninguntil smooth then beat in vanilla. Addeggs, one at a time, until fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour,baking powder, andsalt). To save some time, you can also whisk it all together.
5. Add thisflourmixture and theevaporated milkto the original mixture alternately. With an electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, then fold in the sour cream.
6. Pour the batter onto a prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (check at 25 minutes!).
7. Flip the cake out onto a cooling rack and allow it to cool, then follow the instructions below for filling and frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

1. First, cream the butter and Crisco in a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed for a couple of minutes until smooth and creamy. Add in the vanilla andcream cheeseand mix again until very smooth.
2. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar until it's all combined. It will be very stiff! Then begin adding milk until you reach the desired consistency for decorating (2 tablespoons works well for me!)

Filling and frosting the petit fours:

2. Flip the cooled cake out onto a work surface on another piece of parchment paper.
3. Torte the cake into two thin layers. This is a fancy way of saying split the cake into two layers with a cake leveling tool or sharp serrated knife.
4. With the cake bottom-up on parchment paper, lift the top layer onto another sheet of parchment paper. I've found the easiest way to do this is by sliding a flexible cutting board into the cut, then simply lifting it off.
5. If you're using a filling, such as raspberry or lemon curd, spread a thin layer onto the cut side of the cake.
6. Then spread a thin layer of frosting. I use both filling and frosting, but you could use frosting only if you don't want to use a fruit filling.
7. Using the flexible cutting board again, place the top layer of cake over the filling and/or frosting layer, lining up the edges.
8. Finally, the last step before freezing the cake is to put another layer of frosting on top. I use this as an opportunity to level out any low spots and make a really smooth, clean surface for the poured frosting! This layer of frosting can be as thin or thick as you like, so long as it's level and smooth. Why? Because the poured icing on top will only be as smooth as the surface it's poured over!
9. Once you have that top layer of frosting smooth, cut off the edges so you'll have really nice squares. Plus, you get to eat the edges and I have to tell you - they're much fought over in this house!
10. Freeze the cake. I lift it (with the parchment underneath), put it back on the sheet pan I baked it on, put a lid on (love these with lids!!), and then I put it in the freezer for around 30 minutes to an hour.

For the petit four icing:

1. While the cake is freezing, bring a pot of water to boil, then place a larger glass bowl over it. You'll do all of this recipe in the glass bowl!! This is my "double-boiler".
2. In the glass bowl,whisktogether the confectioners'sugar, water, corn syrup and extracts.
3. Continue whisking or stirring until the mixture becomes smooth and consistent. It should be thin enough to drizzle from a spoon, but not so thin that it all runs off the cake! You can also check the temperature and when it reaches 92° F, it's good.
4. When it's ready, add in the choppedwhite chocolate and stir until melted. I like to turn down the heat but keep my water steaming underneath as I work to keep the icing from setting up!

Icing the petit fours:

1. When the cake comes out of the freezer, use a sharp knife to cut it into squares (1-1.25 inches square). Sometimes I just eyeball it, sometimes I use my sewing ruler and/or a straight edge to get them perfect. I've also found the smallest biscuit cutter in this set works great! Do whatever makes you happy!
2. Place them on a cooling rack.
3. Working quickly (they're easier to keep pretty and square when they're cold), move a small batch of them to the prepped cooling rack and immediately start ladling the icing over the cakes, or use a skewer to dip them.
4. Freeze the remaining cake while you work and only take out as much as you can dip before it begins to thaw (I usually do 10-12 at a time).
5. I like to use cooling racks larger than the sheet pan, so there's good space between the cooling rack and the paper beneath.
6. Whichever method you choose, when you place the dipped or coated petit fours on a cooling rack, the excess runs off and onto the paper or silicone mat below and can be re-used. Let it firm up and you can peel it off and put it back into your bowl to re-melt! No waste... which I love!!
7. If you're adding sprinkles or any decorations that need to stick, add them before the icing sets (which is quick because the cake is cold).
8. Otherwise, let them set then decorate.

And finally... ENJOY!

Equipment

Half Sheet Pan

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Bosch Mixer

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Mixing Bowls

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Notes

• If you don't have an Agbay and/or flexiblecutting boardto torte your cake into layers, you can make this job less stressful by cutting the cake into fourths before you start working. Then use a serratedknifeto torte the smaller cake squares. It'll be much easier to handle in small portions when removing the top layer to fill with fruit and frosting.
• Do not skip the freezing step! Dipping the small cake squares is exponentially easier with frozen cake.
• In that same vein, dip or coat the cubed cake in small batches and keep the other cake in the freezer while you work.
• Spread any fruit filling that you choose very thin. If it's thick, it will cause the cake to slide around and be more difficult to handle.
• Usealmond bark(my preference) or white chocolate bars for thepoured icing recipe.White chocolate chipsare very difficult to melt and get smooth.
• As with almost all baking recipes, it's best to have your ingredients (eggs, butter,cream cheese, etc.) at room temperature.
• Follow the detailed instructions or alternating the wet and dry ingredients when mixing.
• For perfectly square and uniform petit fours, use a biscuit cutterto cut your squares. I recommend the smallest one inthis set.
• If you don't need several dozen petit fours, you can use a portion of the sheet and freeze the remaining cake (before or after filling). If it's wrapped up tight and/or covered well, it will keep in the freezer for 3-4 weeks!
• If you want to use a homemade raspberry filling or lemon curd, I highly recommend making it ahead of time (hours or days ahead). Otherwise, a store-bought alternative might be best!

• Prep Time: 3 hours
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: American

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