Semi-Homemade Petit Fours

Unfortunately, we did not take our group photo until three teams had already left. . .

Yeah.  I totally used store bought cake for my croquet treats.  And you know what?  So what.
I tried to find a bakery that would just sell me a quarter sheet cake or something, and not only did it confuse the hell out of them, but it was pretty damn pricey.
A quick search for "quick and easy petit fours" brought me to a recipe by Miss Paula Deen, and hallelujah!  Not only did I not have time to bake a cake from scratch, but I didn't have the time I thought to frost them - I didn't let them dry long enough before I had to leave.  Not only were they too soft for me to do any further "eat me" decorating or package them all up (I could only bring about half so they wouldn't touch), but I was half an hour late to my own damn event.
However, once croquet was over (and the next day), they were PERFECT.  I thought the frosting was too sweet at first, when it was still soft, but once it solidified, it made an awesome little cake.  Soft frosting or not, they seemed to be a hit at croquet.
Now, finding a pound cake in regular loaf form would've been way too perfect, so of course I could only find a bundt version, and I'm sure you can imagine how fun and easy it was to try to cut that into perfect little cubes.  A fun thing came from this though - I made whole little slices of cake as petit fours too and they turned out great.

Petit Fours 
1 loaf pound cake - about 1 pound, top crust removed, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup cold water
1 egg white
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 boxes confectioners' sugar, about 1 pound, sifted
preserves of your choice (cherry or apricot would be great, I used  Bonne Maman cherry preserves)
Almond extract - I'm guessing I used about 1 tbsp
3 dyes of food coloring
2 forks
Something cute, for garnish and design

Arrange the pound cake cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight. I froze my entire cake and then cut off the dark parts and cut it into cubes.  This worked incredibly well, BUT - if your cake comes back to room temperature before you frost it (which it will unless you freeze it again), it's crumb city and your frosting will get all clogged up which doesn't leave you a very nice, smooth frost job.
I then cut my cubes in half (lengthwise) and put a dollop of warmed up cherry preserves (to thin them out a little).  Use less than you think you need, since it will ooze out the sides.  A small dollop - maybe 1/4 tsp seemed perfect for the little bites.
They look like little crustless pb&js:

In the top of a double boiler, dissolve the gelatin in 2/3 cups cold water. Add egg white and corn syrup. Whisk. Add confectioners' sugar and whisk until well blended and not too thick. When mixture reaches 110 degrees F. (warm to the touch) divide the icing among several bowls and add your preferred food coloring to each bowl. Mix well.

Line counter or baking sheet with waxed paper. Place a cooling rack on top so the excess frosting can drip down and away and land on the wax paper below; then your cakes won't have bloopy, gloppy frosting puddles attached to the bottom.
Rest your cake on one fork, and use a spoon to pour frosting all over cake - work fast, this stuff thickens quickly (but you can reheat it if you need to).  Make sure the cakes are completely covered.  Use second fork to help move the frosted cake onto the rack to dry.  Do this for remaining cubes, using the various colors of frosting (rinse your forks when moving between colors, unless you're hoping for tie dye). When completely dried, place a dab of frosting onto the top of the cube to stick your cute little decor item.  OR, you can pipe little designs if you're good at that.
I was going to make Alton's royal icing to write "eat me" on mine.

Try to ignore the crumbs you can see in the tops.

Eat Me

Every year I host a croquet party.  We drink a lot of champagne and have an absolute blast.  The rules insist that we wear white (well, mostly), but I'll also allow for a wicked good Heathers or Alice in Wonderland croquet get up as well - how could I not?

We bring snacks to help settle some of that champagne, and this year, I am totally going Alice with my snack.  I have been fantasizing about "Eat Me," "Drink Me" treats for ages and I think this is just the year.  I'll make some cute little template for the champagne bottles and/or juices we use as mixers, and then I'll make some Eat Me cakes.  I'm thinking petit fours, but hot diggity dawg they're a lot of work.  I'm thinking I can definitely do fudge covered brownies (and who doesn't like chocolate?), but I really love the look of the petit fours since they remind me so much of the little cakes from the movies.

I saw Martha do petit fours once, but I can only find this one recipe and it's different than the one I watched.  Alas, this recommended cake and frosting recipe did NOT get rave reviews, so I hunted out a more traditional genoise and another frosting.  Some reviewers stated that the cake tasted bland, but I'm thinking that once I thin down my cherry or apricot preserves into a syrup to brush over the top and allow that to soak in, it will not be bland at all.  Another theme that came up in reviews was SIFT SIFT SIFT - then maybe sift again.


GENOISE CAKE
1 cup sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 8 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper and grease it as well. Lightly flour pan and paper. 

Sift together the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt onto a piece of wax paper. 

Place the eggs into a mixing bowl set over a pan of hot (not boiling) water. Add the 1/2 cup sugar to the eggs and whisk until the mixture feels warm (not hot) to the touch, about body temperature. Place the bowl onto a mixer and beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes pale yellow in color and falls off the end of the whisk attachment in long ribbons. Add the vanilla. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the beaten egg and fold in. Continue to add the remainder of the flour, folding it in each time. 

Place about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl containing the melted butter and combine the butter with the batter. Add this back to the main batter and fold it in. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. 

Immediately bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 25 minutes or until the top is a light brown. Cool in pan on a rack about 10 minutes and then invert onto a rack. It is best to invert it again onto another rack so that it cools with the top up. Let cool completely before cutting or frosting. 

Um. . . her frosting didn't seem to be very boss either.  This helpful video had one that looks like it'll work: 
POURABLE FONDANT FROSTING
6 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 c water
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp flavor (almond, vanilla, whatevs)
optional - coloring
Heat sugar, water and corn syrup to 92 degrees over low heat.  Remove from heat and add flavoring and any coloring if using.
Pour the fondant into a bowl and keep over another bowl of hot water (like a double boiler) to keep the frosting soft.


To make the petit fours, slice the cake into nice little squares and set on a cooling rack with wax paper underneath.  Spoon the fondant frosting over the top ensuring even coverage.  You can scrape the drippings off the wax paper back into the bowl to soften and reuse!  Or you can place the cakes onto a fork (or slotted spatula if they're bigger) and really glob the frosting on; let the excess drip off, and THEN put them onto the cooling rack.

This video was incredibly helpful and featured lots of good tips as well.  I'm thinking of doing my petits fours a bit bigger than is traditional (I think 1 1/2" square is the standard), just so I can ensure that I can fit "eat me" on top of them without it looking too crowded.