Eggless Petit Fours

 Wish you all a Very Happy Deepavali!!

Making Petit Fours has been in my list for long. I even thought of making this for the mega BM which I participated last month, but after I went after cookies, I just postponed it. And this month I have been posting for the Home Baker’s Guild Blogger Tuesday series and I thought of making it again. For the past two days it has been hectic here in my home. With Diwali round the corner, I am multitasking a lot. Diwali sweets prepartion and stitching Sruti’s dress are done at the same time. And as usual, I made the Blogger’s tuesday dish today as tomorrow it is supposed to go online. My hubby was wondering how I was working like a computer doing so much of tasks at the same time. But a good chef should know how to multi task. Am I right???

Coming to petit fours, it is pronounced as paetee foor means small oven. These are tiny confectionaries usually served along with coffee or as desserts. Petit fours are classified into three categories. Glazed – tiny cakes decorated with fondant, Salted – bite sized savoury appetizers served during parties and Dry – cute biscuits, macarons, meringues and puff pastries. I wanted to make small cakes. So I went for my eggless vanilla sponge as the base, strawberry jam as the filling and chocolate ganache as the glaze. I added a lillte extra cream to my ganache and it was quite sticky. But it was easier to cover the cake with thin ganache. At first I tried with the ganache which I usually use to frost my cakes and it was quite thick and hard to handle. So I added two table spoons of cream to the ganache and the covering of cakes was easier. But it was sticky. My daughter loved these cute little cakes. I made it as 1″ squares and it was perfect for a mouthful.

To get perfect square cakes, you need to freeze the sponge until firm before slicing. After the first freezing, cut the sponge into two layers. Fill with jam and again freeze it until firm. After second freezing, you can easily slice them into 1″ square pieces. By the time, keep your ganache ready. I started by arranging all the squares on the wire rack and pouring the ganache on top. But I think there was so much ganache wasted because the tray used to catch the dripping ganache also had cake crumbs and reusing ganache with crumbs is not a good idea. So I picked individual squares on a spatula, held it on top of the ganache bowl, drizzled the cake with ganache so that the dripping ganache falls back into the bowl itself. After the excess ganache has dripped, it was easier to transfer the cake onto a wire rack. And after that there was no wastage. So if you are new to glazing cakes with ganache, do follow this method and it will be a lot easier.

Makes a lot of petit fours

Ingredients:

For The Eggless Vanilla Sponge:

Flour/ Maida-2 cups

Corn Flour-2 tbs

Baking Powder-2 tsp

Baking soda-1 tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Butter-1/2 cup

Vanilla Essence-1 tsp

Condensed Milk- 400 gm / 1 tin

Milk-1 cup

Vinegar-1 tsp 

For The Chocolate Ganache:

Dark Chocolate-400 gm

Amul Low Fat Cream-200 ml

Strawberry Jam – 1/2 cup

Silver Edible Beads For decorations

Procedure:

For The Cake:

Preheat oven to 175°C.

In a bowl mix together flour, corn flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, cream together butter and vanilla.

Add condensed milk and beat until incorporated.

In the same tin, add milk and vinegar and mix until it curdles.

Now add the milk and flour alternately to the butter mixture and mix well to form a thick batter without lumps.

Grease and dust a 9″ * 13″ tray.

Pour the batter into the tray and level it with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place the tray on a wire rack and allow it to stand for 10 minutes.

Now flip the cake onto the wire rack and allow it to cool completely.

Once cool, wrap the cake in two or three layers of cling wrap and place it in the same baking tray and place it in the freezer.

Let it freeze for 4 hours or until firm to touch.

Remove the cake from the freezer and with a long bread knife, trim off the edges and cut it into two layers.

Apply jam on one layer and place the other on top.

Wrap it again with cling wrap and freeze it again until firm.

Wile the cake is freezing get the ganache ready.

Ganache:

Chop room temperature chocolate into small pieces and place it in a bowl.

Bring cream to boil on medium flame.

When it starts boiling, remove from flame and pour it over the chocolate.

After some time, start whisking with a spoon.

The chocolate mixture gradually turns brown.

When it completely melt and shiny, it is ready.

Making the Petit Fours:

Remove the cake from freezer and with a long knife, cut it into 1″ strips.

Now cut it again horizontally to make squares.

Arrange the squares on a plate for easy access.

On a spatula, place a square and hold it on the ganache bowl.

With the help of a spoon, pour the ganache on top of the cake. Keep on pouring until the cake is fully covered with ganache.

Allow the excess ganache to drip into the bowl.

With the help of another spatula, gently push the cake on a wire rack.

Decorate it with edible sugar beads.

Allow it to cool.

Arrange on a plate and serve along with tea or coffee. 

Eggless Petit Fours

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Ingredients

  

For The Eggless Vanilla Sponge

• Flour/ Maida-2 cups
• Corn Flour-2 tbs
• Baking Powder-2 tsp
• Baking soda-1 tsp
• Salt-1/2 tsp
• Butter-1/2 cup
• Vanilla Essence-1 tsp
• Condensed Milk- 400 gm / 1 tin
• Milk-1 cup
• Vinegar-1 tsp

For The Chocolate Ganache

• Dark Chocolate-400 gm
• Amul Low Fat Cream-200 ml
• Strawberry Jam - 1/2 cup
• Silver Edible Beads For decorations

Instructions

 

For The Cake

• Preheat oven to 175°C.
• In a bowl mix together flour, corn flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• In another bowl, cream together butter and vanilla.
• Add condensed milk and beat until incorporated.
• In the same tin, add milk and vinegar and mix until it curdles.
• Now add the milk and flour alternately to the butter mixture and mix well to form a thick batter without lumps.
• Grease and dust a 9" * 13" tray.
• Pour the batter into the tray and level it with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and place the tray on a wire rack and allow it to stand for 10 minutes.
• Now flip the cake onto the wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
• Once cool, wrap the cake in two or three layers of cling wrap and place it in the same baking tray and place it in the freezer.
• Let it freeze for 4 hours or until firm to touch.
• Remove the cake from the freezer and with a long bread knife, trim off the edges and cut it into two layers.
• Apply jam on one layer and place the other on top.
• Wrap it again with cling wrap and freeze it again until firm.
• Wile the cake is freezing get the ganache ready.

Ganache

• Chop room temperature chocolate into small pieces and place it in a bowl.
• Bring cream to boil on medium flame.
• When it starts boiling, remove from flame and pour it over the chocolate.
• After some time, start whisking with a spoon.
• The chocolate mixture gradually turns brown.
• When it completely melt and shiny, it is ready.

Making the Petit Fours

• Remove the cake from freezer and with a long knife, cut it into 1" strips.
• Now cut it again horizontally to make squares.
• Arrange the squares on a plate for easy access.
• On a spatula, place a square and hold it on the ganache bowl.
• With the help of a spoon, pour the ganache on top of the cake. Keep on pouring until the cake is fully covered with ganache.
• Allow the excess ganache to drip into the bowl.
• With the help of another spatula, gently push the cake on a wire rack.
• Decorate it with edible sugar beads.
• Allow it to cool.
• Arrange on a plate and serve along with tea or coffee.