How to Make Petit Fours

Petit Fours might be the daintiest little desserts ever. These cute cubes are just small cakes filled with either jam, lemon curd, marzipan, or buttercream and covered in a pourable white chocolate fondant. They're the ultimate treat for an afternoon tea, birthday, or shower and they're much easier to make than you'd imagine! I topped min with tiny buttercream roses but you can add a drizzle of icing, some sprinkles or leave them plain!

In case you're wondering, they're called petit fours, it has to do with the temperature they were baked at. Hundreds of years ago, brick ovens cooled very slowly , so after the bread was made (at high temperature) smaller pastries like this could be baked at lower tempeatures!

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[cobaki]

my mom was killed last year and i remember once getting these from the store because she really liked them but i could never remember the name & seeing this made me gasp and almost start crying because i was so happy to know what they were and that i can make them now

[wy]

This is like the ultimate princess food. It's so dainty and pretty and adorable.

[Raven_Leblanc]

If others have trouble making fluffy cake: try separating your eggs into yolks and eggwhites. To the yolks you'll add the sugar and butter/creamcheese mix. Then lastly, the eggwhites need to be whisked until they can make stiff peaks. Then GENTLY fold the eggwhites with the rest of the batter as the LAST step. Good luck and have fun baking!

[EmmeChatterton]

Petit fours were always the fancy cake of Christmas for my family because my mom would never bake them, they were on the list of 'way too much work to create' foods along with creme wafers, divinity, macarons and others. But this seems simple enough to do, thank you!

[maiaallman]

I had petit fours with our initials on instead of a wedding cake. It was so beautiful!

[savageyoongles]

Honestly, listen to your cakes is the best advice I’ve ever gotten.

[janinearmstrong]

I literally gasped because just yesterday I searched to see if John had ever done petit fours. I really appreciate this coincidence.

[melaniejo]

Omg! We had a bakery in Ann Arbor, Michigan and my dear father would take me downtown and this was my choice every time. Their petit fours looked just like your thumbnail! My absolute favorite thing! The Quality Bakery closed many years ago and I’ve missed these delightful treats and my father for so many years! Thank you, you made my day with just the image in the thumbnail! ❤️

[adamchurvis]

5:36 John, here is a useful tip I was taught, and it REALLY works great: when peeling parchment from a cake, don't lift up the parchment vertically because that tends to pull cake bits off the surface -- sometimes a lot more than you would think. Instead, pull the parchment BACK 180 degrees over itself, such that your fingers grasping the edge being pulled continuously touch the surface of the yet-to-be-peeled parchment. This peels off the parchment cleanly because now there is only a tiny line (the fold) pulling on that tiny surface area, so it's easy for the parchment to break away.

[tondriasanders]

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to make these. Having a video to go along with the recipe I’ve never used makes it feel so much more doable.
Thank you!😊

[adithimahesh]

The way John poured the fondant made my heart sing! I'm so so grateful I didn't have to see a whole bowl poured over and SO MUCH OF IT WASTED ON THE BAKING SHEET BELOW

[janicekennedy]

This was great, I would also suggest your lining the baking sheet with the used parchment paper prior to dipping the petit fours. All the drips will be caught on the parchment paper and clean up will be oh so much easier.

[ET]

"Nodules of butter in a matrix of eggs" 😄 Love this!

[Sam-]

I love that he properly scrapes the bowls and dishes he uses.

[skribulz]

I made petite fours, once, years ago. They came out so beautiful and delicious but they were so much work that I swore I would never make them again... cut to quarantine 2020 and I found myself on the Preppy Kitchen blog, searching for a petite four recipe 😅 I’m so glad to see that you have this recipe out! Can’t wait to try it!

[cs_fl]

I don't watch a lot of cooking shows. I have caught this channel a few times. I am always impressed by all the tiny teaching pearls that just come out during the discussion about the process.

[Khristafer]

Piping the tiny roses was kind of absurd and I loved it so much. All tiny roses, all the time now.

[miriammeyers]

Childhood memories of eating these at bar mitzvah parties (too many, when the adults weren't looking). Each one was like a separate little gift. The rose on top is a must. Thank you.

[colleens]

I remember when I was younger and I wondered what type of baking pan they used to make such little tiny cakes LOL

This is beautiful I love how you did this

[ambreewilliams]

I used to see these in the old Sears catalog as a kid, and I always wondered how they were made. Thanks for clearing up the mystery!