Van Niekerk - How to Bake and Ice Petit Fours

By Brenda VanNiekerk SMASHWORDS EDITION ******* Publishedby Brenda Van Niekerk at Smashwords How To Bake AndIce Petit Fours Copyright 2012 Brenda Van Niekerk Smashwords Edition,License Notes This ebook islicensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not bere-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to sharethis book with another person, please purchase an additional copyfor each recipient. If youre reading this book and did notpurchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then pleasereturn to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author. Contents A petit four isa small confectionery generally served as part of dessert or eatenwith coffee.

There are 2 differentcategories of Petits Fours: 1) Petits fourssecs sec meaning dry 2) Petits foursglacs - glac meaning "iced" Petits Fours Secs This group includes avariety of small desserts such as: Special daintybiscuits Bakedmeringues Macarons Puffpastries Petits FoursGlacs Petits foursglacs are iced or decorated in some way. The miniature cakes arecovered in fondant or glac icing and decorated beautifully withfondant flowers and piping. Each of these cakes is a miniature artpiece. This groupincludes: Smallclairs Tartlets Fondant coveredcakes

Ingredients For Sponge Cake 8 eggs 1 egg yolk 125 groundalmonds Zest from 1lemon 180 g sugar 180 g flour Ingredients ForFilling 180 g smoothapricot jam 250 gmarzipan 1 egg white Ingredients For Boiledicing 100 gmargarine 280 g icingsugar 25 ml milk Ingredients ForButterscotch Icing 30 g butter 30 ml brownsugar 30 mlevaporated milk Method To Bake TheCake Beat the eggyolks, ground almonds, lemon zest and the sugar until thick andcreamy. Whisk the eggwhites until stiff peaks form. Fold theremaining sugar into the egg whites and beat until stiff.

Fold the eggyolks into the egg whites. Fold in theflour. Combinewell. Pour themixture into a greased baking pan and smooth evenly on the top. Bake at 220degrees C for 12 minutes. Remove the cakefrom the pan and cool the cake on a wire rack.

Cut the cakehorizontally into 2 halves. Spread thebottom layer of cake with the apricot jam. Place the otherlayer of cake on top of the jam layer. Press downwell. Wrap the cakein foil and place a heavy wooden board on top of the cake. Leave the cakefor 24 hours.

Method To Cover TheCake With Marzipan Cut the cakeinto various miniature shapes. Brush the cakewith the egg white. Cover eachpiece of cake with marzipan. Mold the shape carefully with themarzipan. Leave themarzipan to dry. Method To Make TheBoiled Icing Melt themargarine.

Heat themilk. Combine themelted margarine, heated milk and the icing sugar together in asaucepan. Bring themixture to the boil without stirring. Remove fromheat as soon as boiling point is reached. Stir inremaining icing sugar. Blend well.

Work quickly asthe icing hardens. Add the flavoring and coloring as desired (seesection on Color TheBoiled Icing and Flavor The Boiled Icing). Pour the icingover the cakes. Smooth with awet palette knife. Leave toset. Method To Make TheButterscotch Icing Combine thebutter, brown sugar and evaporated milk together in a saucepan.

Heat themixture until the sugar has melted. Bring to boiland stop stirring. Boil for 10 to15 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Pour the icingover the cakes. Smooth with awet palette knife.

There Are 3 Types OfFood Coloring : Gel Powder Paste The gel food coloring is moreconcentrated than the liquid food coloring . There Are 3 Types OfFood Coloring : Gel Powder Paste The gel food coloring is moreconcentrated than the liquid food coloring .

Using gel food coloring will not thindown the chocolate like the liquid food coloring will do. How To Make Different Colors Using the 3primary colors red,blue and yellow you can mix any other color that you need. To Make Orange Mix equal partsred and yellow To Make Purple Mix equal partsred and blue. To Make Black Mix 3 partsred, 3 parts blue, and 2 parts green. Color Wheel

There aremany options which you can use to flavor your boiled icing: Any type ofextract vanilla, lemon, orange and rose water are but a few thatcome to mind. You can alsoadd lemon or orange zest for additional zing to your icing.

You could useany liqueurs to flavor the icing.

Petit Foursare always beautifully decorated. Ways To Decorate PetitFours: Candied edibleflowers Plastic whiteand dark chocolate flowers and decorations Fondantmodelled flowers and decorations Glacecherries Choppedassorted nuts Edible cakeglitter Ready boughtedible cake decorations Chocolate curlsand leaves Piped icing orchocolate