Sheet Pan Petit Fours Recipes

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Liberally spray an 18-by13-inch sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Stack the lined sheet pan inside a second sheet pan, to avoid extra browning when baking.
• In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• In a food processor, pulse together the almond paste, granulated sugar and honey. Pulse until well combined. Open the food processor and scrape the sides and bottom with a metal spoon to check that the almond paste is completely incorporated. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing to combine after each addition.
• Add the eggs one by one, pulsing until each is completely incorporated. After the last addition, scrape down the bowl and then pulse until the batter is completely smooth and slightly fluffy. Pulse in the flour mixture until blended.
• Spread the batter evenly in the prepared sheet pan. Bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back when gently poked, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
• While the cakes are cooling, color the Royal Icing in the colors of your choosing and add each color to a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Pipe tiny flowers on a piece of parchment by making small closed spirals in one color, then add leaves to either side in the other color. Set aside to set up and harden, about 1 hour.
• Remove the cake from the sheet pan and cut in half widthwise. Spread the jam on top of one half and top with the second half. Freeze for 10 minutes to set.
• Use a serrated knife to cut the cake into 1-inch squares. Place onto a parchment-covered sheet pan and freeze for at least 1 hour.
• For the coating icing: In the meantime, add the white chocolate chips to a heatproof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water (the bowl should sit above and not touch the water). Heat, stirring, until melted and smooth.
• Sift the confectioners' sugar into a separate large bowl. Stir in the hot water and corn syrup until smooth. Stir in the melted chocolate. If the icing is too thick (it should be pourable), add more hot water 1 teaspoon at a time. Use while warm; you can reheat it in the microwave if necessary as you are working.
• Put the little cakes on a wire rack fitted inside a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Coat the cakes with the icing using a spoon and small offset spatula, or add icing to a pastry bag, snip the corner and use to coat each cake. Top each with a hardened royal icing decoration. Allow the icing to set up before transferring to a serving platter.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment, add the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder and beat to combine. Beat in 4 tablespoons of warm water to combine. Raise the paddle head to check the consistency of the icing; the icing should be thick and smooth but not dripping from the paddle. Add more water until the desired consistency is reached. (You can add slightly more water to achieve a flooding consistency icing to completely cover cookies. Use a stiffer consistency to pipe decorations and details.)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks using an electric mixer. Add sugar, and beat until thick and pale, about 10 minutes. If you have a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment. Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture, and fold in by hand along with the milk. Stir just until the batter is mixed, then fold in the melted butter until smooth. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When finished, invert the cake pan onto a sheet of waxed paper, and cool completely. This will give you nice even petits fours.
• Cut the cooled cake into small squares, rectangles or triangles, and arrange the pieces in rows on a wire rack or glazing screen with plenty of space between rows. (See Cook's Notes for flavoring suggestions). Set the rack over a shallow pan or waxed paper to catch the drips.
• Spoon or pour warmed petit four icing over the small cakes. The drippings may be scraped off of the pan or paper, and reheated for use again. Allow the petits fours to set until completely dry. Lift the cakes from the rack with a metal spatula, and trim the bottom edges with a sharp knife. Set into small muffin papers for easy handling. Decorate as desired.

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and lay parchment paper over the bottom of a jelly roll size baking pan (17 1/2 by 11 1/2 by 1-inch deep). With an electric beater, beat together the egg yolks, just 1/4 cup of the sugar (reserving the rest), and vanilla until the mixture becomes a pale yellow and thickens. Sift cake flour over the egg yolk mixture and set aside briefly. Wash and dry the beaters. In a separate metal bowl, beat the egg whites, gradually beating in the balance of the sugar until stiff peaks form. To the egg yolk/flour bowl, fold in one-third of the beaten egg whites until just barely combined. Repeat two more times with each of the remaining two thirds of the beaten egg whites. Spread into baking pan and bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until the surface is golden brown and springs back when touched. Let cake cool in pan.
• While the cake is cooling, it would be a good idea to make room in the freezer for the sheet cake.
• When the cake is completely cool, peel off the browned surface of the cake. (You can do this simply by loosening it and rolling it off.)
• Then prepare the ice cream by cutting each 1/2 gallon crosswise into 7 even-sized bricks, a total of 14 bricks. The typical rectangular carton of ice cream measures 63/4 inches long by 5 inches wide by 3 inches tall. You will arrange these bricks 4 across and 3 lengthwise on top of the sheet cake, cutting the leftover bricks to size to fit in any areas of the cake that are not covered by the ice cream. You will need to work quickly to keep the ice cream from melting. (If the ice cream is allowed to melt, its texture will not be optimal when the cake is frozen.) Cut the ice cream covered cake into rectangles which are approximately 3 inches square (a count of 4 across the width of the sheet cake and 6 along the length of the cake). This will yield 24 rectangles for 12 servings of 2 petit fours each. As you cut, you will need to remove 1 row and 1 length of the cake squares to another platter. Then use the knife to gently separate all the ice cream covered the squares, allowing enough space between them so that you will be able to thoroughly coat each piece with chocolate.
• Put all the ice cream covered cake into the space you have reserved in the freezer. Let freeze for about an hour.
• The chocolate to coat the cake and ice cream will be tempered, a term used to describe the successive melting and cooling of the chocolate within a certain temperature range. This process allows the molecules of the chocolate to align so that it will retain a silky appearance without a chalky finish. To temper the chocolate, place half of the semisweet chocolate pieces in each of 2 stainless steel bowls which will fit over a saucepan double-boiler fashion. Bring an inch or so of water to a boil in the saucepan and fit 1 of the bowls of chocolate pieces over it and heat until just melted (no more than 120 degrees F on the candy thermometer). Then pour this just-melted chocolate into the other bowl with the un-melted chocolate, melt and stir to combine until chocolate reaches between 86 and 90 degrees F. Remove the tray of ice cream covered cake from the freezer and work quickly to spoon the chocolate over the ice cream and cake before the chocolate hardens. Completely coat each piece with chocolate and return to freezer. Return to freezer and remove from tray with a thin bladed spatula to serve.