The classic topping for a petit four is a white sugar glaze. Fondant is what it’s called. What is fondant? Short answer: sugar. However it’s sugar that’s been manipulated in such a way that it’s soft and pliable instead of hard and crunchy. Fondant comes in two basic types: your rolled fondant and your poured […]
READ ONThose of you who are familiar with me know I love to do photo tutorials. In fact it can be argued that I do too many of them. But I figure, if the petits fours-making process doesn’t qualify for photography, what does? So here’s a step-by-step for all you petits fours makers-to-be. We begin with […]
READ ONA bakery I used to work for glazed their petits fours with a fructose-heavy, pre-made fondant. They were beautiful to look at, but were also, as one young customer once confided in me, “tooth-curlingly” sweet.
READ ONSo what is it about high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that causes people to become so unglued? Personally I think many of us just don’t like the idea that commercial food makers have mastered the science of sweetness. Knowing what a powerful attractor sweetness is to human beings (especially children) we worry what kind of confectionary […]
READ ONI’m glad you asked, since few subjects are more interesting that liquid sweetner viscosity — where pourability is a factor of the uniformity of molecules. If you have a friend or family member who happens to be diabetic, you may have had occasion to see liquid glucose or even liquid fructose, which in their pure […]
READ ONOh yes my friends, we hear all about the evils of corn syrup (sometimes called glucose syrup) from the food police, especially the sinister demon-brew known as “high fructose corn syrup” (ominously initialized HFCS). Corn syrup is the packaged food industry’s most pervasive sweetner, found in everything from Coke to ketchup. And of course anything […]
READ ONThe classic cake base for the petit four is a sponge cake called génoise. Named for the city of Genoa (an important city in the history of French cuisine — even thought it’s in Italy), génoise, due to its light texture and pliability, is the base cake for a wide range of pastries — especially […]
READ ONWell we all know it’s a small, roughly cubical cake, covered with a glaze of some kind. The name in French literally means “little oven”. As for where that name comes from, or what it refers to, nobody actually knows. “Little things you put in the oven” is one possibility, though it’s important to note […]
READ ONAs mentioned, petits fours have a long and distinguished history in the Pastry family, and are the subject of numerous family anecdotes. None however are more revealing the one about yours truly when I was a mere cupcake, somewhere in the neighborhood of two years old. Seems one night I managed a break-out from my […]
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