(If you don't know, petit fours are individual pieces of cake draped in their own frosting. They are the original cake pop. Bakerella, I mean that in the most respectful way).
I feel like I know exactly how it went when a Southern woman invented petit fours. I imagine a gentlewoman, much like Scarlett O'Hara, craving chocolate cake one day, but feeling hesitant to eat a slice in front of her gentleman. I imagine she thought if the apple of her eye saw how quickly she wolfed down a piece of chocolate cake, she would no longer be his lady. So, she got creative. She sliced delicate, lady-sized portions of cake, smushed two pieces together with jam and booze, and doused it in frosting. How dainty!
Are you with me? We are popping miniature pieces of cake in our mouth. And it is more delicious than regular cake exactly because: it has frosting on every square inch of it. Amen.
You have extra chocolate cake mix in your pantry after making my Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cupcakes, yes? Put the extra chocolate cake mix to use in these petit fours. They're fantastic for holiday parties. After making the cake, dice it up into bite size pieces. Stir some booze into your favorite jam or marmalade. I used orange marmalade and Grand Marnier:
The moral of the story here is to make sure your gentleman likes the way you look when you wolf down a hunk of chocolate cake. But, if you already married the sap, just make petit fours!
Chocolate Petit Fours {cake mix}
Petit fours made with a cake mix.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chocolate devil's food dry cake mix
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 tablespoon oil
For the filling:
- ¼ cup orange marmalade (or other jam of your choice)
- 2 teaspoons Grand Marnier (orange liquor)
For the frosting:
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup coconut oil (or butter)
- sugar pearls or sprinkles for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and spray an 8" square pan with cooking spray very well.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cake mix, egg, water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute.
- Pour into the pan, and bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool completely.
- Once the cake cools completely, slice it into bite-sized squares.
- In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil (or butter) in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each. It should only take 2-3 pulses.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the marmalade and Grand Marnier.
- Assemble: press two squares of cake together with jam (see above photo for reference). Let set for a few minutes, then dunk in the melted chocolate mixture, making sure to coat all sides of the cake bite.
- Let the chocolate frosting harden onto the cake bites in the fridge for 30 minutes, but do not store in the fridge longer than that, because cold dries out desserts using cake mix.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 391Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 342mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 2gSugar: 37gProtein: 4g
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Yuuuuum! These look soooo good!
tanya says
These could be dangerous!!! I did marry a man who could care less how much cake I eat, thank goodness!
Kim (Feed Me, Seymour) says
I absolutely love these. Petit fours are so elegant and graceful. The fact that you took cake mix and made them easy is my most favorite thing! They look absolutely beautiful and delicious yet attainable and easy. Score!
cookingactress says
ooooh petit fours, how fffaaaancyyy! and yummy!
Julia says
Oh Scarlet O'hara ROCKED these petit fours all up and down the plantations! Before reading this, I didn't know what a petit four was and now I'm thinking you're on to something. I can do small bites to give the air of daintiness...in massive quantities. Loving these! Icing over every square inch? I do declare!
Cookbook Queen says
Seriously, some of the best petit fours I ever had were at a baby shower of mine and they were made from a cake mix. You best believe these will be happening!!
thestylistquo says
I've always adored petit fours but never made them because I figured they were insanely involved. Hooray for you!! I'm totally making these :)
Heather Disarro (@heathersdish) says
Is it bad that my heart skipped a beat when you said 'jam and booze'? The holiday season, as filled with joy as it is, is having it's way with my nerves this week. Nothing a little cake can't take care of ;)
Karly Campbell says
I've always wanted to make my own petit fours but never have tried! So cute!
(Also, love the big round faces next to comments. Is that new? Haha!)
dishing up the dirt says
These are adorable!