How to Make Birthday Cake Petit Fours

Yesterday was J-Man’s 9th birthday. He wanted to take homemade chocolate/vanilla cupcakes to school. After checking my baking supplies, I noticed I didn’t have  any cupcake papers. WHAT!?! I know I had some but the kitchen gremlins must have stolen them! Oh well, time for a run to the grocery store. A quick trip to the store revealed they only had the small petit four papers. NO cupcake papers! There must be a conspiracy against birthday cupcakes or Cupid is eating a lot cupcakes this weekend!Time to put on my thinking cap! My original idea was to bake the batter in the tiny papers but I was afraid the papers would flatten out when the batter was poured into them so I came up with the birthday petit four idea.
This is very simple and adds a creative twist to any birthday event. For added convenience you can use either pound cake (found in the freezer section) or just order a plain unfrosted cake! It just needs to be short or a thin cake.
You will need…

• sheet cake, any flavor (store bought or homemade)
• candy melts
• colorful cereal, coarsely crushed
• fork
• wax or parchment paper
• mini cupcake or petit four papers

How to make petit fours.

1. First you need to cut the cake into small squares that will fit into your papers.
• You will get cleaner cut lines if you freeze the cake for about 20 minutes before cutting.
• A clean ruler will keep your lines straight.
• If baking your own cake, use a large pan and bake a thin cake. If using a pound cake or other store bought cake, cut the height in half so you have small neat squares.
2. Place crushed cereal in a small bowl. I crushed General Mill’s Whole Grain Fruity Cheerios with the bottom of a glass inside a Ziploc bag.
3. Once cake is cut and cereal is ready, melt the candy melts according to package directions.
4. Using the fork, dip one cake square in the candy melt.
• Reference Culinary Institute of America’s video on how to cover anything in chocolate.
5. Lightly roll candy coated cake in cereal mixture.
6. Place on wax or parchment paper to cool.
7. Once candy coating has completely set (about 5 minutes), place in the petit four papers.
8. Resist the urge to eat them all!

These are sweet and rich so just a few will go a long way. I made enough for 3 per child and it was PLENTY. If I were to make this for adults, then I would use nuts, chopped dried fruit, or perhaps even some grated parmesan or sharp cheddar cheese.

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