My petit fours recipe is an ode to the classic, elegant French dessert. I start with a vanilla pound cake that’s cubed, glazed, then decorated with a floral pattern. It’s easy to make and always impressive.

I hadn’t tried petit fours until I was well into my final year of culinary school. I’d taken myself to Paris and did a quick 3-day dessert course, and this was one of the desserts we learned. Petit fours are small, bite-sized cakes, which translates to “little oven” and can refer to any bite-sized cake. If I had to describe them, I’d say they are most similar to pound cake, just with a simple glaze and decorative flower on top.

I took the recipe I learned there and loosely adapted it to be, well, even easier. This meant starting with a tried-and-true pound cake and adjusting the ratios to make it a little moister. Once it’s baked, I slice them into little rectangles and before glazing them. They’ve surprisingly been a hit at baby showers (I’ve brought them to 3!) or an elegant afternoon tea.

Table of Contents

1. Why I love this recipe
2. Key Ingredients and Tips
3. How to make petit fours
4. Arman’s recipe tips
5. Storage instructions
6. Frequently asked questions
7. More elegant desserts to try
8. Petit Fours (Recipe Card)

Key Ingredients and Tips

• Unsalted butter. Start with butter that has been softened to room temperature. I like to take it out of the fridge about 45 minutes before I plan to prep everything else.
• Superfine sugar (caster sugar). This can be a little tricky to find, but it’s easy to make it yourself. Just add white sugar to a blender and pulse for about 10 seconds. The consistency is halfway between powdered sugar and regular sugar.
• Vanilla extract. I like doubling up and using two teaspoons to give a strong vanilla flavor throughout.
• Eggs. Room temperature eggs are best, as they won’t cause the butter to firm up as we make the batter. I actually remove them from the fridge when I remove the butter.
• Self-rising flour. AKA flour with baking powder and salt already added. I prefer to skip the expensive pre-packaged kind and make my own homemade self-rising flour.
• All-purpose flour. Sifted to ensure there are no clumps. I don’t recommend using all self-rising flour, or else the cake will rise too much.
• Milk. I used unsweetened almond milk, but any milk works.

For the icing

• Powdered sugar. Like flour, I usually sift it first if I notice too many clumps.
• Light corn syrup. Gives the icing a more viscous consistency, making it easier to work with. It also stuck to the cakes instead of sliding off.
• Vanilla extract. Optional, but all the petit fours I enjoyed in Paris were very vanilla-flavored.
• Water. Just a dash to thin out the icing. Depending on the corn syrup you use, you might not need it at all.
• Decorative flowers. Optional, but I added some decorative flowers on top. These can be found in the baking aisle of any grocery store.

How to make petit fours

I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Step 1- Prep work. Preheat oven to 180C/160C and grease a loaf pan.

Step 2- Make the cake batter. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix. Sift the flour, then add the milk and mix to combine.

Step 3- Bake the cake. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. When it’s done, turn it out on a wire rack and let the cake cool completely.

Step 4- Trim the cake. Trim the edges of the cooled cake and cut it into 6 1 ½-inch slices. Cut 2 squares from each slice. Place the cakes on a wire rack above a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (to catch frosting drips).

Step 5- Make the icing. Add water to a large saucepan. Place a heatproof bowl on top and add the icing ingredients, minus the flowers. Stir for 4-7 minutes until smooth and runny.

Step 6- Decorate. Pour the icing mixture over one of the cake squares until completely covered. Top it with a decorative flower. Repeat the process until all the cakes are covered.

Arman’s recipe tips

• If the cake browns too quickly. If your oven typically browns baked goods fast (mine does), cover it loosely with foil after about 25 minutes and keep it on until fully baked. The exterior will be cut off, but it affects how moist and firm the middles are.
• Freeze the cake slices before coating them with icing. Not 100% necessary, but I found doing this helps the icing firm up quickly.
• Do not over-mix the cake batter. While we do want the cake to be a little firmer than a traditional vanilla cake, overmixing can cause a buildup of gluten, yielding a gummy texture. Mix until ‘just’ combined. A few pockets of flour are fine.

Storage instructions

To store. Place the cakes in a shallow container and keep them at room temperature for 3 days, or refrigerate for up to 7 days.

To freeze. Leftovers can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 6 months. 

Frequently asked questions

More elegant desserts to try

• Opera cake
• Chocolate creme brulee
• Tiramisu cake
• Cherry bakewell tarts