These are the petit fours I made to take to Christmas dinner at my parents’ places. What I thought was really nice about them was the fillings. I made a cashew filling for the chocolate cakes by soaking a cup of the cashews in water overnight, then draining them, adding 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and mixing in the food processor. I did a similar thing with the almond filling for the lemon poppy seed cakes, but with more sugar proportionally and using a mix of powdered and white granulated sugars. I think I added vanilla flavor as well. The leftover almond filling was fantastic in croissants the next morning.
I used Bob’s Red Mill cake mixes for both. The nice thing about Bob’s mixes are that they’re mostly whole grain and still quite tasty. I don’t think anyone noticed a difference once they were filled with nut spreads and covered in icing. The toppings were a really nice lemon glaze and a chocolate icing. I got the lemon glaze recipe off the back of the cake mix package. The chocolate icing was great. Here’s how I made it:
Melt 2 T earth balance butter and 2 T semi-sweet chocolate pieces together.
Add powdered sugar and rice milk until you reach the desired consistency and sweetness.
I think I used about a cup of sugar and a quarter cup of milk.
The peppermint petit fours were frosted with a Wilton recipe royal icing and then dipped in crushed candy canes.
