Thursday, July 2, 2009

Summer Trio of Petit Fours ...

Summer is well and truly here and our household has been packed with the wonderful fruits of the season. Coming from a country that is pretty much "summer" most of the year to a climate that is quite the opposite, one feels very fortunate when the days are hot and breezy. Therefore, I decided to turn these summertime fruits into a Trio of Petit Fours ... tangy citrus fruits with plump sweet berries, to inaugurate the brilliant weather of course!

Petit Almond and Ricotta Raspberry Lemon Cakes with Citrus Frosting and Tuile

I love the taste that almond and ricotta gives to a cake. A wonderfully rich but fluffy texture with nutty flavours. The addition of lemon zest and raspberries plays refreshingly well along side this. I picked raspberries as I love their deep red colour but blueberries would work equally well, especially with the lemon. With a dollop of lemon cream cheese frosting I wanted to add just a bit more prettiness to these little cakes. Citrus Tuiles came to mind. I had some left over orange and lemon zest which was perfect.

These little morsels are versatile as they can be dressed down for afternoon tea or dressed up for after dinner petit fours.

Hubs did mention they were like a "birthday cake in one" ...

Petit Orange and Poppy Seed Cakes with Citrus Frosting and Tuile

These are my favourite cakes in the world and so rather then baking a whole cake why not in Petit Four size. So here they are. Topped with an Orange flavoured cream cheese frosting with a shard of Citrus Tuile.

yummy ...

Petit Orange and Ricotta Cakes

The last addition to our Summer Trio is a traditional pound cake recipe with a sweet and buttery flavour. The addition of orange zest gave it just the right tangy punch. This can of course be substituted with lemon. Sweet and Simple ...

4 comments:

  1. Love,love,love the citrus tuiles! What a neat idea and wonderfully executed! Thanks for stopping by

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  2. Gorgeous hun! Need to make a yummo cake for Mr Hausfrau's birthday in a couple of weeks. Want to do something grand (& a bit French for him)! Any ideas? Recommend any good books?

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  3. Thanks "Suzy". I've been so obsessed with my mini muffin tray, hence the myriad of little cakes walking out of my kitchen. If your talking about cakes look at "Sky-high: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes" by Huntsman and Wynne. It gives a new take on cake baking and has some great cake recipes. And if you're as obsessed as I am with anything french then try Dorie Greenspan's "Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City's best Pastry Shops"....as for Mr Hausfrau's Birthday cake, what about a french tart? Lemon or Chocolate laiden with gorgeous berries of your choice.

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  4. Those look fantastic! Do you have a recipe??

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