Petit Fours

Dear Theresa,

Since I make cake so often, leftover fillings and random cake layers fill up my fridge and freezer. Usually, I can save these to use towards my next cake, but sometimes the flavors won't work out and I'm stuck with cake components that are in danger of serious freezer burn.

When that happens, I think petit fours. It's fancy way to use up small quantities of cake before it goes off and they're easier to make than you might think. Here I cut up a round tangerine pound cake into geometric shapes and then sliced it into four layers. Each layer received a tablespoon of raspberry buttercream filling.

To top it off, I melted some ganache in the microwave and poured it over each mini cake (put the cakes on a rack over a sheet pan to catch the drips). Depending on your ganache consistency, you may have to redistribute it a bit with an offset spatula. Pop the petit fours in the fridge for an hour before carefully removing them from the rack. To add a little fancy touch, I dusted the top of each with gold dust.

The petit fours really impressed guests at a party I attended. I tried to tell them that they were just leftovers I had in the freezer, but it didn't seem to affect the general enthusiasm for these little cakes.