Orange and White Chocolate Petit Fours: The Recipe to My Inevitable Deterioration

I have had people ask me how I stay fit with everything I bake. "Well," I say, "it will catch up to me one day, so far I've been able to out run it." But let's be honest here, I suck at running.

The truth is I have to physically restrain myself from licking off every utensil I bake with ( does the counter top count as a utensil?) And that is precisely why these petit fours will be my downfall. They suck away my willpower.

Everything was fine until that first buttery sweet, orange scented cloud of baking cake hit me. After that I immediately scrambled to retrieve the mixing bowl from the sink. Thankfully, I was able to salvage a few licks from the side that hadn't hit the water yet. And then I paused, thought about what I was doing, and proceeded with a full on face plant into spatula licking oblivion.
It was an ugly mess (the problem being that my technique hasn't changed much since I was 5). I still scrape even the very last crumb out of the cake pan.

Later, during the party, you could catch me prowling around the dessert table making a mad dash for a petit fours every now and then when no one was looking. After all, I had at least a smidgen of my dignity to hold on to.

So there you have it, the reason why I can never make these again (this week).



Recipe For Orange and White Chocolate Petit Fours:

There is no reason this cake has to be made into Petit Fours ( I just desperately wanted to use my knew cutters). If you are looking for convenience just bake the cake in a nice bunt pan and drizzle it with the white chocolate later. You'll have the great taste with less of a hassle.

A few additional Tips:
I baked this in a double batch for my brother's graduation. I used an 11x15x2 inch pan which worked perfectly and yielded about 30 Petit Fours.When making these little desserts it's helpful to bake the cake at a low temperature so that the cake stays nice and even and does not rise too much.
Once it's baked it also helps to wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap and chill it in the freezer, so that you can cut out the individual pieces cleanly ( without to many crumbly jagged edges). The cake also stays nice and moist this way, but if you want to kick it up a notch, brush some orange based liquoure over the Petit fours before you drizzle them with chocolate. This adds a great new flavor dimension and helps keep the cake moist.
For the Cake:
(300g)1 1/3 cups of softened butter (150g)1/2 cup of sugar4 eggs1 Tsp Vanilla extract
(300g) 2 cups of flour1 Tsp baking powdera pinch of salt
zest and juice of one Valencia Orange (don't use store bought orange juice, it will taste bitter)For Decorating:
(250 g) 9 oz. of white chocolatedried and powdered orange peel (which you can get in the tea section of co-ops), or also candied orange peel.
Split the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the egg whites until stiff and then set aside for later.
Mix together the softened butter and sugar until they have a creamy white color. Now add the egg yolks and vanilla to this mixture and blend together.Fold the orange zest into the dough.
Combine all dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and then alternately mix in the dry ingredients and orange juice.
Now fold the stiff egg whites into the dough making sure not to beat them in, otherwise the egg whites will brake down. (By folding the egg whites in you are adding a little air and creating a light and fluffy texture)Pour the batter into a buttered and floured cake pan and bake at 320 Fahrenheit (or 160 Celsius) until the top is a nice golden brown or a tester comes out clean.After letting the cake cool for a few minutes it should have pulled away from the side of the pan; if not run a knife around the edge and then turn it out onto a cooling rack.In the meantime melt the white chocolate on low heat in a double boiler (or VEEEEERY CAREFULLY in a small pot, if you don't watch it, it will burn and become clumpy).As soon as the cake has cooled, drizzle it with the white chocolate and decorate as you like.