The Petit Four Cookbook

Book excerpt: An enchanting recipe collection featuring ornately decorated, bonbon-sized layer cakes The Petit Four Cookbook reinvents an 18th-century French delicacy and brings it straight to the reader's kitchen. With flavor combinations ranging from classic vanilla, chocolate ganache, and lemon butter cream to tangy apricot, raspberry preserve, and rich mocha, there is no end to the types of cakes one can make. The hottest trend in baking is tiny desserts, and these decadent morsels are the quintessential bite-size indulgence. The Petit Four Cookbook features 50 recipes from Brooks Nguyen -- teacher, baker extraordinaire, and owner of the country's premier petit four bakery, Dragonfly Cakes. Brooks uses her years of experience teaching petit four baking classes to guide readers every step of the way as they learn the techniques for baking as well as the artistry for decorating these tiny pastries. With gorgeous full-color photos, time-tested instructions, and some history to boot, this ultimate guide to petit fours is not just the first of its kind, it's the last word on the subject.