I wanted something special for the end of my Tea. I love Petit Fours and have always wanted to try my hand at making these delicious little treats. The combination of pistachios and cherries makes an exquisite dessert. It does require some preparation and time but the results are beautiful.
The first element of this dessert is a 3 Egg Cake. Chris asked me explain this terminology because it is from the the turn of the 20th century. The number of eggs in a cake determines the other ingredients and therefore, the size of the cake. My mom always made a 2 Egg Cake. A 2 egg cake makes a 2 or 3 layer cake.
Here is the recipe for the cake, you will need to preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cake
3 1/2 cups of Flour
1 teaspoon of Salt
3 teaspoons of Baking Powder
1 cup of Margarine
2 1/2 cups of Sugar
3 Eggs
2 cup of Milk
1/4 cup of coconut
1/4 cup of Maraschino Cherries, finely chopped
1/4 cup Salted Pistachios, finely crushed
3 drops of Red Food Coloring, optional
5 drops of Green Food Coloring, optional
Filling
2 cups of Jam, I used 1 cup of Cherry and 1 cup of Raspberry
Topping
Light Karo Syrup
3 Tablespoons of crushed Salted Pistachios
Prepare 3 jelly roll pans, 15'X 10" X 1". Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper to fit each of the 3 pans. Grease the pans with shortening, then place parchment paper on top. This helps to keep the parchment from rolling up. Grease the parchment paper and set the pans aside.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and set aside.
Beat margarine with an electric mixer on medium to high until fluffy, add sugar and continue to beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add Flour and Milk with three additions, alternating starting and ending with flour.
Using 1 cup and 1/4 cup measuring cups, divide the batter into 3 separate bowls. Start by measuring 1 cup of batter into each bowl. Do this until the batter bowl, in which the cake was mixed, is almost empty. Using the 1/4 cup, measure out the balance.
In the first bowl of divided batter, add coconut. Mix thoroughly, then spread into a prepared pan. I do this by making dollops of batter evenly over the pan and then spreading it. Very carefully and gently, shake to batter to level it.
In the second bowl of divided batter, add chopped cherries and 3 drops of red food coloring. Mix thoroughly and spread in a second prepared pan. Dollop batter, spread and shake batter, as described above.
To the third bowl of divided batter, add the crushed pistachios and 5 drops of green food coloring. Mix thoroughly and spread into the third prepared pan, following the directions above.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until the middle of the cakes spring back when touched. If you have a standard size oven, you may need to bake the cakes individually so that each bakes uniformly.
Remove from oven and place on cookie cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully flip the cakes onto clean kitchen towels that have had powdered sugar lightly dusted over the towels. Let cool completely.
The way that I moved the layers was to flip a cooling rack, which was the same size, on top the the cakes. Then with help, I kept tension of the kitchen towel and flipped the cake right side up. To flip the coconut and pistachio layers a second time, I used another cooling rack the same size on the top and made a second flip so that the cakes would be top side up, when place on the previous layer.
Once cooled, place 2 pieces of foil, each about 3 feet long over a large cutting board in the form of a lower case "t". Place the cherry cake layer in the center of the "t", cake top down. Spread with 1 cup of jam. I used the cherry jam on this layer. Next place the coconut layer, top up on the cherry jam. Center the coconut cake layer over the cherry cake layer.
Spread the the coconut layer with the second cup of jam, I used Raspberry. Then top with the pistachio layer. Wrap tightly in the foil and refrigerate until the cake and jam have set. I waited about 4 hours.
Remove the cake from the refrigerator and trim off the sides. ( Save the trimmings for snacks.) Carefully mark and cut the cake into 2 inch squares. If the cake starts to soften, rewrap and return to the refrigerator to firm up.
Now you will need to decide how you want to top these. If you are baking in advance, wrap the cut squares in the foil, then several layers of plastic wrap. Make sure to seal out as much air, as possible. Finally, place in 2 layers of zipper bags.
I tried glazing the petit fours but the sugar glazing took away from the delicious little cakes. After some thought, I settled on using a dab of Light Karo Syrup and then sprinkling with crushed, salted pistachios. This was the perfect ending to a beautiful afternoon of tea with friends!
Happy Spring!
Deloris
Printable Recipe: https://sites.google.com/site/basilandrosemarys/spumoni-petit-fours
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