Ode to Big Bertha

I’ve been meaning to introduce you to someone who is very important in my life.  We only just met on Christmas Eve, but we already have a lasting bond.  I am talking about Big Bertha.  Who is Big Bertha?  She is my wonderful Artisan KitchenAid Stand Mixer with the best color in the world: PISTACHIO.

We made Petit Fours in class the other day, and in order to show my appreciation and love for Big Bertha, I decided that I would decorate them with fondant that I tinted pistachio .

In case you are wondering what petit fours are (because I didn’t know until we made them in class) let me explain it for you.  They are little bite size cakes made of layers of Frangipane cake (made from almond paste) with jelly in the middle – these had raspberry- then decorated with fondant and anything you can think of on top.  Sure you probably think these little buggers are cute, but wait until you spend four hours decorating just 12 of them!  Ok, yes, I enjoyed every minute of it, but they are very labor intensive.

These petit fours are decorated with two stripes of white chocolate and the yellow bits you see are candied lemon rinds.  I had to use the tip of a knife to put them on because they were so sticky and kept sticking to my fingers.  The other kicker is that all twelve had to be decorated identically.  The chef instructor said that these generally go for $1.50- $2 a piece because of the amount of labor that goes into them.