I am so excited for so excited for Fall! I love this time of year, especially because of all the delicious dessert flavors you can enjoy. Maple is one of those Fall flavors that you can do so many things with: macarons, meringues, cupcakes, etc. Maple is commonly paired with either pecan or bacon, but I decided to combine all three flavors for a delicious little bite of cake.
Petit Fours are small desserts that are small enough to eat in one or two bites. I have honestly never had a petit four myself, but I absolutely love small, bite-size desserts, so I was really excited to give these a try!
The Maple Cake:
I decided to develop a maple flavored cake as the base for these petit fours. I used both maple extract and maple syrup to give the cake a lovely flavor and smell. This cake is really yummy because it tastes exactly like a pancake with maple syrup!
Maple Cake
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy20
minutes20
minutesIngredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated (caster) sugar
2 teaspoons maple extract
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture to make sure the dry ingredients are well combined. Separately, add the water and maple syrup into a measuring cup.
- Into a separate bowl, add room temperature eggs, granulated sugar, and maple extract. Mix using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix on a medium-high speed until the ingredients lighten in color, which will take approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Add the mayonnaise and mix on medium speed until well combined, approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Add one-third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined (do NOT over mix!). While mixing, pour one-third of the water/maple syrup mixture into the bowl. Repeat until all dry ingredients, wet ingredients, water, and maple syrup are just combined. Add the cake batter to the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake the cake for approximately 17-20 minutes, or until a cake tester (such as a toothpick) inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove pan from the oven and let the sponge cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Next, remove the sponge or cupcakes from the pans and let them completely cool on a wire rack or baking sheet.
- Use this to either make a sheet cake or petit fours, as is described in the rest of the post below.
The Maple Buttercream:
The maple buttercream is an easy American style buttercream that utilizes maple extract and syrup for its sweet maple flavor. You can find the recipe for my Maple Buttercream [here].
The Bacon:
Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, and then place a wire rack onto the baking sheet. Spray the wire rack with some cooking spray (to prevent the bacon from sticking to the rack). Bake the bacon at 375°F for 30 minutes. Flip the bacon halfway between cooking. Depending on how large the slices of bacon are, they may need to be cooked longer. Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes at a time until the bacon is nice and crispy. Make sure not to burn the bacon during this additional cooking time. I cooked some thick-cut bacon for approximately 45-50 minutes. Once the bacon cools, chop it into small pieces.
Tip: Avoid using thicker cuts of bacon for desserts like this because thinner cuts will be crispier and therefore add better flavor and texture to your dessert!
The Pecans:
Measure out between ¼ cup and ½ cup pecans and place them on a cutting board. Chop the pecans so that they are small pieces that can be added in between and on top of the layers of buttercream in the petit fours.
The Maple Ganache:
During the fall, you can find maple morsels. They basically look like little light brown chocolate-less chips. Measure out ¾ cup maple chip morsels and ¼ cup heavy whipping cream. Add them both to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and microwave again for an additional 15-30 seconds, or until all the maple morsels are completely melted. Set the ganache aside and let it cool to room temperature.
Assembling the Petit Fours:
Piped Buttercream 
Pecans Added 
Bacon Added
Begin by cutting the cake into 1-1 ½ inch square pieces. Take a cake square and, using either a Wilton 12 tip or a Wilton 21 tip, pipe dots along the perimeter on the top of the cake. Pipe a small amount of buttercream onto the middle of the cake square. Next, add some of the chopped nuts and bacon pieces onto the center of the cake. Place another cake square on top, pipe another perimeter of buttercream on the top piece of cake, and finally pipe a dot on the middle of the cake. Using either a spoon or piping bag (preferred), drizzle a small amount of the ganache across the top of the cake and add a sprinkle of salt. Add the chopped pecans and a couple of the bacon pieces. Repeat with the other cake squares (you can even set it up in an assembly line to get them done more efficiently) and your petit fours are complete and ready to enjoy!
Repeat the Piping with Layer #2 
Drizzle of Maple Ganache and Add a Sprinkle of Salt
Thank you so much for checking out this post! I hope that you give these a try and enjoy them as much as I did! Please leave a comment below regarding if you tried these petit fours or what your favorite maple flavored desserts are!
