If you've ever made a cake, pastry, confectionery, or dessert, you know that its quality partly hinges on how fresh it tastes. Of course, the same applies to any food, but you can't salvage an almost-stale the same way you can revive wilting lettuce by swirling it in ice-cold water. So it's within the realm of reason to strive to preserve the fresh state of your baked goods. This includes petits fours — an even further cry from limp lettuce than carrot cake cookies.
Petits fours are bite-sized French teacakes or confectionery that are often diversely decorated. Most petits fours you come across will comprise a cake, a filling, and a topping.
And although there are , this 3-layered structure remains a common theme across many of them. Other versions include miniature cakes and pastries, and occasionally they depart from sweet ingredients altogether with a savory theme. But they are all baked goods that require proper care to keep them optimally fresh.
Because of the delicacy of petits fours, they need extra caution in storing than larger cakes. Their combination of different layers made of various substances means care for each layer. So you will have to take into account that one layer may start to go bad quicker than another, making them a tricky treat to preserve, but worth the extra attention if done right.
There are a couple of things to consider when storing petits fours for optimal freshness, the first being the airtightness of the container. The best container will be tightly sealed so that no air enters and affects the texture of the pastries for the worse. No one wants a dried-out petit four, particularly after all the hard work that goes into making these beauties. So once they have cooled down, store them in an air-tight container.
The next storage question to consider has been a bone of contention among petits fours lovers: Fridge or room temperature? The consensus is that if you're storing them at room temperature, you should consume them within two or three days.
On the other hand, storing petits fours in the refrigerator allows them to stay fresh for a longer period, up to three to five days. This is more important for those that include perishable ingredients such as whipped cream or custard. However, they can become slightly oily when refrigerated due to the presence of egg or other proteins, which can spoil the appearance.
As a general rule of thumb, always consume baked goods sooner rather than later. This rings true especially in the case of petits fours with different-textured layers. Keeping them airtight is a pretty straightforward choice, but where to keep them will largely depend on your preference and what they're made of.
