Gingerbread Petits Fours with Cinnamon Buttercream
Gingerbread Petits Fours with Cinnamon Buttercream
Makes 241 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 cup butter, unsalted softened
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup light molasses
1 T fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup buttermilk
Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup salted butter
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and allspice in a medium bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer until creamy. Add egg and beat until blended. Add molasses and grated ginger, and beat until blended. Add about half the flour and the all of buttermilk and continue to blend. Add the remaining flour and mix until smooth.
Grease and flour an 8" square pan and pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 40-42 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Cool pan on a wire rack about 10 minutes and then flip cake out onto a parchment lined cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled, wrap cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. (I refrigerated mine overnight) Your gingerbread is now a moist and firm gingerbread cake that will be easy to cut with little crumbs and little breakage.
Prepare buttercream frosting by beating the butter and powdered sugar and cinnamon until smooth and fluffy. Add heavy cream and continue to beat until well combined. Fill a pastry bag with a decorative tip with about a half a cup of the buttercream frosting and set aside.
Cut cake in half horizontally making two layers.
Spread a thick even layer of butter cream frosting on one of the layers.
Next place the other cake layer on top and wrap back in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour to firm up the frosting for cutting. You want firm clean cuts so that the frosting isn't squeezed out when you begin slicing your petits fours.
Once chilled and frosting is firm, trim edges of cake to create a clean outside edge. Cut cake into ~24 even bites, wiping off your knife between each cut. If you notice the frosting getting soft pop it into the fridge for another 30 minutes to an hour to firm up.
Once all your cakes are cut, place them on a serving platter and pipe a decorative dollop of buttercream frosting on each and sprinkle with holiday sprinkles. I got these gingerbread sprinkles at Calico Cake Shop in Buena Park, CA.
I also sprinkled half of these with powdered sugar and topped them with sugar gingerbread men just for fun.
These are best served at room temperature so the buttercream frosting is nice and pillowy soft and delicious! Merry Christmas!
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