While most people recognize the term "petit fours" as French, few people are aware of the origin. "Petit four" literally translated means "small oven".
This does not refer to the size of the oven but the heat setting- back in the days of the French Revolution, ovens were hard to heat and expensive. In order to get the best value from heating one of these ovens, bakers would use the hottest setting, the grand four, to roast meat and vegetables. Then as the oven cooled, they would use the petit four setting to make small, individual morsels that could be sweet or savory.
All the
petit fours on this site are of the sweet variety. Our
petit fours are tiny cakes, layered with buttercream and covered with rolled fondant. These petit fours make great appetizers or desserts at dinner parties. Our petit fours go great with tea or coffee, or can be served simply by themselves.
For a delicious treat, indulge in our
Demitasse Petits Fours,
Package Collection Petits Fours,
Chocolate Petits Fours, or
Daisy Petits Fours.
Interestingly, the most common American spelling of the plural of "petit four" is "petit fours". However, the correct French spelling of the plural is "petits fours". We have utilized both on our site to make it more search-friendly to our American clientele, with apologies to our French customers. (We found so many different spellings of petit four it was hard to narrow it down: petit fours, petite four, petites fours, petifores, petti fores, and petitefours, just to name a few!)
