Description
Light almond petit four cakes with layers of cranberry and vanilla bean frosting. Topped with a vanilla bean glaze and simple sugared cranberries. Dairy & gluten free.
Ingredients
FOR THE GLUTEN FREE VANILLA CAKE:
- 1 cup raw organic sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 3 eggs
- Seeds from half vanilla bean
- 2 1/4 cups GF flour of choice. I chose an Almond flour blend, but use your favorite.
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 cups alternative milk + 1 TBSP lemon juice
FOR THE VEGAN VANILLA BEAN FROSTING:
- 1 cups organic shortening or vegan butter (you can also use regular butter)
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean
- pinch of salt
- dash of vanilla and a splash of non dairy milk.
FOR THE CRANBERRY FILLING:
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup raw organic sugar
- Empty vanilla bean pod
- 2 tsp pectin powder
FOR THE VANILLA GLAZE:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean
- 1 TBSP alternative milk
FOR THE SUGARED CRANBERRIES:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup raw sugar (simple syrup)
- 2 cups rinsed cranberries
- 2 cups white sugar (for dusting cranberries)
Instructions
FOR THE GLUTEN FREE VANILLA CAKE:
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9×13 cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix butter, oil and sugar until fluffy.
- Add in vanilla and beat in eggs until combined
- With mixer on medium, pour 1/3 dry ingredients into your egg mixture. Then add 1/3 of alternative milk and lemon juice. Continue to alternate dry ingredients and liquid until it’s completely mixed into the batter onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Tap the filled baking sheet against the counter to even out the cake batter.
- Bake for roughly 12-13 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool fully.
FOR THE VEGAN VANILLA BEAN FROSTING:
- Mix shortening/butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla bean seeds in a stand mixer until incorporated.
- Transfer filling to piping bag and set aside.
FOR THE CRANBERRY FILLING:
- Heat the cranberries, water and vanilla bean on medium until the berries begin to break down.
- Stir in the sugar and pectin powder and allow to bubble for 3-5 minutes, stirring in between. Once combined, remove from heat. Discard of vanilla bean pod and blend with an emulsion blender to smooth.
- Allow to cool.
- Transfer cooled jam to a tipless piping bag and set aside.
FOR THE VANILLA GLAZE:
- In glass bowl, mix together powdered sugar with vanilla bean.
- Stir in a few drops of alternative milk at a time.
- Mix thoroughly until thick and combined.
- When the glaze is ready, it should be slowly dripping from the spoon. If it seems too thick add a splash more milk and stir.
FOR THE SUGARED CRANBERRIES:
- Heat (do not boil) the sugar and water in a saucepan on medium until the sugar has fully dissolved.
- Pour in rinsed cranberries for roughly 2 minutes until evenly coated. The berries should not pop or break.
- Remove cranberries from simple syrup with a slotted spoon, transferring to parchment paper.
- Once transferred (work quickly, they should still be slightly wet), immediately drop the cranberries into the white sugar, rolling to coat.
- Place sugar covered cranberries onto a clean piece of parchment and then transfer to the fridge to set. They will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
PETIT FOUR ASSEMBLY:
- Once the cake is fully baked and cooled, remove it from the cookie sheet and use a soft measuring tape to cut it into 3 even slices. If baked in a 13×9 cookie sheet each cut of cake will be roughly 4 3/8″.
- Pipe the vegan vanilla bean frosting onto the tops of the first to slices of cake. Spreading evenly with a cake spatula.
- Top both slices of cake with the vanilla bean frosting with a layer of the cranberry jam.
- Place the second slice of cake on top of the first.
- Then place the third slice of cake (not frosted) on top of the second to create a stack, gently pressing down on the top of the cake to compress the layers.
- You’ll now have 1 rectangle cake that is 9″ long, 3 layers high and 4 3/8″ wide. To get even cuts, I recommend wrapping the cake and transferring to the freezer for 1 hour to achieve clean slices. Once frozen, cut the cake into 6 even slices horizontally. Then use the measuring tape to cut even squares vertically (3 per row). Once sliced, transfer back to the freezer until ready to top with glaze.
- Once sliced, top each of the petit four cakes with the glaze.
- Garnish with sugared cranberries.
- Serve immediately or freeze for up to 4 weeks.
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