Almond + Cherry Petits Fours

Petits Fours are one of those elegant French desserts that look too beautiful to be easy. Fortunately, as I've recently been learning, French food (especially the baking!) is not always complicated. Sometimes there is assembly required, but I enjoy focussing on something detailed that I'm doing with my hands for a change.

At it's basic form, this is a sponge cake layered with jam and topped with icing. Traditionally each square is iced all the way around so it really is an individual cake, but I was in a hurry (and afraid I didn't have enough icing!) so I just drizzled them individually, so some ran rustically down the sides. :)

This recipe is an almond batter (don't freak out, its not hard!) with cherry jam in the middle. For almond paste, you can use marzipan. For the flowers, I went to Michaels - they're not as dainty as the original picture, but to my family they were quite impressive!