Dominosteine

Petit fours all dressed up for the holidays with layers of marzipan, apricot jam and a chocolate gingerbread cake. # 375: Dominosteine

While I’ve only made petit fours once, it was enough to know they’re the most fiddly extra little cakes on the planet, and yet are also the most delicious and adorable!

I discovered these lil guys last Christmas at Cost Plus of all places, and have been drumming my fingers all year waiting for the right season to make them. Worth the wait!

Dominosteine are a common treat at Christmas markets in Germany and Austria. More reasons to make it to a European Christmas market in my lifetime! Everyone else will be drinking glühwein and I’ll just be stuffing my face and pockets with tiny cakes. Bliss.

Their name roughly translates to “domino tile” and I can sort of see it. Less dots and stripes currently, but if I decorated the tops like actual domino pieces, you could play the yummiest edible round of dominos ever. Everybody wins!

Like all multi-step winter bakes, this one started late at night so it could get some beauty rest in the fridge overnight.

Adding chocolate to the gingerbread sponge is honestly a genius move that I wasn’t expecting. I had assumed when eating them originally that the only chocolate flavor came from the coating! Love a creative surprise in an ingredient list.

I might keep this cake recipe in my back pocket for future Christmas-y bakes. Next year’s holiday bake list is already getting interesting!

Time to get jammin’. Lemon juice, a combo of homemade apricot, peach and apricot lime jams (thanks Mom!) and gelatin to help keep it in a recognizable layer.

Sweet dreams!

One last nighttime task before bed: whipping up some marzipan. I went with an egg white free version, just ground almonds, powdered sugar and a little water to bind it all together.

Into the fridge she goes.

You blinked and it’s the next day. Happy to report that the jam stayed in place as I asked it to, without turning into a slab of rubber. Huzzah!

A marzipan layer feels decadent but hey this is part cake, part candy so we’re just going to lean into it.

Almosssst the right shape. Guess I’ll have to trim off the uneven sides and eat them. What a hardship. *stuffs cake scraps happily into mouth.*

Brb, squealing with delight. The layers actually worked!

Now for the intimidating part… bring on the chocolate.

Proving to myself that I’m learning from my mistakes, I added a splash of canola oil to the melting chocolate to help the dipping process.

The oil makes the chocolate thinner, allowing for a more delicate and smooth coating. It still sets up fine when cooled, but not to a snapping point so it’s a slight softer bite.

Commence me getting melted chocolate absolutely everywhere without really realizing it. After I cleaned everything up and they were setting, Nate told me I had a huge chocolate smear on my forehead and all down my sleeve. HOW.