Bonbon Cakes
The cakes that are best for making bonbons are the sponge cake, pound cake and angel food cake: these should be at least twenty-four hours old, and then can be cut up into any shape desired without breaking or crumbling. Scoop out little balls, using a vegetable scoop, from any of these cakes and dip in melted fondant flavored with different flavors and colored in different colors. If you are planning a luncheon or entertainment it is nice to have these little cake bonbons to help carry out the color scheme. Angel food cake cut in fancy shapes and dipped into pink or rose fondant flavored with rose extract is good. Sponge cake is nice dipped into yellow fondant flavored with orange or lemon, or into chocolate fondant.
These little cake bonbons can be made with delicious fillings. Cut a sheet of angel food cake, which should be about an inch thick, into tiny hearts. With a small round cutter remove the center of each, leaving the bottom one-fourth inch thick. Fill this little hollow with candied pineapple or any candied fruit mixed with a little fondant, or with chopped nuts worked into a little fondant. Then dip in red or pink fondant; these are nice for St. Valentine's day or for bridal occasions. Take some sponge cake and cut into slices about an inch thick, cut out with a small star-shaped cutter. Cut out half-way through with a smaller star cutter. Fill these hollows in with a chocolate custard. Spread a little white of egg on edges of stars, and place two stars together, then dip in yellow fondant, or chocolate fondant. Dip these little cakes in the fondant with a fork just as you would other bonbons and drop on paraffine paper to harden.
Little rose confections can be made by dipping small round cakes in rose colored fondant, and laying on top of each a few candied rose petals, arranged to look like a rose. Violet confections can be made by cutting small round cakes out of angel food cake, dipping them in violet fondant and decorating the top with candied violets.
Cut tiny stars out of a thin sheet of angel food cake or pound cake, dip in white fondant, and cover the tops over with the tiny silver or gold coated confectionery that one can obtain at the confectionery shops, and you will have silver and gold stars, which will be nice for Christmas. Cut some sponge cake or pound cake into little squares, dip into melted maple fondant, and decorate the top with halved walnuts, pecans or almonds. Cut some sponge or pound cake into slices an inch thick, then cut into cubes, make a little slit in one side, slip in a bit of preserved ginger, candied citron or orange rind. Dip in yellow fondant flavored with lemon or orange. Cut out some sponge cake to resemble sections of orange. Dip in orange fondant flavored with orange.
Little heart shaped cakes dipped in pink or white fondant and then decorated in the center with little hearts cut out of candied cherries are nice. Squares or rounds of angel food cake dipped in fondant, and pressed with some sort of die, say a wish-bone, horseshoe, swastika or flower, then the impression made filled in with a different colored fondant carefully piped in with the pastry bag, are unique.
Cut out some of the cake with a leaf-shaped cutter. Dip into a leaf-green fondant flavored with pistachio, and you will have pretty cakes. The leaf can be veined with chocolate put on with the pastry bag and pipe.
Cut out some sponge cake in shape of dominoes, dip in white fondant, and then mark the dots as in dominoes with melted chocolate.
Slice some sponge cake a fourth of an inch thick, and cut out with a cutter in small rounds. On one-half of these cakes spread jelly of different kinds, such as peach, currant, and raspberry. Put the unspread cakes on these, and cover with fondant. In flavoring the fondant use what combines with the jelly used—almond flavoring with the peach jelly, chocolate with currant and so on. Use differently colored fondants and they will look very pretty.