From the owner of an award-winning Portland, Oregon bakery comes this detailed guide to creating miniature desserts that bring a modern twist to the art of the petits four.

Cheryl Wakerhauser’s creations are fun and colorful, happily playing with traditional ideas and giving them contemporary interpretations. Just as important, she offers detailed instructions for their assembly and decoration, so that your own efforts will produce polished results. Her recipes run the gamut from s’mores macarons and jack-o-lantern-toting ghosts for Halloween to mini-kisses made from lavender-infused ganache and cherry-covered chocolates (the cherry is a glaze on the outside of a globe of chocolate mousse).

It’s worth noting that Wakerhauser employs a number of specialty molds, baking tins, and other supplies to create these small-scale delights; a guide to sources is included to help you acquire the tools you will need.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.