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Cut the slices in half, if you like. Immediately brush the slices all over with fresh lemon juice and sprinkle them very lightly with superfine sugar. Decorate the petit fours with the banana slices and repeat with more bananas to embellish the remaining cakes. Serve immediate ly

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. Be creative with color.

A splash of color can bring your desserts to life. A dark chocolate cake can go from a brown lump to an artful concoction when garnished with vibrant berries; a lemon tart goes from a fairly monotone palette to lively and lovely when presented with the contrast of a violet flower and marbled raspberry coulis.

. Combine textures.

Adding different textures to the plate adds excitement to the visual appeal of dessert course, and the enjoyment only continues when the eating commences. For example, pairing a smooth, rich ganache with nubbly cookie crumbs and soft, pillowy marshmallows adds just enough “busyness” to draw the eye in to the dessert. The different textures excite the senses, giving an anticipatory sense of the taste pleasures to come

Compose your plate as you would a painting.

There are many ways to compose a plate. Consider the plate as if it were a blank canvas or as if you were composing the frame for a photograph. What would fill the space in an interesting way? Will you choose a minimalist approach, aligning different dessert elements as bookends on an oblong plate, as shown above? Or will you have a central focus on a round dessert plate? There is not a right or wrong answer, and you can experiment to see what looks and feels right

It may seem like common sense, but consider the experience of eating the dessert when you choose the type of plate. Don’t serve it on a too-tiny plate which may have garnish popping off and on to the table once the tines of a fork hit the dessert. If your dessert is creamy, it’s going to be easier to access in a rounded container or bowl. Don’t get so lost in the form that you forget the function involved in eating the dessert.

Petit fours are an elegant dessert to serve with coffee or afternoon tea or as part of a sweets tray with other treats, such as individual-sized tarts, éclairs and cream puffs.

Traditionally, petit fours are made by baking large, thin layers of génoise, a classic French sponge cake, splitting them in half to make even thinner layers, sandwiching the thin layers (usually three or four) with raspberry jam (or lemon curd) and buttercream frosting, then icing them with pourable fondant. Contemporary petit fours sometimes substitute plain, lemon or almond pound cake for the génoise. If you don't have the time (or desire) to bake yours from scratch, you can make my quicker, easier, "semi-homemade" petit fours and then focus your efforts on making them beautiful.

Unlike full-size frosted or iced layer cakes, which are often served plain, petit fours are expected to be embellished. Even very simple decorations can be quite attractive. In fact, it's important not to crowd the very small top surface of these miniature cakes with too much embellishment or they lose their elegant appearance.

Note: The correct French spelling, petits fours, is rarely used in the U.S.