It’s a bit early this year but I baked one today and thought I’d share the recipe.
(direct access to the recipe)
Where does it come from?
From the Middle Ages in France, the Epiphany has been celebrated with a cake: la galette des rois, literally the King’s cake. The galette differed according to the regions: for example it was made of puff pastry in Paris, but made of brioche and shaped as a crown in Provence.
The cake contains a lucky charm (une fève) which originally was a broad bean (fève means broad bean in French). Whoever found the charm in their slice of galette, becomes King or Queen.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the lucky charm started being made of china. The charm sometimes represents a religious figure such as the baby Jesus, but it can be anything these days, I have a Darth Vador one for example.
The modern Galette des Rois is made of puff pastry and can be plain or filled with frangipane. The youngest person in the room hides under the table and shouts out who should get each slice of galette. The person who finds the fève in their slice of galette becomes the King or Queen and is given a golden paper crown. The King or Queen then, has to choose their Queen or King.
Fun fact
I used to be a ‘nursery teacher’ in France and this week, all the kids in my classe would have been crafting their paper crown and we would have baked 2 galettes together in classe. This was me, all by myself with up to 28 children, sometimes as young as 3 years old, taking part in small groups of 5 or 6 while the others were busy with other activities in the same room. This was ….. interesting ahahaha!
Most of them were not really good at breaking eggs which end up in the bowl with no extra egg shells for example. But they were all very happy as very few kids this age are involved in baking at home.
Another challenge was to make sure no one would break a tooth on the ‘fève’ or chock on it.
In comparison, my actual job is pretty easy 😉
Recipe
There are multiple variations, here is the one I did today:
2 packs of puff pastry, preferably already rolled (about 500g in total)
For the custard:
1 egg yoke
50g of sugar
25g of flour
250g of milk
For the rest of the frangipane:
100g of sugar
80g soft unsalted butter
2 eggs plus the egg white left from the custard
200g of ground almonds
1. Make the custard:
in a bowl, mix the egg yoke and sugar while you heat the milk in a pan
add the flour to the bowl and mix
use some of the warm milk to mix a bit more and add all the milk little by little
pour the content of the bowl in the pan and keep turning until it gets thicker on medium heat – takes about 5min
leave to cool
2. Make the frangipane:
mix the sugar and soft butter
add the egg white, mix
add the two eggs and mix
add the ground almonds
little by little add the custard and mix
Put the galette together on some baking paper on a tray:
Spread the frangipane on the first piece of puff pastry stopping about 2 cm from the edges (one inch) add the “fève” ( if you have one) in the frangipane somewhere on the side. With a brush, put a bit of water or milk on the side of the puff pastry so it glues better.
Cover with the other piece of pastry. Stick the sides all around and roll it a little to secure.
Spread a bit of milk above with a brush
With a fork, decorate all around and above. Make sure you make little holes so no air bubble blow the crust.
Put in hot oven at 210ºC for 30min.
Optional: as soon as it’s out of the oven, spread with a brush a mix of 2 table spoons of water (or milk) and 25g of sugar. This will give a bit of shine to the top crust.
The galette des rois, celebrating Epiphany, the day the Three Kings (les rois) visited the infant Jesus, is baked throughout January in France. Composed of two circles of puff pastry sandwiching a frangipani filling, each comes with a crown and always has a trinket, called a fève, or bean, baked into it.
Tradition dictates that when serving galette des rois, the entire cake is divided into slices so that each guest receives a slice, plus an extra, symbolic slice called the part du Bon Dieu or “Good Lord” for any unexpected visitor, or poor person, that should pass by.
The best food and wine pairings with a frangipane puff pastry are a sweet white wine or a sparkling wine. Indeed, Champagnes go well with this sweet and gourmet dessert.
The “king” is represented by the fève, once a fava bean, now a porcelain or plastic figurine, hidden inside the cake. The person who discovers the fève in their serving is declared le roi (the king) or la reine (the queen) and gets to wear the golden paper couronne (crown) that comes with cake.
The Difference in Mardi Gras King Cake and Galette des Rois
One is VIBRANT. While the traditional Galette des Rois is more simple in design with the puff pastry as the star as the show, the Mardi Gras King Cake is covered in icing and Mardi Gras-colored sugar.
The Galette des Rois is essentially frangipane encased within puff pastry and decorated by making cuts in the surface of the pastry. It's served in slices and can be eaten both hot and cold.
The Roscón de Reyes is eaten in Spain, Latin America and the United States. Recipes vary from country to country and between cultures but tend to be similar.
The traditional ritual of the galette des rois is both delicious and democratic. Seated around the table, the participants take part in a ceremonial sharing of the galette. The youngest among them plays the role of honor, often hidden under the table, guiding the equitable distribution of the slices among the guests.
Celebrating Kings Day with a flaky and delicious Galette des Rois has been a tradition dating back centuries, and hiding a cute little trinket called a "fève" inside is the most fun part!
The holidays have come and gone. Today is the day we get to eat Galette des Rois, or King's Cake. As a sweetener, parents (or the pastry shop) hides a small figurine sandwiched among the warm rum scented layers of frangipane (almond cream) and puff pastry.
Of course, we'll start with a dry white wine such as a Loire chenin for example, or a round chardonnay. These are natural wines that often go well with fish, but they will also go very well with your galette des rois. Plain sparkling wines can also be a very good match for your galette des rois.
The traditional ritual of the galette des rois is both delicious and democratic. Seated around the table, the participants take part in a ceremonial sharing of the galette. The youngest among them plays the role of honor, often hidden under the table, guiding the equitable distribution of the slices among the guests.
Traditionally, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th, 12 days after Christmas. Beginning around the 13th or 14th century, sharing a Galette des Rois became a popular way to celebrate this occasion, with the cake signifying the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem.
The celebration “La Fête des Rois” (Three Kings Day) is a tradition in France that is celebrated on the Sunday after New Years and includes a king and a special cake. Each year, pastry shops throughout France are teeming with the unique and tasty galette des rois, a flat pastry about the size of a pizza.
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