It's Time for the Galette des Rois - Kings Cake
Four Delicious Home-Made Recipes
The galette des rois is a cake that is traditionally shared on 6 January, the day of the Epiphany but mum had to work on the 6th. We were not very happy but she made up for it on Saturday; she invented a superb galette des rois for us. It was so good that I asked her to put her recipe online for you to enjoy.
Satistics show that more than 85% of French households follow the custom of "galette des rois" or as it is also called "to pull the kings” tradition. In the past, the galette was divided into as many portions as there were guests, plus one. This last one, called the "poor man's portion", was destined for the first poor person who came to the house. I asked mum to spare one entire galette for “poor stray cats”.
Made of puff pastry with a hidden bean, galette is usually filled with frangipane, a cream made from ground almonds, butter, eggs and sugar. But galette could be filled with chocolate, apple, candied fruit, lemon curd and many other ingredients, even matcha. The "galette des rois" season begins twelve days after Christmas and ends on Mardi Gras day. Celebrated on 6 January, Epiphany corresponds to the presentation of the infant Jesus to the Three Wise Men, Melchior, Gaspard and Balthazar, who came from three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, to deliver their gifts. Like many Christian festivals, Epiphany was originally a pagan festival. In the past, the Romans celebrated the Saturnalia, the winter solstice festival, which consisted of designating the king or queen of the day by means of a white or black bean hidden in a cake. The favourite galette of the French is the one filled with frangipane, a cream made from sweet almonds, butter, eggs and sugar. It is said to have been invented by a Florentine nobleman, the Marquis of Frangipani, several centuries ago.
In the south of France, the traditional dessert is not a galette but a fruit brioche, which also contains a bean: the king's cake. It is a brioche pastry flavoured with orange blossom essence, shaped like a crown, with pieces of red fruit on top and sugar. The king's cake was also served at the table of Louis XIV. The ladies of the court who drew the bean became queens of France for a day and could ask the king for a vow called "graces and kindness". But the “Roi Soleil”, Louis XIV, abolished this custom.
Every first Monday after Epiphany mum invites her co-workers “tirer les rois” to "pull the kings". She orders a giant galette des rois from the bakery, for several dozen people, brings a few bottles of champagne and the party begins. But we are never invited!
That’s what I call unfair treatment of cats!
1 - Galette des Rois with Apples
Ingredients
21 oz (600 g) puff pastry
3.5 oz (100 g) almond powder
3.5 oz (100 g) caster sugar
2.8 oz (80 g) softened butter
1 egg + 1 yolk
2 sour apples
1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon almond milk
oil
1 bean or 1 almond
Method
1. Heat the oven to 210°C. Prepare the frangipane: using a wooden spoon, mix the softened butter with the sugar, add the egg, almond powder and almond milk. Work this mixture for a few minutes, then leave to stand. Peel and core the apples and cut them into thin strips. Pour a few drops of lemon juice over them so that they do not become brown.
2. Roll out the puff pastry to about 4 mm thick. Using a knife, cut out two circles of 28 cm in diameter (a plate can be used as a gauge). Brush a baking tray with oil and place a pastry circle on top. Spread the frangipane with a spatula, taking care to leave 3 cm of pastry all around.
3. Place the apple slices and the rest of the frangipane on top, making sure to leave 3 cm of pastry all around. Place the apple slices and the rest of the frangipane on top. Slide in the bean. With a brush, wet the edge of the first circle, place the second on the preparation. Weld them together with a fork dipped in water. Brush the surface of the cake with the egg yolk. Bake at 210° C.
4. When the cake begins to swell, after about 15 minutes, lower the thermostat to 5. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Serve warm.
Recipe Tip 1
If you have any dough left over, roll it out again and cut it into thin strips to decorate the cake before putting it in the oven.
Recipe Tip 2
To make frangipane more crispy, you can add 2 tbsp of peanut butter.
2 - Vegan Galette des Rois
Ingredients
2 vegetable puff pastries
8.8 oz (250 g) almond powder
3.5 oz (100 g) brown sugar
1 oz (30 g) cornflour
3 tablespoon(s) of almond puree
3 tablespoon(s) almond cream + a little for gilding
1 teaspoon of bitter almond extract
1 bean or almond
Method
1. Mix the dry ingredients and then add the almond puree, almond cream and bitter almond extract. Mix again until you get a smooth frangipane.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Unroll a puff pastry with its sheet of baking paper on a work surface. Spread the frangipane generously without covering the edges (leave 2 cm free) and place the almond.
3. Unroll the second puff pastry to close the cake. Press the edges together with your fingertips. Make a small cut in the middle of the cake and draw the patterns with a knife. Brush a little almond cream on top; slide the cake onto a rack and bake for 40 minutes.
3 - Chocolate and Almond Galette des Rois
Ingredients
2 puff pastries (ready to use)
7 oz (200 g) dark chocolate
4.4 oz(125 g) almond powder
4.4 oz (125 g) sugar
4.4 oz (125 g)butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
0.2 oz (5 g) cinnamon
Method
1. Melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave.
2. In a large bowl, mix chocolate with almond powder, sugar, cinnamon and whole eggs.
3. Mix well.
4. Place puff pastry on baking paper and coat with the mixture.
5. Moisten the edges of the pastry with a brush and cover with the second pastry. Curl up the edges.
6. Brush the cake with egg yolk. Make a decoration on the pastry, and a chimney (a hole) in the centre to let the air out.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 200° C.
4 - Lemon Curd Galette des Rois
Ingredients
2 puff pastries
8.8 oz (250 g) sugar
2.11 oz(60 g) butter
3 organic lemons
3 tablespoons icing sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
4 eggs
1 bean
Method
1. Wash 2 lemons and grate the zest. Then collect the juice from the 3 lemons in a saucepan.
2. Stir in the zest and heat over low heat.
3. In a bowl, mix the sugar and 3 eggs until the mixture is white, then add the cornstarch.
4. Pour in the hot lemon juice with the zest. Whisk continuously to avoid lumps.
5. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and let it cook over low heat without stopping to stir and without reaching boiling point.
6. Once the cream has thickened, remove from the heat and add the butter in pieces.
7. Separate the white from the yolk of the last egg and whisk it into the lemon cream.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 C°.
9. Roll out the first puff pastry on a sheet of baking paper.
10. Fill the pastry with cream without reaching the edges and moisten the edges. Then place the bean.
11. Place the second pastry on top, carefully sealing the edges. Then brush the cake with egg yolk after having streaked the upper part.
12. Place in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown.