T
oday I’m making one special and delicious cake which is made of only two components – puff pastry and almond cream. Its original French name is Galette des Rois – meaning – the cake of the kings, also called king’s cake.
If you have time, you can make delicious puff pastry yourself, and you can even make a large batch and freeze it for the next puff pastry adventure! If not, don’t worry – the store bought one will be just fine, just defrost it in the fridge and you’re ready to roll! Regarding almond cream – I have already used it in my almond and pear turnovers, so check that one too. In this recipe I decided to add some chocolate chips to my cream because… well – everything tastes better with chocolate chips, right? :)
Galette des rois or king’s cake is traditionally made in France, Quebec, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Lebanon during the celebration of Epiphany. This is a Christian holiday celebrated on January 6th, or 12th day of Christmas when Three Wise Men or three Kings – Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar came from the East following the bright star to visit baby Jesus. The Three Kings brought presents to a newbornchild – gold, incense and myrrh.
Galette des Rois probably originated in the Middle Ages in the 13th or 14th century. In France, it became a custom to bake this cake, at that time known as Gateau des Rois. A piece of this delicious cake was often saved for guests or the poor. There is another tradition related to this cake. A fève (fava bean) or a small trinket is usually hidden inside the cake. The person who gets a piece containing the hidden surprise gets a crown, and he or she is treated as a king or a queen for the entire day! Not bad, right?
This tradition most likely has roots in ancient Roman celebration of Saturnalia holiday – that was festivity of Saturn – Roman god of agriculture. During this holiday the slave who got the bean in a cake reversed a role with his master for one day. The bean itself was a symbol of fertility and prosperity.
Anyway, I didn’t put anything in my king’s cake, but if you want to play with your guests, put inside some trinket, buy a crown and enjoy! Ok, let’s bake some delicious Galette des Rois!
King’s Cake or Galette des Rois
by:Tereza Alabanda,The Pastry Maestra
PRINT PDF (EN) ISPIŠI PDF (HR)Prep. time : 30 minutes
Cook time : 45 minutes
Ready in 75 minutes plus cooling
Level : Basic
INGREDIENTS
- Puff pastry 500g (17.6oz)
- Red currant jam 100g (3.5oz)
- Butter 100g (3.5oz)
- Sugar 100g (3.5oz)
- Eggs 100g (3.5oz)
- Almond flour 100g (3.5oz)
- Chocolate chips 50g (1.8oz)
- Rum 10ml (1Tbsp)
- Lemon zest
- One egg mixed with one egg yolk
- Sugar 50g (1.8oz)
- Water 50g (1.8oz)
- To make King’s cake first you need to make almond cream. To make almond cream place softened butter, sugar and finely grated lemon zest in a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Next, add eggs one by one mixing well after each addition. When the mixture becomes nice and smooth, fold in almond flour. Add one tablespoon of rum and chocolate chips and mix well.
- Roll out one half of the puff pastry to about 3mm (1/8″) thickness and approximately 25cmx25cm (10″x10″) rectangle. Place the pastry in the fridge and repeat this procedure with the second part of your puff pastry.
- First mark the center of the bottom pastry using a 18cm (7″) in diameter cake ring. Brush the pastry with water. Then, dock the interior of the marked circle with a fork. Place some red currant jam onto the pastry and spread it inside the marked circle using a small spatula. Next, pipe almond cream on top of the jam.
- Then, cover everything with the second part of the pastry and gently press the edges around the cream. Mark the top pastry with 20cm (8″) in diameter cake ring. Then, cut out half circles around the marked circle using a small handmade cutter 2,5cm (1″) in diameter. You can make this cutter by cutting in half an ordinary bottle cap. Remove the excess pastry. Brush the top of the cake with egg wash and place it in the fridge for about one hour.
- Apply one more layer of egg wash. Then, puncture the middle of the galette with a wooden skewer so the steam can escape during baking. Decorate the center area of the galette by scoring it with my 5cm (2″) in diameter round cutter. Additionally score the pastry around the center area using a small knife. Make sure you don’t cut through the pastry – you just want to make the incisions.
- Bake your galette at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes, and then reduce the temperature and continue baking at 180°C (350°F) for another 25 minutes
- To make simple syrup place sugar into a bowl, add water and stir with a whisk. Heat up this mixture in the microwave. When the sugar crystals are dissolved, the syrup is done. Leave it to cool down
- When the galette is done brush it with simple syrup while it is still hot.
- There, your delicious king’s cake also known as galette des rois is done! Enjoy!
Copyright© PastryMaestra.comTM
Well, what do you think about this post?
Please leave your comment on YouTube, thank you!
I read and really appreciate all the comments, even though I do not always have the time to respond to each one. So – keep me in the loop and try to create some sweetness every day because – Sweetness is happiness!!
