Galette des Rois
Well, it’s that time of year again… my favourite French tradition.
The Galette des Rois (King’s cake) is an absolutely delicious cake of puff pastry stuffed with frangipane, where only refined almond powder is used.
Inside of the Galette is placed a small ‘fève’, the prize, which usually is a small ceramic figurine.
The tradition.
1. Gather family and friends around a table.
2. The youngest person then crawls under the table.
3. The oldest (or the most honest!) person then acts as a distributor.
4. The distributor then cuts the galette into slices and the person under the table nominates who should be served each slice.
5. The person who finds the ‘fève’ is the King / Queen and wears the crown and must choose his or her king or queen!
Although traditionally this cake is eaten on the 6th of January, I usually start making them in November… and I think I might sneak a final one in today…
Editor’s note
The Galette des Rois is not only a tradition in France, but also in other countries such as Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus. The cake takes its name from the biblical 3 Kings. The original ‘King’ of the feast was a bean, but this was replaced in 1870 by a porcelain, and more recently plastic, figurine.
