Galette des Rois
The Three Kings Cake is eaten on the 6th of January, Epiphany, to commemorate the wise men finally reaching Jesus in Bethlehem. Typically a small plastic king (or whole almond if you are baking at home) is baked into the cake and whoever finds it is monarch for the day.
Although we make the bready, raisin-studded German version, Dreikönigkuchen, every year, this was the first year that I tried its French counterpart—Galette des Rois.
Enjoyed in the Romandie, the cake has a puff pastry base and is traditionally stuffed with frangipane, almond cream.
It is surprisingly easy to make, especially if you use store bought puff pastry. An untraditional layer of cherries made the filling even more delicious, although they did leak out a little during baking.
For the cherries:
1 tsp cornstarch
300 g fresh or frozen cherries, pitted
50 g sugar
For the frangipane:
80 g butter
80 g sugar
1 egg
120 g ground almonds, toasted and cooled
2 tbsp flour
To assemble:
puff pastry (2 rounds or around 500 g total)
1 egg, separated
1 whole almond
For the cherries:
In a medium pot, toss the cherries in the sugar and cornstarch. Add a splash of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened. Let cool.
For the frangipane:
Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and continue beating. Stir in the toasted and cooled ground almonds, then gently mix in the flour.
To assemble:
Roll and cut your puff pastry into two 26 cm (10 inch) rounds.
Place one round on a parchment-lined baking sheet, poke all over with a fork, then spread with the frangipane and then with the cherries. Brush the edge with egg white.
Press your king (whole almond) into the filling at random.
Carefully mark out a pattern in the second round of dough, trying not to cut through the pastry. Transfer it on top of the filling, press down the edges, then brush all over with egg yolk.
Bake in the bottom of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
Toasting the ground almonds gives them a delicious roasted flavour and makes for a really excellent frangipane. However if you are short on time, you can skip this step.
I had a little extra dough, so made a rim around the edge of the bottom layer of pastry to give the tart a little more height.
I found it easier to score the decoration on the top layer before putting it on the base, but you can also mark it once it has already been placed on top.
Now the German version?
Dreikönigskuchen
