Galette des rois
A festive cake that's great at anytime of the year!
The French certainly know how to do religion. How do they celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings at the manger where Jesus was born? By eating a totally yummy pastry and frangipane cake, of course!
Galettes des rois (literally, the kings' cakes) are traditionally served on 6th January - Epiphany - although the French love affair with them is such that you can find them for sale throughout the entire month. Here at MyMeals365 HQ, we go one step further and eat them whenever the mood takes us!
And the pleasure of a galette des rois is not just in the eating. In boulangeries, pâtisseries and supermarchés, you'll usually see these cakes sold with a paper crown. This is because hidden inside each one is a fève (a little charm) - and whoever finds it in their slice gets to be king (or queen) for the day!
My version of this recipe uses ready-made pastry, which means that it can be prepared in around 30 minutes. It's best eaten warm... with a cup of tea and the paper crown on your head 😉
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of puff pastry
- 140g ground almonds
- 100g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 75g soft butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 charm (optional)
Method
- Place one sheet of pastry into a round cake tin measuring about 23cm across and about 3cm deep.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds, sugar, eggs and butter.
- Spread the mixture over the sheet of pastry and hide the charm if you're using one.
- Place the second sheet of pastry on top of the mixture and make sure the pastry is stuck to the sides of the tin.
- Use a knife to draw some patterns on the cake. See my photo for some ideas - or look on the internet - it's where I took my inspiration! Then brush the top with the beaten egg yolk.
- Cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 200°C until crisp and golden.
- Once cooked, leave to cool just sightly as the cake is best eaten warm.
NB This recipe makes 6 , but if you save it to your MyMeals365 app, you can change the number of servings and the app will work out the exact quantities of each ingredient you need.