Galette des rois

Galette des Rois

There are some lovely traditions associated with the galette. A ‘fève’ should be hidden inside the cake filling: it is a tiny china figurine symbolising baby Jesus. It is often substituted with a whole almond, probably to avoid a health hazard. The lucky person to find it in their slice of cake is crowned king or queen for the carnival.

Another tradition requires the cake to be cut into as many slices as there are diners, with one surplus, to be given to a poor person should one turn up at the door. The extra slice is called variously ‘the God’s slice’, ‘the Virgin Mary’s’ or simply ‘the poor man’s slice’.

But even without these customs, galette des rois is worth baking as it’s a delicious cake.

Ready-rolled puff pastry

Puff pastry is your friend, if you’re not exactly a proficient baker. Even reputable chefs use ready made pastry: laminating dough with perfectly rolled rectangles of ice-cold butter is the domain of professional pâtissiers.

Make sure though you buy all-butter puff pastry. Much to my chagrin, supermarkets have taken to presenting vegan version of puff as default. The first time it happened, having bought the oil-margerine stuff unawares, I was stumped why my puff pastry came out so disgusting in taste, wrong in texture and generally poorly baked, until I read the packaging properly. Unless you’re vegan and that’s your choice, make sure the pastry is old fashioned flour and butter, rather than other dubious fats.

Once you’re procured good butter pastry, simply roll it out and cut two circles out of it, one about 3 cm/1 inch smaller than the other. It’s easy to place a plate or a cake tin on the pastry and slide a sharp knife around the template. When cut, refrigerate the pastry while you make the almond cream.

How to make frangipane, the almond cream filling

Frangipane is bakers’ favourite filling: it’s easy to make and it’s temperature-resilient which means that you can fill your cake and bake it with the filling.

It’s very simple to make: butter, sugar, ground almonds and eggs are whisked to a paste. You can also make it ahead of the time and store in the fridge for a couple of days. But to spread it over pastry, better bring it back to room temperature to soften.

How to assemble galette des rois?

Assembly is truly the only challenge in making the galette, but even this isn’t tricky.

Aside from the frangipane, traditional French filling varieties include apricot jam or candied fruit but I go for the classic pear and almond pairing, as recommended by Raymond Blanc.

Pears, peeled and thinly sliced, should be briefly cooked to soften with a little butter, then left to cool down.

And then, starting with the smaller pastry round as the base, we spread half the frangipane over it, leaving a clean edge, for sealing. Pears are arranged over that, and covered with the remaining almond cream.

The larger pastry disc comes on top, and to seal it, brush the edge with some beaten egg and press down well all around. You can make an inward fold all the way around the perimeter to make sure nothing leaks.

The galette now needs to be frozen for an hour. That’s to make sure the filling doesn’t start boiling and melting inside, while the pastry isn’t yet baked.

Swirl and bake

When ready to bake, you can trim the edge with a sharp knife.

Then brush the galette with beaten egg all over and you can draw a swirl pattern with a knife in it.

Baking takes forty to forty-five minutes until the galette is deep golden, glossy and risen. Let it cool down before cutting: otherwise the pastry will be very crumbly and the filling hot. But it’s best served on the day – any leftovers can be stored to the next day but won’t taste quite as nice.

More French Christmas cake recipes

Bûche de Noël aka Yule log is a chocolate sponge roulade filled with delightful, chocolate flavoured whipped cream. It is impressive but reasonably easy to make, and it's just the perfect Christmas Day dessert.

Pain d’épices is a delicious honey and spice French gingerbread cake, not overly sweet in spite of the huge amount of honey it contains. It’s spiced with cinnamon, ginger, star anise, cloves or whatever spice combo is your personal favourite.

Pompe à huile, sweet olive oil brioche traditionally served in Provence, South-East France, at Christmas. With orange flavour and a strange name (‘oil pump’), it’s one of 13 Provençal Christmas desserts.

More puff pastry recipes

Chantilly cream and pistachio mille-feuille made with ready made all-butter puff pastry, whipped cream and sweet pistachio crumbs. My easy version of the classic French, ‘thousand leaves’ dessert.

Sweet puff pastry straws brushed with jam and sugar glaze, twice baked and still the easiest biscuits there are. Shop-bought or homemade puff pastry sheet makes dessert ready in less than an hour.

Fig and prosciutto tart with ready-rolled puff pastry takes about five minutes to prepare and twenty to bake. A divine, seasonal lunch or starter dish, best made with gorgeous Bursa figs.