Give the traditional French 'Galette des Rois' a new twist with raspberry jam and fresh raspberries, to celebrate Three Kings Day.
Happy New Year! We hope you had a fun, yet restful, holiday season filled with family, friends and some really good eats! We sure did, but we’re not starting the detox just yet. There’s one more holiday worth baking a cake for - Three Kings Day celebrated on January 6th.
Different Christian cultures celebrate this day with a variety of cakes, and this Galette des Rois stems from Northern France. It’s made up of two layers of puff pastry filled with almond cream - definitely worth holding off on that detox for another couple of days! In southern France, they celebrate with a yeasted bread filled with candied fruit, which looks similar to the one you may know, and we certainly love, from New Orleans and is traditionally served around Mardi Gras. We made one of those too a few years ago, and you'll find that one here.
Now we’re going to take you on a (virtual) culinary trip to Paris to try this cake. There seems to be a bit of competition amongst Parisian bakeries to see who can come up with the most unique Galette des Rois. Having never made this cake before, I thought I’d turn to David Lebowitz - a sure bet, because he’s THE man when it comes to pastry.
But I can never leave well enough alone, and I was just itching to add some fruit to this. So this is a non-traditional Galette des Rois. If you want to keep it authentic, just leave out the raspberry jam and raspberries, but I do think they add a certain 'je ne sais quoi'!
Be warned people with small children and dodgy teeth - there’s a fève (bean or almond) hidden somewhere in this cake! The lucky person who finds it gets to be king for the day and wear the crown! xoxo Kirsty
Ingredients for one 9-inch (23cm) galette
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 organic (untreated) orange
7 tablespoons (100g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 sheets of puff pastry (around 1lb./450g) chilled
2 heaped tablespoons raspberry jam
1/2 cup fresh raspberries, lightly smushed
1 whole almond to be the fève
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk
First, make the almond filling. Combine the almond flour, sugar, salt, and orange zest. Work the butter in with a wooden spoon until it’s completely combined. You can also use a mixer but it is easy to do by hand. Add in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Cover and chill.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll one sheet of puff pastry and place a plate (9-1/2” / 23cm diameter) on top of the pastry. Use a paring knife to trim the dough into a circle, and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Cut out another pastry circle with the second sheet of pastry. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the first circle and lay the second circle on top of it. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Keep the pastry scraps for later - see NOTE below!
Remove the pastry and almond filling from the fridge. Place the top circle of pastry to the side, or back in the fridge, and work with the remaining circle of pastry on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the raspberry jam over the circle, taking care to leave a 1-inch (2.5cm) border. Roughly smush the raspberries with a fork and gently fold them into the almond cream. Spoon the almond/raspberry filling on top of the jam in a heap, and use a palette knife or spoon to gently smooth it outwards over the jam, keeping that border. Place an almond on the filling.
Combine the egg yolk and milk, and brush it around the border of the pastry. Carefully place the other pastry circle on top of the galette and press down with your fingers to seal the edges. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C) and chill the galette until the oven reaches the required baking temperature of 400F (200C). At this point, it can be refrigerated overnight too.
Create indents around the edge of the galette using the blunt side of a knife. Brush the egg yolk/milk glaze evenly over the top. Use a paring knife to score a pattern on top of the galette. I went for a more traditional circle design, but let your inner artist out!
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the galette is a lovely golden brown. Remove from the oven and slide the galette onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTE: You can use the scraps of pastry - brush with the egg yolk and milk mixture and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake with the galette, making sure to leave ample space around it, for a delicious snack.
Recipe adapted from David Lebowitz’s Galette des Rois recipe on www.davidlebovitz.com
