Galette de Roi

My favourite French tradition, and I make no apologies for writing about it every year !.
The Galette des Rois (Kings 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 ‘feve’, 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 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 ‘feve’ is the King / Queen and wears the crown and must chose his or her king or queen !!

Although traditionally this cake is eaten on 6th January, I usually start eating them as soon as they appear in the boulangeries, usually from Boxing day!!..

However, this year I couldn’t wait and started craving for this lovely cake of light pastry with its buttery almond centre in early December. I asked Marie Louise if she knew how to make Galette de Rois.

‘Bien sur’, she replied and gave me the recipe. ‘You are organised, she said, we don’t make these until January’.

‘I’m going to make it this afternoon, I replied.

‘You are bizarre’, she tutted, and muttered something about the strange ways of the English.

Well, the Galette de Rois turned out very very well and I have made one every week for the past 5 weeks !!..