Apple Galette des Rois

January 6 marks Epiphany or Three Kings Day in the Christian faith, when the three wise men visited the baby Jesus after he was born.  In honor of the occasion many countries in Europe celebrate with a King's Cake.  In France it's known as galette des rois, traditionally made with puff pastry and an almond frangipane filling.  This year to mix things up a bit I made an Apple Galette des Rois.

The inspiration for this variation came from a chausson aux pommes, a French apple turnover found in any boulangerie.   I made a very simple  compote filling using my favorite apple variety, honeycrisp.  The galette came together in no time at all since I used store bought puff pastry to encase the apple filling.   Not one to forget the all-important fève or charm, I hid a walnut half in the cake.   

One bite of the compote filling and crisp puff pastry and I am now fully converted to the apple galette des rois.

Mardi Gras King Cake

 

 January 6 marks Epiphany (sometimes called Three King's Day) in the Catholic faith.   When I was a student living in Dijon I came to learn that the French celebrate this holiday by enjoying galette des rois throughout the month.   Because I've already made that puff pastry and frangipane treat before I wanted to try my luck at making this Mardi Gras King Cake from Murmurs of Ricotta's blog.  This year Mardi Gras falls on March 1st, but King Cake can be enjoyed starting at Epiphany.

 

Although I've never visited Louisiana or New Orleans before (it's on my list!) I have actually tasted a traditional NOLA king cake before.  A former co-worker of mine grew up in Louisiana and her mom used to send her a king cake every year.   The "cake" is actually an enriched bread, filled with cinnamon and frosted and decorated with purple, gold and green sprinkles.  I think it tastes similar to a cinnamon roll.   What intrigued me about this recipe in particular was the claim that it was soft and fluffy and inspired by the in-demand cakes sold at Dong Phuong, a popular Vietnamese French bakery in New Orleans East.

 

 

The enriched dough couldn't be easier to make, but it does require some patience, as it needs to proof in the fridge at least overnight.  When forming the king cake be sure to roll out the dough evenly, otherwise you'll end up with a plump middle section and skinny ends, like I did.  My King Cake really lived up to the fat moniker of Mardi "Gras".  Still tasted great though!  Just as the blog described, the brioche-bread was soft and fluffy, and quite delicious.   

 

The hardest part was waiting for the cake to cool completely before frosting it with the brown butter cream cheese frosting.  A final flourish of Mardi Gras colored sprinkles and the King Cake was complete.  NOTE: For some reason my purple non-pareils look more indigo in these pictures, but I can assure you they are purple!

Galette des Rois (King's Cake)

Since it's Mardi Gras tomorrow I thought I'd post about the Galette des Rois (King's Cake) that I made a while ago.  Full disclosure: I had intended to make the cake at the beginning of January, just in time for Epiphany, but laziness got the better of me.  Luckily the cake is equally appropriate for Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent.  

My first introduction to galette des rois was in Dijon during my junior year study abroad.  I had moved over to France right at the beginning of January and all the bakeries were selling these frangipane filled puff pastry cakes.  I learned at school there was a fève, a figurine or trinket, buried inside each cake and whomever found it was crowned king or queen for the day.  

For my cake I used some homemade puff pastry and the filling came from David Lebovitz.  Most people don't have the time or inclination to make the laminated pastry from scratch, neither do I normally, so feel free to use the store-bought kind.   Be a little stingy when filling the cake with frangipane because you may end up with a bit of an explosion like I had!  In honor of the Lunar New Year I used a tiny ceramic horse to put inside.