Recipe of the month: French King Cake [fr]

Celebrated in France on January 6, Epiphany is originally a pagan festival celebrating the epiphanes, i.e. Hellenistic kings and certain gods favorable to humans.

Over the course of History, Epiphany was however christianized and today celebrates the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus, but also the first miracle of the wedding at Cana and the date of Christ’s baptism.

This celebration, originally religious, has since become a popular and family tradition in France.

Served on the Epiphany, the King Cake with frangipane filling is a typically French recipe, which has existed well before this celebration.

The "fève" in the King Cake is said to have originated in Roman times. At the beginning of January, the saturnalia of Rome - a large celebration dating back to Roman antiquity in honor of the god Saturn - elected the king of the feast with a black or white bean. Today, the beans have been replaced by "fèves", i.e. figurines made of porcelain and collected by enthusiasts.

In the North of France, the King Cake was originally a simple puff pastry based cake, baked in the oven and eaten with jam. It can also be filled with various preparations: frangipane, fruits, cream, chocolate, applesauce, etc...
In Southern France, the King Cake is a brioche with candied fruits in the shape of a crown, perfumed with orange blossom. It is preferred to the puff pastry, which is pejoratively referred to as "Parisian".
One can also find King Cakes made with shortbread in the West of France.

Ingredients:

For the custard:

• 50 grams of egg yolks
• 40 grams of sugar
• 250 grams of milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 20 grams of corn starch

For the almond cream filling:

• 75 grams of whole eggs
• 75 grams of almond powder
• 75 grams of powdered sugar
• 75 grams of soft butter
• 10 grams of corn starch
• 1 gram of salt
• Almond extract

For the frangipane filling:

• The custard and almond cream filling
• 1 roll of puff pastry made with pure butter
• 1 egg yolk

Steps:

The custard :

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture begins to lighten.
2. Add the corn starch and mix.
3. Split the vanilla bean in half. Remove the seeds and place them in a saucepan with the milk.
4. Heat the milk and pour it over the egg/sugar mixture.
5. Stir and return to the saucepan. Thicken over low heat until it boils.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let the custard cool for an hour.

The almond cream filling:

1. Mix the softened butter with the sugar until the mixture lightens.
2. Add the eggs one by one, then the sifted almond powder and corn starch, salt and a drop of almond extract.

The frangipane filling:

1. Mix the custard with the almond cream filling.
2. Pour the mixture into a pastry bag.
3. Put the King Cake together:
4. Lay out a first layer of the pastry dough.
   1. Use the pastry bag to spread the cream filling in a spiral pattern from the center. Stop 2 centimeters from the edge. Insert the "fève" into the cream filling.
   2. Baste the edge of the dough with egg yolk.
   3. Place the second layer of pastry dough on top, sealing the edges.
   4. Gild the top of the cake with egg yolk.
   5. Draw streaks along the top with a knife.
5. Refrigerate the cake for one hour.
6. Preheat the oven at 390°F.
7. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for 30 minutes.

On this sentence of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, I wish you a very good year 2022, a very good appetite and see you soon!

"Eating for pleasure is an act of our judgment, by which we give preference to things that are agreeable to our taste over those that have no such quality."