Galette des rois

France's traditional dessert for this time of year (the Epiphany on the Christian calendar) is the galette des rois, or kings' cake. The kings are the three kings of Orient, the wise men, of biblical fame. The most widespread recipe is a cake made from flaky pastry filled with an almond butter cream called frangipane and glazed with an egg wash before baking. Other versions made more like cake or brioche are popular in the south of France.

This year's galette rose a little higher on one side than the other. Still tastes good, though.

A little token called une fève (because the token was originally a fava bean) is baked inside the cake. The person who gets the fève in his piece is crowned king for the day. Commercially made galettes are sold with a paper crown for the king.

My collection of fèves from commercial galettes. This year I used the perch.

I've collected a small number of fèves over the years back before I started making my own galettes. Good galettes are expensive in the bakeries and inexpensive ones are not particularly good. Home made is more economical, even if you buy the flaky pastry ready-made from the supermarket. I learned to make my own pastry from a French television chef and have been using his recipe for years now.

The assembled galette, glazed with egg wash, before it goes into a hot oven to bake.

Ken cut into the cake on Monday to serve us. Neither one of us got the fève, so it's still inside the cake. Ken said he saw it when he sliced the cake, but pushed it back inside the unserved portion. Maybe we'll find it again today.