Happy Epiphany! To celebrate the three kings locating baby Jesus (pre-GPS, a feat indeed) with their gifts of gold (score!), frankincense (aromatic resin.. lame) and myrrh (more resin… gee thanks) we eat cakes with a hidden choking hazards.

I wanted to photograph my galette with the three wise men, but I didn’t have three king figures, so I had to make do with 2 queens (and that is a loose interpretation of ‘queen’, since I don’t think the Statue of Liberty is technically a queen) and a llama.

In the states we eat sugar and dye covered King Cakes with a hidden plastic baby.  I’m not the biggest fan of the American version, but it is tradition.  In France they make Galette des Rois, an almond infused cake with a hidden porcelain figurine that many people collect.

I made the french version, complete with a porcelain fève, which literally translates to a fava bean.

Galette des Rois

Frozen Puff Pastry

Filling:

1 1/4 cups of almond flour

1/3 cups of sugar

pinch of salt

8 table spoons of butter (unsalted)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add 8 tablespoons of cut up butter and mix.  Add two eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.  Put in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.  Take chilled puff pastry and cut into a circle.  I wasn’t very precise, but I had a pasta bowl and used that as my template.  Next add the almond filling to the crust and don’t forget to add your hidden baby jesus.  Side note: Don’t forget to not choke on baby Jesus.  That would be a tragic celebration of his birth.  Pinch the crust together to create a seal and coat the top of the crust with egg whites.  Sprinkle sliced almonds on the top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 28 to 30 minutes.

The mail carrier came to the door right when I was about to take my galette out and he’s a talker.  I got distracted chatting about the weather so my cake is a bit overcooked.