Recipes King's Cake: La Galette des Rois

Before diving into the recipe for the galette des rois, you need to know the different varieties of galette des rois. Nowadays, the galette made of puff pastry and frangipane - sweet almond-flavored custard, seems to have become the most well-known version. Every year, French bakers produce 30 million Epiphany cakes for hungry customers, who will relish this buttery dessert from early January all the way to the end of the month. It's a treat and it's the greatest French national tradition. And the most delicious, of course!

But is the authentic galette des rois the frangipane, the brioche, or the candied fruit cake?

Originally, galettes des rois were simple bread rolls in which an actual fava bean (a precursor to the porcelain miniature known as the fève) was inserted. But gradually, several regions added their own specificity to this cake.

The frangipane galette was born in the 17th century at the behest of Anne of Austria and her son Louis XIV. The flaky cake is said to have originated in Paris, and for a while it was nicknamed "la Parisienne".

It truly makes for a royal treat for everyone in the house. Let’s party!