French families celebrate the end of the holiday season with a pastry fit for kings. Here is the story of the Galette des Rois – a cake that can make you feel like a king.
As with many festivals in France, there is a special food for the Epiphany.
While Christmas and New Year’s revolve around oysters and foie gras, January 6 is all about the Galette des Rois (Cake of Kings).
What is a Galette des Rois?
Basically, it is a frangipane tart made from dough, butter, ground almonds, and a few extra ingredients that challenge your already plump waistline one last time before the January diet begins.
It is eaten every year on January 6 to celebrate the Epiphany – when the three kings appeared to bring gifts to the baby Jesus.
The tradition of eating this cake dates back to the 14th century. According to legend, the cake was meant to lure the kings for the Epiphany celebration.
Interestingly, its name was changed during the French Revolution to Gâteau de l’egalité (Equality Cake) because being a king was not really fashionable at that time.
But it’s just a cake?
The Galette des Rois is not just about having tea and something sweet. There is an ancient protocol to follow, which involves the little surprise bakers hide inside the cake.
First, the youngest child must hide under the table and tell the person cutting the cake who should get which piece.
The person who finds the lucky charm, called the Féve, in their slice (as long as they don’t swallow it) gets to wear the crown that comes with the cake and then names their king or queen.
Then everyone sits down and simply eats it. Usually accompanied by cider or champagne.
Is there only one type of Galette?
No, no, no. While traditionalists, and there are quite a few in France, insist on the original recipe and shape, French pastry chefs are becoming ever more creative with these galettes.
Even though no two galettes in pâtisseries are the same, some have gone the extra mile to stand out from the crowd.
In recent years, one of the most renowned pâtisseries in Paris, Fauchon, created a galette shaped like a huge pair of lips. Of course, they couldn’t just stick to the original recipe and added passion fruit, raspberry, and rose petals.
Rival Dalloyau named its own creation the “Crystal Galette,” featuring notes of bitter orange and vanilla from Papua New Guinea. They even added crystals to the crown.
New recipes are constantly being created, including a galette with chocolate chips and nuts, caramelized apple and dried fruit, or almond, pear, and chocolate.
And of course, Richard Legay, the famous baker from Paris’s Marais district, is always reliable when it comes to making the galette his own way. His Boulangerie Legay Choc is known for creating pastries shaped like penises.
What’s it all about?
It’s, of course, tradition. According to the newspaper Direct Matin, the originally pagan custom dates back to Roman times, when festivals were held between late December and early January to honor the gods.
Masters and slaves ate together, and a bean (fève) was placed in one of the dishes; whoever got it was crowned king of the feast.
When the Church introduced the Epiphany to celebrate the arrival of the three wise men, the tradition of hiding a bean in the cake remained.
I would hate to find a bean in my cake…
Fortunately, around 1870 the bean was replaced by a variety of figurines made from porcelain or – more recently – plastic, even though the fève used to be a real bean.
These figurines once took the form of babies to represent Jesus, but today they can be anything from a car to a shoe.
True Galette des Rois fanatics collect the figurines year after year and build a fine arsenal of little treasures. A man named Bernard Joly reportedly has over 1,200 pieces, according to France TV.
Some bakers, fearing lawsuits if someone chokes on them, now place the figurines outside the galette and leave it up to the buyer to hide them.
So will everyone in France have their cake and eat it on January 6?
Pretty much. Bakeries in France love this time of year as their sales are boosted by the pastry’s popularity.
Only Emmanuel Macron does not have the chance to “become king” on this day.
The French president is not allowed to “become king” on Epiphany due to etiquette rules. “That is why a traditional galette without a figurine or crown is served at the Élysée Palace.”
