Rosca de Reyes, Galette des Rois and Other King Cakes

A couple weeks ago I was wandering around La Villita and couldn't help noticing many people carrying large colorful boxes. It was January 6 and in each box was a Rosca de Reyes, the sweet bread traditionally eaten on Dia de Reyes, or Epiphany. I stopped in La Baguette (3117 W 26th) and was amazed at the quantity of roscas in the shop.



I'm sorry now I didn't buy one but even the two-baby version would have been far too much. Does anyone know if multiple babies are common in Rosca de Reyes? I thought most versions of King Cake contain only a single trinket. Being the one who gets the baby, bean, or whatever is an honor but it usually carries with it some obligation—often providing food or drink for a later celebration.

The following weekend I stopped at Bonjour (1550 E 55th), a nice little French bakery and was pleased to find Galette des Rois. It seems the French are a little less concerned with celebrating precisely on Epiphany and will happily eat this special pastry throughout most of January. Luckily I was going to dinner that day so I brought along a large one.





Delicate puff pastry surrounded a thin layer of frangipane. The fève, in this case a coffee bean, was found with the knife's first cut. I was impressed with this simple, elegant pastry and look forward to it again next year.

Around New Orleans, and now in much of the US, King Cake is usually eaten on Mardi Gras rather than Epiphany so we still have that coming up. Most of the ones I've tried in Chicago have been pretty terrible. I guess the one from Bennison's wasn't too bad (but I'm not fond of all that glaze and colored sugar). Does anyone have a favorite local source for King Cake?

My familiarity with King Cakes comes from my time living in New Orleans where they are served the entirety of Carnival. In New Orleans the traditional king cake pastry was little more then multi-colored super sugary coffee cake or danish, kind of like a kringle but thicker, and the cakes usually contained only one baby, discovery of which required you to buy the next king cake.

Since moving back home from New Orleans I have ordered a few over the years to my office where they have been enjoyed as a novelty. Nobody here has ever seemed to have heard of the king cake, I am suprised to see that they are sold here, i guess it makes sense considering the religious significance the cake is supposed to have.

If you are looking for new orleans style king cake, sold from January 6 to Lent, here are some recommended bakeries that ship"

Randazzos Bakery in Metarie www.kingcakes.com and Haydel's Bakery www.haydelbakery.com in Jefferson Lousiana make some of the most popular versions of the cakes in New orleans and they will ship

Rene G, thanks for the great post and photos. Antonius and I were in La Casa del Pueblo a few days after Jan. 6 and were amused to see a short stack of roscas de reyes over in the clearance section.

Here’s some more on the Mexican custom, from La tradicional cocina mexicana y sus mejores recetas by Adela Fernández. A plurality of babies doesn't seem to be untraditional:

El seis de enero, día de los Reyes Magos, se lleva a cabo una merienda en la que se sirve café, atole o chocolate con la tradicional rosca de reyes en cuyo interior se encuentran unos muñequitos de porcelana o imitación y que representan al niño Dios. Aquel o aquellos a quienes les tocan los muñequitos obtienen el compromiso de hacer una fiesta el 2 de febrero, día de la Candelaria en que se levanta del nacimiento al niño Dios; en esta ocasión se lleva a cabo una tamalada.

‘On January 6, Epiphany or the Day of the Three Kings, the special meal is “tea”, at which coffee, atole or chocolate is served with traditional Three Kings’ Bread which contains little porcelain or plastic dolls representing the Infant Jesus. The person or persons who get one of the dolls in their piece of bread have to organize a party for February 2, Candlemas, when the Infant Jesus is removed from the Nativity. The menu on this occasion is tamales.’

Amata wrote:La tradicional cocina mexicana y sus mejores recetas by Adela Fernández.

Amata, thanks for the reference -- just bought it on Amazaon (under $8 new).

Hammond

Have you tried the Caribbean-American bakeryon Howard? This is a big Jamaican tradition as well...I don't see one on their website, but it doesn't appear to be updated with specials

Rene G wrote:The following weekend I stopped at Bonjour (1550 E 55th), a nice little French bakery and was pleased to find Galette des Rois. . .


Delicate puff pastry surrounded a thin layer of frangipane. The fève, in this case a coffee bean, was found with the knife's first cut. I was impressed with this simple, elegant pastry and look forward to it again next year.

This is indeed a wonderful cake (and a lovely photo of it, as well). I have seen it in France as Pithiviers. Julia Child says that the name and the cake originated in the town of Pithiviers, located south of Paris, halfway to Bourges (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 2, p.468). (She makes no mention of the name "Galette des Rois" or the Epiphany connection.)

Julia's recipe and the accompanying illustrations make this cake seem to be something that one can make at home -- a stunningly obvious observation, perhaps, considering that we're talking about a cookbook. It's just that I've been admiring this cake in these pages since I was a teenager, and, while I've undertaken pate feuilletee, I've always been skeptical of her claim that a Pithiviers is "so easy and fast to assemble.". Even so, Julia has rarely, if ever, steered me wrong. Maybe one day. . .[sigh] so many recipes, so little time. . .

Oh, and Julia recommends a Sauternes, a Champagne, or a sparkling Vouvray to drink with it.

Josephine - puff pastry was the hard part - for you a Pithiviers will be really easy. The only trick to it is sealing the puff pastry well enough around the edges so the filling doesn't leak out, but not too smushed so it won't rise.

Also, when you talk about a Pithiviers you are usually talking about frangipane/almond cream filled, but there are also savory versions, filled with meat or cheese.

A galette des roi can be a Pithiviers - and an almond cream filled one with a feve is the most common galette - but it can also be other kinds of pastry too. In the south it's brioche with candied fruit. Older Parisians swear it has to be plain, unfilled puff pastry. Historically it was just bread. The big trend in Paris right now is to do different flavors and fillings. At Sadaharu Aoki he's done a matcha green tea almond cream filled galette. One of my favorites is chocolate from Pierre Herme.

This year I got one from Laduree because they are perhaps the only patisserie that includes a feve in even the individual galettes des rois - they even place two in the galettes that serve eight!

Here's my feve from this year!



From Galettes des Rois and Fèves 2008, Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisachu/ ... 836002728/

Well tomorrow is tweflth night and I was wondering if there was anywhere in the Chicago area to get New Orleans style King Cake.

Evanston seems to be a good choice: Bennisons Bakery

i'm pretty sure bombon does a king's cake, too.

If you are in northern suburbs Lovin Oven in Round Lake and Libertyville should be available and I believe Deerfields in Buffalo Grove and Deerfield does King Cakes..

Yeah here in Elmwood Park, unless someone suggests something closer, going to try Bennison's in Evanston, as they have them on their website

Yes love Haydel's from New Orleans and getting one from there shipped next week for a party. And actually Haydel's and the Saint's had a fund raiser for the Susan B Kohman for the cure foundation, and they made the Guiness book of World records for the World's largest King Cake! It circled the Superdome twice.

iblock9 wrote:My familiarity with King Cakes comes from my time living in New Orleans where they are served the entirety of Carnival. In New Orleans the traditional king cake pastry was little more then multi-colored super sugary coffee cake or danish, kind of like a kringle but thicker, and the cakes usually contained only one baby, discovery of which required you to buy the next king cake.

Since moving back home from New Orleans I have ordered a few over the years to my office where they have been enjoyed as a novelty. Nobody here has ever seemed to have heard of the king cake, I am suprised to see that they are sold here, i guess it makes sense considering the religious significance the cake is supposed to have.

If you are looking for new orleans style king cake, sold from January 6 to Lent, here are some recommended bakeries that ship"

Randazzos Bakery in Metarie http://www.kingcakes.com and Haydel's Bakery http://www.haydelbakery.com in Jefferson Lousiana make some of the most popular versions of the cakes in New orleans and they will ship

I just got an e-mail from Three Tarts Bakery in north suburban Northfield - one of my favorite bakeries in the Chicago area - that they have king's cake available today.

HI,

I am baking a King Cake this evening. The little plastic baby trinket: the instructions advise to randomly lift the cake and tuck it in.

If I baked it inside, will the plastic baby melt? Or are all these trinkets made of metal, glass or ceramic in the past?

It seems so wonderfully random to have the baby inside. Tucking it in after baking is an invitation to peek.

Regards,

Got back from Presidents Day weekend in New Orleans with the family and the kids were demanding king cake for mardi gras so I decided to do a tasting. The weakest is the one from Marianos made by Palermo bakery. Very bland with no filling so far (only about 1/4 through it). The one from Sunset is good but not great, with some cinnamon filling but not very much. The best by far is the one from Heinen's which is shipped in from Servati's in cincinnati. Lots of delicious cinnamon filling and plenty of Servati's excellent icing. Might be a little sweet for some. I may be biased since I am from cincinnati and grew up with servati's (though never had their king cake before), but it is good stuff.

-Will

My girls' school has always made Fat Tuesday a big day. Out of uniform-wear purple, green and gold clothes, silly hats and of course miles of beads. The eight grade boys would make King Cakes for each classroom. The poor room mothers had to help them in the school kitchen. Suffice to say there was plenty of colored sugar adorning their creations. Now, due to allergies and other factors, the cakes are purchased elsewhere. My daughter got the baby in her class yesterday!