Serves: 6-8
The French celebrate Epiphany on January 6th (Twelfth Night) with cake-as only they can. This cake is the form of a pithiviers, a puff pastry circle stuffed with a frangipane filling. A bean is traditionally placed in the filling and whoever gets the bean becomes king for the day and is permitted to wear a gold paper crown. I’ve gilded the lily slightly by adding a layer of black cherry jam and folding grated white chocolate into the frangipane. Not one for those on a post-Christmas detox diet but great at any time of the year, not just Twelfth Night.
Ingredients
- For the frangipane
- 100g ground almonds
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 100g white chocolate, grated
- To finish the galette
- 2 x 320g sheets ready-rolled puff pastry (preferably all butter)
- 3 tablespoons black cherry jam
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
- For the frangipane, mix together the ground almonds and caster sugar. In a separate bowl beat the butter until very soft. Beat in the almond sugar mix followed by the beaten eggs. Stir in the grated chocolate. Chill until ready to use.
- For the galette, heat the oven to 200˚c, fan oven 180˚c, mark 6. Unroll one of the pastry sheets and cut out a circle, 23cm diameter. Spread the jam over the centre, leaving a margin of at least 3cm around the edges. Spread the frangipane over the jam, levelling out the surface. Brush the edges with a little of the beaten egg.
- Drape the second sheet of pastry over the top of the frangipane and press down around the edges to seal the top and bottom pastry layers. Cut around the pastry, following the edge of the bottom sheet. Crimp the edges and brush the pastry with beaten egg. If you like, score the surface lightly with a knife. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is risen and deep golden brown. Leave to cool for 30 minutes before cutting into slices. The Galette des Rois can be served warm or at room temperature.
