galette des rois
While in the States the holiday season has been over and forgotten about for nearly a week now, things are still going strong here in France. Today, January 6th, is the Epiphany, the day the 3 Kings arrived to see the baby Jesus. In France, the Epiphany is celebrated with a Galette des Rois- a special “kings cake” made of layers of puff pastry and filled with frangipane (an almond-flavored paste). Although pretty yummy by itself, the highlight of the Galette des Rois is finding the fève. The fève is a small, ceramic figurine which is buried in the cake. Whoever finds the fève in their slice of cake gets to wear a paper crown and be King (or queen) for the day. I can imagine that in the U.S. a hard, pointy figurine baked into a cake would be considered a safety risk, but that’s not at all the case here in France, with lines of galette-hungry customers snaking out of every bakery that you pass.
laissez les bon temps rouler!
If you want to take part in the festivities, why not try this simple Galette des Rois recipe at home? A quick search on ebay pulls up a small (and pricey) selection of French fèves, but you can also do like they do in New Orleans and bake a small plastic baby in the King Cake instead. You can find the mini babies at any store that sells baby shower decorations. Vive le roi et vive la reine!
From beginning to end your post was intense and right on!
I am learning the French language at evening classes and two weeks ago we learned of the tradition of “une Galette des Rois” on January 5th. We each had a piece of cake and I was fortunate to find “une fève” in my piece of cake.
As is the tradition, I was to make the next Galette using the “fève” which I did. I thought it would be a good idea to have my own “fève” so I could make one next year but I was unable to find anyone selling them.
I went on both the English and French Amazon websites but was unable to find any to buy except second-hand on EBay.
Can you suggest a website where one may be obtained?
HI! Other than ebay in the US, I don’t know other places- have you tried googling “King Cake” (what the tradition is called in New Orleans)? Maybe something would come up there! The ebay ones aren’t necessarily second-hand. Here in France they sell them in packs to be baked into cakes. I’m sure someone buys the packs up and sells un-opened ones on ebay… Or try etsy maybe? http://www.squidoo.com/king-cake#module148507384
Bon Chance!