After hearty holiday meals, between logs and thirteen desserts, there’s always room for the famous galette des rois. Whether you’re a gourmand or a fan of frugality, it’s hard to resist the inevitable frangipane. This year, Epiphany is celebrated on Tuesday January 6: the perfect opportunity to get your hands dirty and make your own galette. The recipe for Cyril Lignac ‘s authentic frangipane galette des Rois is delicious and easy to make, and promises to be a hit with young and old alike.
The recipe for Cyril Lignac’s galette des rois
Image d’illustration
Serves 4:
- 2 rolls pure butter puff pastry
- 2 egg yolks to brown the galette
Ingredients for the pastry cream
- 2 eggs
- 50g sugar
- 30g flour
- 25 cl milk
- 1 vanilla pod
Ingredients for the almond cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 125g almond powder
- 100g caster sugar
- 125g softened butter
Ingredients for the frangipane
- Pastry cream mixture + almond cream + 1 capful rum
Preparing Cyril Lignac’s galette des rois
- Prepare the crème pâtissière. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture whitens.
- Add the flour and mix well.
- Split the vanilla pod in half. Remove the seeds and add them to the milk in a saucepan.
- Thicken over low heat. Cover with cling film and leave to cool for an hour.
- Prepare the almond cream: mix the softened butter and sugar until the mixture whitens. Add the egg yolks one by one, then the almond powder.
- Mix the crème pâtissière with the almond cream, adding a capful of rum, then pour the mixture into a piping bag.
- Using the piping bag, pipe a first layer, starting from the center in a spiral, then stop 2cm from the edge.
- Insert your bean into the cream, then brush the edge of the pastry with your egg yolk.
- Place the second pastry, closing the edges tightly. Brush the top of the galette with the egg yolk. Then draw ridges with a knife.
- Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 200°, place the galette in the oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180°. Continue baking for approximately 30 minutes.
Crown or galette des rois?
Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to visit baby Jesus. Celebrated by Catholics on January 6, it is considered one of the oldest Christian celebrations. However, the origins of the galette des Rois go back much further, to Roman antiquity.
Around the winter solstice, the Romans celebrated the Saturnalia, great festivities in honor of the god Saturn. On this occasion, a round, golden cake, symbolizing the sun, was shared with a hidden bean. Notably, slaves were invited to join in the festivities, and whoever found the bean could ask for whatever they wished and become, for a day and a night, the “king” of the celebration.
While the exact recipe for this ancient cake remains unknown, frangipane is thought to have its origins in Italy. Its name is linked to Count Cesare Frangipani, who is said to have given the recipe to Catherine de Médicis in the XVIᵉ century. Other research points instead to Jacqueline de Septisoles, widow of the Roman nobleman Graziano de Frangipani and close associate of Francis of Assisi, who is said to have been in the habit of offering almond cakes as early as the XIIIᵉ century. As for the crown shape, it would have appeared with Christianity, in reference to the Three Wise Men and Christ’s divine royalty.
Frangipane or gâteau des rois, one thing is certain: this tradition remains above all a moment of conviviality and sharing, eagerly awaited every year.