Galettes des rois

Fran, who lived in France when she was younger, introduced me to this one. It’s a traditional cake – or pie, or indeed “wafer of kings” – eaten in France to celebrate Twelfth Night (5 January), then Epiphany the following day. So it marks the end of Christmas. Boo hoo.

I’ve never mastered proper puff pastry*, so I used bought stuff. The filling is frangipane, suitably enough for a cake Fran advocates.

I used this recipe, by a chap called Eric Lanlard, a French chef famous for designing Madonna’s wedding cake. It was my first try and either the recipe calls for too much filling or I didn’t pinch the edges firmly enough as there was some leakage, and an ensuing structural crisis.

We’ve still not found “la fève”, the hidden trinket, like a fivepench in a British Christmas pud. It’s often a ceramic or plastic baby Jesus or Madonna (his mum that is), but after deliberating over using the Monopoly dog I just used a marble.

* Will do one of these days. This recipe looks good – and doesn’t use any lard.