Twelfth Night Cake Or King Cakegalette Des Rois Food

TWELFTH NIGHT CAKE OR KING CAKE(GALETTE DES ROIS)

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 block of puff pastry to form a 10-inch square. Using a sharp knife, cut out a 10-inch round, using a dinner plate as a guide.
• Repeat this step with the second block of puff pastry.
• To make the filling, combine milk, butter, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch. Add the three lightly beaten eggs and mix until well blended.
• Cook in a pot at low heat stirring continually until it thickens or prepare this in the microwave stopping from time to time to stir it (I prefer to prepare this in the microwave).
• Now take from the heat away, add grated lemon zest, rum and ground almonds.
• Stir all together well.
• To assemble, place the undecorated round of pastry on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Spread almond filling over the circle, leaving a 1-inch border. Using a pastry brush, glaze the border with lightly beaten egg.
• Place a trinket or dried bean in the filling.
• Place the second round of pastry over the filling, pressing the edges to seal.
• Using a sharp paring knife, decorate one round with "s" cuts, like swirly spokes going from the centre to the edge of the round or make some cuts "v" shaped cuts with scissors.
• Glaze the top with lightly beaten egg.
• Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Remove and bake for 30 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up and is golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Decorate with the gold paper crown.
• Note: if it is your first time observing this tradition, don't forget to warn everyone about the hidden charm or bean!

TWELFTH NIGHT OR KING'S CAKE

Steps:

• To make the Cake, take a pound and a half of the above-mentioned quality of flour, and put it in a wooden bread trough. Make a hole in the center of the flour, and put in a half ounce of yeast, dissolved in a little warm water.Add milk or tepid water to make the dough, using milk if you want it to be very rich and delicate, and water if you have not the milk. Knead and mix the flour with one hand, while adding milk or water with the other. Make a dough that is neither too stiff or too soft, and when perfectly smooth set the dough to rise in a moderately warm place, covering with a cloth. Remember that if you use milk to make the dought it must be scalded, that is, must be heated to the boiling point, and then allowed to grow tepid.
• Let the dough rise for five or six hours, and, when increased to twice its bulk, take it and add the reserved half pound of flour, into which you will have sifted the salt. Add six eggs, beaten very light with the sugar and butter, and mix all well together, kneading lightly with your hands, and adding more eggs if the dough is a little stiff.
• Then knead the dough by turning it over on itself three times, and set to rise again for an hour or three-quarters of an hour. Cover with a cloth. At the end of this time take it up and work it again lightly, and then form into a great ring, leaving of course, a hole in the center. Pat gently and flatten a little. Have ready a baking pan, with a buttered sheet of paper in it, and set the central roll in the middle.
• Cover the pan with a clean, stiff cloth, and set the Cake to rise for an hour longer. When well risen, set in an oven a few degrees cooler than that used for baking bread (360°); let bake for an hour and a half; if medium, an hour, and if very small, a half hour. Glace the Brioche lightly with a beaten egg, spread lightly over the top before placing in the oven. Decorate with dragees (French: a small candy), caramels, etc.

GALETTE DES ROIS-KING CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. With an electric beater, mix all the ingredients for the frangipane cream just until blended. On a slightly floured cold surface, cut 2 circles the size of dinner plates out of the puff pastry. Put one of them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush one inch around the edge of the circle with egg wash (beaten egg yolk). Spread half of the frangipane cream on the center and place the second circle on top matching the edges of the circles. Press all around the edges to glue them together. Press softly in the center to evenly spread the filling. If making 2 galettes use remaining cream and follow the same method for preparation.
• Decorate the galette with a fork, press edges together all around-no pricking. With the point of a knife, make any kind of design being careful not to go all the way through the puff pastry. Brush the surface with egg wash being careful no to get any on the sides.
• Bake the galette in the center of a preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes then 350 degrees for 30 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake until golden brown. Serve warm with gold paper crown on top.
• For the tradition of Epiphany in the privacy of your kitchen cut the galette in as many parts as people in the party. In one of them, insert a little ceramic toy (big enough to prevent swallowing). In the old days, they used a dried fava bean, so to this day it is still called "la feve." Everyone picks 1 piece of galette the one who discovers the toy is made the king of the day and wears the crown. He picks a queen by putting the toy in her glass and everyone raises his or her glass and applauds. Same process in reverse if a lady finds the toy. Tradition says that the next party should be at the king's expense.

TWELFTH NIGHT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• To prepare the cream, beat the 2 eggs with the sugar; add the cornstarch mixed with the milk and incorporate it. Simmer this mixture while whisking for a few minutes; it will thicken. Once thickened, turn the heat off and add the butter in small cubes, then the almonds and vanilla powder, and then the rum. Mix well.
• Mix the egg yolk with 1 Tbs. milk.
• Place one disk of the puff pastry on a buttered oven sheet; evenly spread the cream on it up to 1/2 inch of the edge; spread the border with a little of the yolk/milk mixture. Cover with the second disk of puff pastry and press the edges to close it up. Decorate with a knife to make designs on the pastry, if desired. Brush the top with the yolk/milk mixture.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm.

KING'S CAKE

Steps:

• Make the dough. Sift the flour with the sugar, sea salt, lemon zest, and yeast into the bowl of a food processor. Process on low speed, then add the eggs. Continue processing just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add the orange-flower water and rum and continue processing just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Dice the candied orange peel, chop the butter into pieces, and add them both to the dough mixture. Process again just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise for 2 hours at room temperature.
• Punch down the dough then place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and punch it down again. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, roll out the dough into a square, and place it on the lined baking sheet. Bring the corners of the dough to the center and insert the bean. Turn the dough over and shape it into a ball. Press your thumb in the center to make a depression and push the dough out around it to form a ring or crown. Cover it with a damp cloth and set aside to rise until doubled in volume, at least 2 hours in a warm room (77°F to 82°F [25 to 28°C]).
• Preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C).
• Prepare the glaze. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar, and salt. Brush the crown with the glaze. Dip a pair of scissors in water, and make cuts in the top of the cake, so it resembles the points of a crown. Place it in the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes.
• Warm the apricot preserve or jelly, then strain it. Remove the cake from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack, then brush with the jam. Sprinkle with the pearl sugar and decorate with strips of the candied melon, candied orange, and coarsely chopped almonds.