The twelfth day of Christmas, Epiphany, is celebrated with Kings’ cake, or galette des Rois, as they are called in France.
Galette des Rois from Pain de Sucre
(c) Discover Paris!
The cakes, made of flaky puff-pastry layers with a dense center of frangipane, are sold in bakeries during the month of January. We wanted to purchase our galette from a specific bakery in the Marais, but when we arrived at the address we found that it was no longer in business. We stopped at a coffee house in the neighborhood to purchase some fresh-roasted coffee beans and were told that one of the finest bakeries in Paris was the nearby Pain de Sucre. So we hastened over there and purchased a small galette (for two to four persons). This 6 ¾” diameter by 1” tall cake weighing 290 grams cost 20€. A pretty penny to pay for such a small cake!
We found the galette to be quite buttery and flaky; its 3/8” almond-paste filling was light and airy, rather than heavy and pasty as one so often finds in these pastries. Each contains a porcelain bean (fève, in French). The person whose slice contains the fève is King or Queen for the day! He or she gets to wear a paper crown, which is provided with the galette.
Pain de Sucre
14 Rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris
Tel: 01.45.74.68. 92
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