Galette des rois (French king cake)

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5 from 4 votes

Galette des rois (French king cake)

This almond-filled pastry tart is traditional for Epiphany, but is equally good any time.

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

rest time (approx)1

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: approx

Calories: 567kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry relatively thin is fine (each sheet is approx 7oz/200g)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
3 ½ oz butter
½ cup sugar
1 cup almond flour (ground almonds)
1 tablespoon brandy (cognac) or rum
⅛ teaspoon almond extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Use the base of a 9 in/23cm round cake tin as a guide to cut a circle of pastry from each of the pieces of puff pastry. Put each on a piece of parchment on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge.
Lightly beat the eggs and the remove 1tbsp of the egg to a small bowl. Add the milk and gently mix together. Set aside.
Beat together the butter and sugar either with a stand mixer or hand mixer (or you can do by hand). The mixture should become relatively glossy. Add the eggs, almond flour, brandy and almond extract. Mix until well combined. Place the bowl with the mixture in the fridge and chill both this and the pastry for around 30 minutes.
Once chilled, spread the almond filling over the middle of one of the pastry circles (still on the parchment) leaving a rim of around ⅔in/2cm without any filling. Moisten the exposed pastry edge with a little water then place the second piece of pastry on top. Seal the edges together, carefully pressing gently to ensure you don't have air inside.
Using the back of a knife blade, make indents around the edge of the tart by pressing down with a finger on the two layers of pastry and making indent to side then repeating all the way around. Place the tart in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes, ideally nearer 1 hour.
Towards end of chilling time, preheat oven to 355F/180C. Brush the top of the tart with the egg-milk mixture all over. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make a pattern/design on the top of the tart such as leaves or zig-zags, taking care not to cut through the pastry.
Bake the tart for around 30-45 minutes until golden brown and crisp on top. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing (can also serve cool).

Video

Notes

Note in the pictures/video I used an 8in/20cm round base to cut the pastry and had some of the filling leftover. With the recipe as written, it should use all or close to it. But if it feels like you have too much, don't overfill it as it will be more likely to burst in cooking.

Nutrition