The French have a period of Cake after Christmas. Nope! No ridiculous english diets! No endless celebrities advertising DIY 'Dance yourself thin' DVD's! Non!
Cake!
'La galette de Rois' is the cake for celebrating the Epiphany (ou 'La Fête des Rois') and it's sold throughout January in all good bakeries near you!
*As long as you're living in France or somewhere with this tradition naturally!*
And as good fortune would have it, I arrived in France the tail-end of January which is, coincidentally, the best time to purchase this 'Wafer of the Kings'!
Pourquoi?
Because it's near the end of the King Cake Period so when you buy a cake, you get a free bottle of champagne!
...Well, we did in this case! :)
Not only is this cake delicious! But it's fun!
The tradition with this cake is “to draw the kings” to the Epiphany and The practice is to have the youngest person present to hide under the table and as the cake is cut, she/he assigns the slices to the members of the family without bias.
so it is customary for bakers to hide a widget, or “la fève”, inside the batter! And throw in a paper crown too!
*It is also good practise to cut an extra slice for the "share of the poor" as it could then be offered to the first poor person to arrive at the house.
The one who finds the fève within his/her slice is the King/Queen for the day and gets to wear the paper crown!
And that is exactly what happened on my second day in France and as sentimental as I know it is I saved the fève.
...Oh alright, yes... And the paper crown....
France, you are unique! Everything little part of the culture I like! :)
Though, I'm not hard to impress right? In my book, any country that includes cake as part of celebrating a holiday is onto a good thing!
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