Gateau des Rois..../ Cake of the King

I know, no Turkish or Italian bread…

I thought I would confuse you….

I love this, its my new favourite!

Gorgeous…

Well, that changes each recipe, I am a fickle bread lover, faithful to no bread.

Give me eggy sweet breads and I am your slave.

I have been reading Allyson Gofton’s Year in France book and saw the recipe in there.

Then I investigated some other recipes, had a fiddle and voila!

Sweet, yeasty bread cakes, that is me!!

Orange Blossom water, its is a sign!!

I had to do a few substitutions and I have been on a mad search for some ingredients.

But we got there in the end.

Smudge says ” Yes Please”

1 cup of chopped cherries (I used red and green as could not get angelica to start with).

1 cup of chopped candied orange peel or mixed peel.

2 tbsp (I did a big splash) of orange blossom water.

3 Tsp of dried yeast.

4 cups of bakers flour

4 eggs

200g of butter

1/2 a cup of warm milk

1 cup of sugar, prefer castor.

pinch of salt.

Sugar pearls of possible.

You could use flaked almonds on top but would alter the taste, be nice though.

In a small bowl place warm milk, stir in 2 tsp of the sugar and stir in the yeast.

When this is mixed well, add in 1 beaten egg and 1/4 cup of flour , mixing until relatively smooth.

Leave to stand for about 30 minutes or until the yeast mix is frothy and smooth.

It has to be smooth!!

Place flour, remaining sugar and salt in a bowl and combine well.

Beat remaining eggs, splash in orange blossom and set aside.

When yeasty mix is ready, add in beaten egg mix and add to dry ingredients.

Add in butter and beat well, then add in the glace fruits etc when the butter is well combined into the mix.

Stir through.

This is like stiff batter, it’s not a dough as such.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover and leave for 3-4 hours.

The slower the better as the flavour develops over time.

Place gloopy dough batter on a well floured bench/area.

Divide into 2 portions and roll into a ball.

Flour your fist and poke a hole in the middle of the balls.

Work it round a bit and enlarge the hole so its 1/3 the size of the entire cake/bread area.

Place on a baking tray lined with paper.

Cover and leave for an hour.

Pre heat oven 15 minutes before to 160 Celsius.

Brush rings lightly with egg and place decorations on the ring.

I did red and green cherries and then pearl sugar.

Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes.

Not too brown…cover with tinfoil if need be.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the tray for 5 minutes.

Gently place rings on a wire rack to cool.

Best eaten within the day but I was eating it a day or so later and still great!

Mmm warmed with lemon curd and greek yoghurt!

Very unfrench but nice!

Great for breakfast.

GET GREEDY!

There 2 versions of King Cake, a pastry one with almond and the one above.

My one is from the Southern France region.

David Lebovitz has a gorgeous Puff pastry version called Galette des Rois.

Here is a nice historical piece on the Galette des Rois.

http://www.greedybread.com/bread/gateau-des-rois-cake-of-the-king/