My King Cake

Today, 6th of January, Christmas season ends, hence I wanted to do something special, as I told you on Facebop: Taaaadaaa! Here you go! My homemade King Cake or Roscón de Reyes  :)

My King Cake :)

This is a type of cake and an old tradition with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in Spain and other countries. I used to eat it on the 6th of January, as a breakfast and afternoon snack, when I was a child.

It has been my first homemade King Cake, because there was no chance to find one in a cake shop in Dublin. 

I have followed the recipe here, and given that it's in Spanish, I'm gonna traduce it into English. Give it a try! :)

With this recipe, you'll get 2 medium King cakes instead of a big one. As the author says, it's better, when it comes to baking them. I changed some things and the filling, but I'll give you the directions to make it.

Ingredients:

For the sugar frosting:
- 100 g. confectioners' sugar.
- 20 g. vanilla sugar.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Peel of 1/2 lemon.
- Peel of 1/2 orange.

For the first dough:
- 70 g. whole milk.
- 10 g. fresh yeast.
- 1 teaspoon sugar.
- 130 g. hard wheat flour.

For the pastry:
- 60 g. whole milk.
- 70 g. butter (ambient temperature).
- Grated peel of 1/2 lemon.
- Grated peel of 1/2 orange.
- 2 medium eggs.
- 20 g. fresh yeast.
- 25 g. orange flower water (to taste).
- 450 g. hard wheat flour.
- A pinch of salt.
- The sugar frosting.

For the decoration:
- Beaten egg.
- Candied fruits.
- Candied cherries.
- Sugar with some drops of water.
- Ground almonds.

For the filling: (marzipan)
- 150 g. ground almonds.
- 150 g. confectioners' sugar.
- 1 egg white.

Directions:

The first dough:

01. Cool down the milk and disolve the yeast there. Mix in the rest of ingredients. Shape the dough into a ball.

02. In a bowl with warm water, place the dough. When it floats, it will be ready to use with the pastry.  

The pastry:

01. Crumble yeast and dissolve it in warm milk.

02. Sieve the flour, using a colander.

03. Add eggs, sugar, butter, lemon and orange grated peels, orange flower water, the pinch of salt, the warm milk (step 01) and the first dough to the flour.

04. Stir everything energetically.

05. When the new dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly oiled and floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Don't forget to oil your hands in this step.

06. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 5 hours.

You have to wait for 5 hours at least...

07.  When risen, divide dough in half. Make two balls and let rest about 5 minutes.

08. Form oval shaped rings. You have to put your fingers into the center of the dough and enlarging the hole. If the dough tends to be small, let rest about 10 minutes. Place each ring on a prepared oven tray (with parchment paper).

09. Decorate your King cakes with almonds, candied fruits, candied cherries and brush them with beaten egg. Frost with the sugar blended with a few drops of water.

My King Cake is almost ready...

10. Place the 2 King Cakes in a warm place and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. This step is very important: Don't touch the cakes after this step, that's why you have decorated them in the previous one (09).

11. Preheat the oven to 200ºC about 10 minutes. The heats (up and down) should be on. (The time varies depending on the stove, older stoves may take longer to preheat; some newer stove models have a fast preheat feature).

12. Bake them for 10 minutes at 200ºC and 10 minutes at 170ºC.

13. To Make Filling: Combine the sugar, ground almonds and the egg white.

14. Let rest the 2 King Cakes until cooled. Cut them layer in a half and sprinkle the filling evenly.

My 2 King Cakes :)

Yummy! You can choose other kind of filling: chocolate, cream...
It will be your choice! :)

The King Cake, with its Crown ;)

In relation to the decoration, Spanish people use candied fruits because symbolize the many jewels that a crown would have. There is tradition of placing a bean, candy or figurine doll of the Christ Child inside the cake is followed. Whoever finds it must take it to the nearest church on February 2, Candlemas Day (Día de la Candelaria), which celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. According to the Jewish tradition, an infant was to be presented to God in the Temple forty days after his birth. 

However the tradition in my hometown is whoever finds the bean, must pay the King Cake if it has been bought in a cake shop (hahaha or the ingredients in this case) and whoever finds the gift , will keep it as a good luck charm :)

The bean and one of the little gifts ;)

Three Wise Men eating a piece of cake :)

Ya vienen Los Reyes♫♫...
Old Spanish pic from the 50's

Love,

♡Lorena Be-Bop♡