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French King Cake or Galette des Rois

 
Subject: British King Cake
From: Virginia
Date: 12/10/2018, 11:27 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 12/10/2018 1:54 AM, Virginia wrote:

Dear Uncle,

At an Episcopal Church last year I had a slice of “Traditional King Cake.” It was not 
the purple and green cake so popular for Mardi Gras. Instead it appeared to be made 
with puff paste and it had an almond filling. I have searched and searched for a recipe 
with no luck. Can you help me?

Virginia

Hi Virginia,

I'm going to speculate that you thought what you ate was a British cake because you were at an Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church is the Americanized version of the British Anglican Church.

I don't think that is the case. You see there are two kinds of "King Cake," and both have a French connection.  The "King Cake" that most of us are familiar with is the New Orleans version served at Mardi Gras with a tiny doll inside. The Basques brought this type of cake to Louisiana. I have a recipe posted here: 12-05-08 

The English did have a tradition of a sort of  "King Cake" in the past, more often called a "Twelfth Night Cake," that was  popular in the United Kingdom on Twelfth Night. However, it's a batter cake, not made with puff pastry.

The "King Cake" that I think you had was a traditional French King Cake or “Galette des rois,” made with puff pastry and almond filling, which is served in France at the Feast of Epiphany. There are recipes for the traditional French type of King Cake on these sites:

Galette des Rois 

Almond Galette 

All of these cakes have a trinket or a bean cooked into them, and some type of "King Cake" is popular in many different countries, with names local to those countries. There is a good article about the different kinds of "King Cake" on Wikipedia at: King Cake 

Phaed

You are always amazing, Dear Uncle. Thank you so much for your help over the years. 
Stay warm, and have a jolly winter. Virginia