Like having to gather a few recipes.
Last year I had an amazing king cake at a party that came from Pouparts in Lafayette. Truly it was just divine.
So for round 2 of king cakes at our house I made my own, a French one. I also made a few changes to it to make it 1) more user friendly and 2) I don't recall the other flavors in what I had in Lafayette.
Sorry for the lack of beautiful staged photography, I made this after dinner on a dark winter night. This is the best I could do, but I can assure you it tastes amazing.
Galette des rois or French King Cake
Ingredients:
1 lb of puff pastry (I really like the refrigerated one and not the frozen if you can get it)
Almond Cream:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs
1-2 tsp of vanilla (taste and see if you need more than 1)
1/8 tsp almond extract
milk and egg to create an egg wash before baking
Directions:
Combine all of the almond cream ingredients and chill. I left mine over night just because of time.
Cut puff pastry in half (two rectangles, or if you can get two sheet and make two circles). Spoon almond cream onto the puff pastry evenly leaving about 1/2 inch to crimp and seal the edges.
Places the second piece of puff pastry on top of the one containing almond cream, seal and crimp the sides. Score the top with any design you choose. Brush with the egg wash, and bake according to the puff pastry directions.
I baked mine at 425 for nearly 30 minutes. I probably took it out two minutes early.
Allow it to cool for 15 minutes and serve.
If you're feeling extra fancy place a whole almond in your king cake, whoever gets it has to buy the next one. (or make the next one!)
