Epiphany Cake
I was so busy cleaning up my room that I forgot to tell you this: this year, I'm the king! Yes, I got the charm.
Mommy had planned a pretty cake, and it was so much fun.
She cut it, my little brother hid under the table, and he had to say who the slices were for, without looking. Because the charm sometimes sticks out a little, and I don't think that's fair if you can see it. So Mommy cuts the cake and the slices are handed out randomly.
The three of us were sitting and watching each other eat. She always reminds us not to bite too fast or too hard. I was trying to figure out where the charm was, and all of a sudden, I bit something hard with my teeth! That was it, I was the king!
Mommy put the crown on my head and we took a picture. And then I told my little brother to come with me and put the charm in our little box where every year we add the one we win.
I don't know about you but I love the galette des rois!
Cultural note: In Northern France and Belgium, the Epiphany has come to be associated with a very special dessert – galette des rois, known in English as Epiphany cake. It’s basically a flaky puff pastry cake filled with frangipane and – if made correctly – a special charm, or "la fève", hidden deep inside a slice. Whoever ends up with la fève is king or queen for a day, each cake comes with a paper crown.
The Epiphany cake tradition dates back hundreds of years, when the charm was a dried broad bean and traditionally the youngest person – the most innocent and the least likely to cheat – would hide under the table and, unable to see the cake, would give directions on which person should receive each slice (so the prize would be awarded fairly).
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