Catching a Rainbow

In France the sixth of January is known as the Day of the Kings, and in common with many other countries of the world it is the day when figurines of the three kings are traditionally added to the Christmas nativity scene; thus extending the festival beyond the customary twelve days celebrated in Great Britain.

The French have a rich and varied culinary history and French chefs have for centuries adapted their skills and recipes to commemorate famous historical events.
Whether it is a pastry commemorating the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race, or a chicken stew with eggs and crayfish to celebrate Napoleons crushing victory at the Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800), or even the much-maligned Peach Melba, invented to commemorate the visit of a famous opera singer to England.

In the case of Epiphany they created a cake… the Kings Cake, made in celebration of the three wise men and their visit to Bethlehem 2007 years ago. The moniker kings did not appear until the third century AD and was an elevation of the term, wise men, or magi.




The Gateaux des Rois or the Galettes des Rois, depending on whether you live in the north or the south of the country, fill the shelves and window displays of both Boulangeries and Pâtisseries all over France from just after New Year, right through to Easter. But, the most important day is the sixth of January, Epiphany.











The date for the festival was set Pope Julius II (December 5th, 1443 – February 21st, 1513), the one time bishop of Carpentras, a town situated north east of Avignon on the edge of the Rhone Valley, in south-east France.

In England, Epiphany begins the day after Twelfth Night, which traditionally brings the Christmas period to an end. In France however, Christmas officially ends on February the second with yet another celebration, the feast of Candlemas.
Thus the serving of Galettes des Rois is still thought of as a Christmas time celebration, which has been practiced for years.


It is not clear when the Galettes des Rois were first invented, let alone whether that invention was French or not. Certainly eating special cakes in celebration of the Epiphany is not just a French tradition, as the same exists in North America, Spain, Mexico and other European countries.

In France, during the reign of Louis XIV (September 5th, 1638 – September 1st, 1715) the ‘celebration of the festival of the kings’ was banned.
The church believing that the festival had its roots in early paganism and was contrary to biblical teaching, thus the interdict. The Catholic Church also believed that the day of celebration was merely an excuse for overindulgence and unwanted immoral behaviour and was not something good God-fearing people should entertain.
The French people ever inventive at getting round rules and regulations they do not agree with, re-introduced the day as ‘La fête du bon voisinage,’ or ‘good neighbours day’ and presumably the cake was reintroduced at the same time, but with possibly a different name.

Cakes have been used in the celebration of the Epiphany since the Middle Ages and as with other regions of the world the cake in France varies from one region to another.
Of the two versions in existence in France today, the southern Brioche based bun is probably the elder of the two.



The current version of the Galette, which is indistinguishable from Gateaux Pithiviers, in all but name, was probably not in existence before the 17th Century.



Yeast based buns have been used in pagan festivals since the times of the pharaohs and were being baked in ancient Greece as long ago as 1500BC. Bouns or buns were used in pagan worship in celebration of Cecrops the First, the founder of Athens, which was long before the modern version of puff pastry was perfected by Marie Antoine (Antonin) Carême (June 8, 1784–January 12, 1833).



Carême, often called the chef of kings and the king of chefs, perfected modern day puff pastry from which the northern Galettes des Rois and Pithiviers are made. However, Carême did not invent puff pastry. The delicate leaves of this wonderful creation have graced recipes both sweet and savoury since the 18th century, but the original recipe probably a variation of Baklava, was introduced into France during the Islamic occupation of the country in the 8th Century.

Regardless of which recipe was used, all reference to kings, kingdoms and crowns were dropped during the French revolution (1789 - 1799.) when the festival of the kings fell as the executioner’s blade.
The original celebration may have been usurped, but not so the cake. Renamed the ‘Gâteau de l’Êgalité or the equality cake, for obvious reasons, the French drew lots to decide which citizen would present the galettes to the assembled masses and the tradition of dividing and sharing the pastry continued.

The cake, in France has two forms: a pastry and a bun and neither can be called a true cake.
In the north of the country, including Brittany, the Galettes des Rois is more evident. The Galette is based on one of the most famous French Pastries coming from a commune in the Loiret département of France. To all intents and purposes the Galettes de Rois is a Pithiviers made in a slightly different shape. Some recipes however, do call for the addition of cinnamon, cloves or other eastern spices, which make it dissimilar to the traditional pastry, which contain just frangipane or almond paste (not to be confused with marzipan).
The addition of spices reaches back to the nativity and is a reminder of the wise men and their gift of spice and is a strong bond with Epiphany.



In the south, notably in the region of Provence and further west along the Mediterranean coast towards Spain, the preferred recipe uses brioche.
Brioche is a butter enriched yeast dough which for the gateaux is made into a ring and decorated and adorned with candied fruit, glazed with syrup and sometimes flavoured with orange oil. The fruit, brightly coloured, emulate the jewels of a crown and the gateaux is glazed and baked until it glistens, resembling gold.
Neither version can be called a true cake, regardless of where they come from, nor are they the only Kings Cake that exist.



In the Catalan region of Spain, an autonomous region historically associated with France, there are neither the Gateaux des Rois or the Galette des Rois. In Catalonia the Tortell de Reis is King.

The Tortell is a ring or crown shaped enriched sweet bread, similar to the French brioche, which are often stuffed with marzipan and topped with glazed fruit.

The Spanish influence transcends the Atlantic Ocean into Mexico, where the Rosca de Reyes is made to celebrate the magi. This version calls for sweetened bread, decorated with pieces of candied fruit such as orange and lime, which are again representations of the jewels in a crown. The Mexican version is often filled with nuts, dried figs, and cherries, not necessarily an almond paste as in Europe.

In Germany and Switzerland the Dreikönigskuchen or the three kings cake is eaten for breakfast on the day of epiphany and is another derivative of the rich brioche based bun from the south of France.

The Kings Cake, in a similar guise, is also found a few miles north of Mexico, in the southern states of America. Here, vast numbers are eaten, forming a focal point of the celebration of Mardi gras.
In early Catholicism, Epiphany was considered to be the first day of lent and the eating of the Kings cake was also an excuse for using up food not suitable to be consumed during the fasting period: such as almonds, eggs, sugar and butter.
Mardi gras, a French word, literally meaning fat Tuesday, is the same celebration as the British Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which heralds the opening of the Lenten period.
The word shrove, not common in American English, is the past tense of the old English word to shrive, and describes the period of confession early Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to perform prior to Lent.
It is not clear whether the American version of the cake is an adaptation of the Mexican and Spanish Rosca and Tortel’s or if the gateaux arrived with the Acadian settlers forced to head south through America, into Louisiana, following the Great Expulsion.

The Acadians were French immigrants who originally settled in the northeastern region of North America, until they were forced from their homes, by the British during the great Expulsion of 1755. This expulsion, also known as the Great Upheaval, was the forced removal of the French speaking population of Nova Scotia between 1755-1763.
The migrants moved south and settled in and around Louisiana where they became know as the Cajuns and it was possibly these people who introduced the southern French Kings Cake into the present day United States of America.
The American version of the Kings Cake, which is similar in style to the one eaten in Spain, pre-dates modern day puff pastry. This further suggests that the southern French brioche based recipe is older than the more recognisable puff pastry based Galettes des Rois eaten further north. It is a simple fact that the French had fully established their colonies in America by the time Antonin Carême worked his magic and the lighter version of the cake, so enjoyed in Brittany, did not make its was across the Atlantic to the Americas.

To be continued ©MalcolmHamilton 2007