Galette des Rois

The galette des rois is a cake cut and shared around Epiphany. Whoever finds the fève in their slice becomes king or queen for the day. Recipes differ from region to region, but this game is the same everywhere. In northern France, the cake is a laminated puff pastry filled with almond. In the south, it is a ring-shaped yeasted cake decorated with fruit. In Franche-Comté, it is a flat cake. Whatever the dough, the king or queen of the table is decided by which slice goes to whom.

The Child Who Decides Who Gets Each Slice

The cut cake is handed out, and whoever finds the slice containing the fève is crowned with a paper crown. Pastry shops and baking-supply stores also provide lightweight crowns that shine in gold or silver. The chosen king or queen may choose a second person, so the same table can end up with two people at the center of the celebration.

In “The King’s Cake,” painted by Jean-Baptiste Greuze in 1774, the father hides a portion of the cake under a cloth, and the youngest son says who should receive it. Because the slices are given out without anyone revealing where the fève is, chance decides who becomes king. The custom of having the youngest person hand out the slices also appears in Alexandre Dumas’s 19th-century culinary dictionary. In some regions, people set aside “God’s share” for a poor person who was not at the table.

A galette des rois made in Tokyo, showing the pattern on its surface and the layers of the cut pastry. Photo: Syced, 2025-01-19, Tokyo. Original image / CC0. Downscaled version from the source; no further processing.

Epiphany and the Name “Cake of the Kings”

Des rois means “of the kings.” Epiphany, Épiphanie in French, is the Christian feast that commemorates the Magi from the East who visited the infant Jesus, and it was also called “the Day of the Kings.” Galette is a word for a round, flat cake that comes from galet, a flat stone. However, in the first edition of the Académie française’s dictionary, the cake with a bean inside that is shared out is called gâteau des rois. Galette des rois first appears in the 8th edition, so there is a time gap between the history of the custom and the establishment of the current name.

Northern France: Puff Pastry and Almond Cream

The typical northern French version consists of almond cream enclosed between two sheets of laminated pastry. Layers of flour dough and butter are folded together, and the dough is chilled and rested between folds. In standard lamination, the flour dough encloses the butter. In inverse lamination, the butter encloses the flour dough, giving a texture that crumbles delicately. During baking, steam pushes the layers of pastry apart. The cream is kept away from the edges where the top and bottom sheets are sealed, so that it does not leak out between the layers. The surface is brushed with egg, a blade is used to score diamonds or other patterns, and small steam holes are made. When the pastry is baked all the way through, the crisp bite of the thin crust contrasts with the soft texture of the interior.

One way to make the filling is to mix almonds, sugar, butter and eggs, and adding custard changes its texture. The term frangipane (Frangipane) is used in different ways. It may refer only to almond cream, or to almond cream combined with custard. Today, there are also recettes (ingredient proportions and methods) that include chocolate, among other variations.

Methods in Southern France, Savoie and Franche-Comté

The Provençal gâteau des rois is a brioche-like ring scented with orange flower water and decorated with candied fruit and coarse sugar. In one custom, both an edible bean and a small figurine called a santon (santon) are hidden inside. Whoever finds the bean becomes king, and whoever finds the santon becomes an attendant. In some areas, the king is responsible for buying the next cake, and gatherings around the cake continue until Candlemas on February 2.

Around Albertville in Savoie, an anise-scented yeasted cake is the centerpiece of Epiphany. Local baker Frédéric Laurent has said that saffron was also used in the past, but it became expensive. His shop adds candied orange, and at the time of the interview, the fève was inserted through a small slit after baking. Like the southern ring, it is a yeasted cake, but the flavorings and the way the fève is hidden differ from shop to shop and from place to place.

The galette comtoise of Franche-Comté is made from a dough similar to choux pastry. Milk and butter are brought to a boil, flour is stirred in, and eggs are mixed in once the dough has cooled. The dough is scented with orange flower, spread flat, and decorated with a pattern on the surface before baking. A pastry enclosed between two sheets, a ring-shaped cake leavened by fermentation and a flat cake whose dough is worked in a pan are all made for the same celebration, but their methods differ.

In French Guiana, Cakes Are Shared Every Friday

In French Guiana, the season for sharing galettes extends through the whole carnival period, from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. The pastry may be laminated or a short pastry, and the fillings include almond paste, jam, custard and others. The Ministry of Culture’s intangible cultural heritage survey records the practice of sharing these galettes in homes, workplaces, schools and associations, usually on Fridays.

In the custom reported by local researchers in 2023, whoever finds the fève becomes king or queen and brings food and drinks to the next gathering. The cake is shared each week, and the role of preparing for the next gathering is handed on.

On Sale in Quebec for the New Year

This celebration also exists in French-speaking regions outside France. In its 2018 year-end catalog, the Quebec bakery Première Moisson listed its regular galette des rois along with a version made with raspberry and pistachio, each available in two sizes, large and small. The catalog also explained the celebration of Epiphany on January 6 and that whoever finds the figurine becomes king or queen. Accompanied by words explaining how to celebrate, the galette has reached shops in North America as a seasonal product for which customers can choose the number of people to share it and the filling.

From Fava Beans to Collectible Figurines

Fève originally meant fava bean. Later, the small figurines hidden in the cake, made of porcelain and other materials, came to be called by the same name. Porcelain fèves from the late 19th century survive in collections, and there are various theories about the year they first appeared. Edible beans also remained in use. As the figurines expanded to include dolls and animals, collecting them became a pleasure in addition to the game of finding them.

For the Saturnalia of ancient Rome as well, later texts pass down accounts that roles at feasts were assigned by drawing lots. The game of choosing a “king for a day” at a feast closely resembles today’s fève custom. However, it is not clear whether there is any continuity in method with today’s almond-filled pastry.

Another Kingdom at Court

At the 17th-century court, the king of the cake created a kingdom that did not match people’s actual rank. Drawing on the memoirs of Madame de Motteville, the 19th-century historian Adolphe Chéruel describes how the cake was shared at Anne of Austria’s table in 1648 and 1649. In 1649, the bean was found in the share set aside for the poor in the name of the Virgin. When that share was assigned to the queen, everyone cried out, “The queen drinks!”

In a court game of 1684, each of several tables chose its own king and queen, as well as ministers and envoys. Louis XIV also took part in this make-believe diplomacy that went from table to table. At court, the sharing of the cake at a family table also became a game that created temporary offices and envoys.

Who Bakes It, and What It Is Called

The king’s cake was also the subject of trade disputes between craftsmen. According to Chéruel’s historical dictionary, in the early 18th century, pastry cooks complained that bakers were encroaching on their trade through the custom of giving cakes to their customers. Even after the Parlement of Paris prohibited bakers from making cakes with butter and eggs, among other things, the custom of giving cakes reportedly continued in the provinces. In this episode, the enjoyment of sharing the cake meets the history of the trade guilds that held the right to bake it.

During the Revolution, the very idea of a “king” chosen with the cake became a problem. A legal scholar’s study presenting 1794 documents from a Paris committee includes a record expressing concern that craftsmen who made cakes with fèves might be celebrating the old monarchy, and calling for their production and sale to be monitored. A university’s cultural commentary also reports that the cake was renamed the “galette of equality” and that fèves shaped like the republican cap were used. The game of choosing a king was seen as political, and the cake’s name and the shape of the fève reportedly changed as well.

The custom of sharing the cake continues today in homes, workplaces and schools, but no king is chosen at the presidential palace. The Élysée Palace’s 2024 Epiphany address notes that, because it is a place of the Republic, no fève is put in the cake. People still gather around the cake, but whether someone is made king depends on the meaning of the place.

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