For a limited time, New York pastry-lovers have the chance to be crowned royalty

Until January 15, people who dine at any three of Pastry Chef François Payard’s locations in New York will have a chance to be crowned king or queen for the day. The critically acclaimed Payard will be serving a traditional Galette des Rois, or King’s Cake, which is a flaky, buttery-rich pastry with flavors of Tahitian vanilla and Valencia almonds. The delicacy stems from a 14th century tradition in northern France that celebrates The Epiphany where people bake the cake in honor of the Three Kings who visited baby Jesus.

Another interesting part of the custom that Payard is reenacting is hiding a treasure inside of each cake. Whoever finds the trinket, in this case a ceramic macaron, inside the massive cake will be crowed king or queen for the day, literally, as each cake comes served with a paper crown. For those on a lucky streak, if you collect all six macaron colors you can tweet a photo of your good fortune or bring the trinkets into the shop for a free 24-piece box of (edible) macarons.

The Galette des Rois are served in three sizes, 4p ($24), 6p ($33) and 8-10p ($46), and, in order to ensure availabilty, it is advised to pre-order the cakes by calling (212) 995-0888 x 131.

Pastry Chef François Payard’s three locations include:

  • FPB – 116 West Houston Street, New York, NY 10012; Tel: 212.995.0888
  • FC Chocolate Bar at The Plaza – 1 West 58th Street, Concourse Level, New York, NY 10019; Tel: 212.986.9241
  • François Payard Bakery – 210 Murray Street, New York, NY 10282.; Tel: 212.995.0888

Mardi Gras King Cake rich in taste and tradition

It’s been called Portuguese Christmas Cake, Bolo Rei and a bunch of other names but Mardi Gras King Cake is the colorful bakery creation, rich in taste and tradition, that serves as a symbol of the pre-Lenten season of Mardi Gras.

The tradition predates Christianity and was taken from the Roman celebration called Lupercalia. Mardi Gras celebrates the period between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday) as a period of merriment and excess. Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, is the final day of this period of festivities since Lent will begin a time of fasting.

As the story goes, the King Cake came about in order to use up ingredients that would not be consumed during the Lenten period. Sweet, rich pastries with lots of eggs and butter ended up being called the King Cake. Similar to a brioche dough and traditionally eaten during Mardi Gras, three colors of sugar are used to represent each of the three kings or wise men of biblical fame. Green is for faith, yellow (or gold) for power and purple stands for justice.

Inside will be some sort of toy, trinket or miniature baby Jesus inside and whoever finds it left duty-bound to provide the next cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

That’s the basics. From there, like Mardi Gras, pretty much anything goes as bakers have taken great liberties with the original formula.

“The filled king cake trend started in the 1970s,” Liz Williams, president of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans told CourierPostOnline “People wanted things that were sweeter and sweeter, and bakers wanted to be different. Before that king cakes looked the same and were pretty much the same.”

Enter everything from chocolate to most nuts, cream cheese and almond paste. Pastry chef Jean-Luc Albin makes a Bourbon Street King Cake with chocolate custard, bourbon and toasted pecans, General Foster King Cake with a banana’s Foster-type filling and a Woodlawn Plantation King Cake with praline cream and Southern Comfort.

“Every year I do something a little different, something new,” Albin says. “It makes things interesting.

Mardi Gras King Cake rich in taste and tradition
, no matter what goes into it.

Flickr photos by syvwlch and Gruenemann