Gâteau des Rois Recipe

This is the traditional Gateau des Rois of Provence. The photo is from Meilleur du Chef web (www.meilleurduchef.com), an outstanding web for French cuisine. You can find the complete recipe, with step-by-step photos, on this web.

Reader's Comments
This information was contributed by Robert Charbonnier, Jan 2000:

The traditional "Gâteau des Rois" is a crown-shaped brioche with candied fruits (fruits confits), from a region which extends from Nice to Toulouse.

It's true that the [almond pastry] "galette" (second photo) can be found everywhere in the Riviera. But it's a recent "invasion", caused I'm certain by the large number of people who emigrated from the northern regions of France to the Côte d'Azur. I remember as a child never having seen such a galette before the age of 15, and it was brought to my family by an aunt from Paris, which I thought at first was insane as announcing us as a kings' day's cake something that had nothing to do with it. Then my mother explained to me that it was the traditional cake in Paris.