No classic almond nor frangipane cream filling in this king cake but two layers of puff pastry garnished with a fluffy lemon cream (lemon curd mixed with pastry cream).
When at home some don’t like almonds and hazelnuts or pistachio, it can be a bit tricky at epiphany as the traditional French galette des rois are filled with almond cream or frangipane (frangipane is a mix of almond cream and pastry cream).
So as one of my daughters is completely crazy about lemon, this year I decided to garnish my galette des rois with lemon. The filling is made with lemon curd with nice acidity, without butter but with a little bit of cornstarch to thicken, combined with pastry cream. A gorgeous twist. Smooth and flavorful. Perfect for garnishing puff pastry.
To know more about the French Epiphany tradition
Galette des rois epiphany king cake is a big thing all over France, on January 6 and often during all the month of January. head this to know more about this tradition, the galette or brioche, the lucky charm…
Galette des Rois King Cake with Lemon Filling
Ingredients
Lemon curd
- 2 lemons 100 ml juice + zest
- 2 eggs
- 100 gr sugar
- 2 tea spoons cornstarch
Pastry cream
- 40 gr sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 20 gr flour
- 15 gr cornstarch
- 250 ml milk
Galette
- 2 puff pastry discs
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
lucky charm ans a crown or 2
Instructions
READ FIRST THE MAIN STEPS OF THE RECIPE
- Prepare both a lemon curd and a pastry cream. Let them set and combine them to get a smooth lemon cream. Roll out the first puff pastry, garnish with cream, add lucky charm, moist the edge and cover with the secod puff pastry. Seal the edges, glaze with beaten egg and bake in the oven.
Prepare lemon curd
- In a saucepan mix all the ingredients. First pour in the eggs, whisk. Then add sugar and cornstarch and combine. Then the very fine lemon zests (ideally grated with a microplane grater) and the lemon juice.
- Heat over medium-high heat, constantly stirring. The preparation will gradually thicken. Stop when the consistency is creamy.
- Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate.
Prepare the pastry cream
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until it whitens. Add flour and cornstarch and combine.
- Heat the milk. As soon as it boils gradually pour the milk into the egg sugar flour cornstarch preparation, constantly stirring.
- Pour the preparation into the pan and heat over medium heat. Stir constantly until the pastry cream thickens.
- Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate.
Prepare the galette
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C.
- Roll out the first disc of puff pastry. Remove 1/2 centimeter all around so that it will be smaller than the second disc of dough.
- In a small bowl beat the egg, add 1 small tablespoon of water and a pinch of salt. Moist with this preparation 2 to 3 cm all around the puff pastry.
- Mix together the lemon curd and the pastry cream and garnish the inside of the puff pastry, keeping uncovered the external 2 to 3 cm strip.
- Don’t forget the lucky charm(s)!
- Cover with the second disc of puff pastry. With the volume of the filling, the two doughs shall be edge to edge. Press the 2 cm strip all around to seal the two puff pastries and use a small knife to make small cuts on the edge of the two pastries.
- Make a design with the top of a knife and a few small holes (here 4 small). Glaze with the egg preparation and bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 170 °C.