Today is the day we traditionally in Belgium celebrate Epiphany. To know what this holiday is all about, I invite you to read the post I have written in the past. More recently, several people have asked me about the Epiphany cake recipe, so here it is:
Ingredients
For the Frangipane filling:
125 Gr. Butter
125 Gr. Almond powder (or chop almonds in a food processor until it’s very fine)
125 Gr. Sugar
1 Package Vanilla Sugar (optional)
2 eggs
Some Almond extract
40 Gr. Self Rising Flour (regular flower works as well, the filling will just be denser)
For the crust:
2 rolls of puff pastry or pie dough
1 Egg Yolk
1 whole Almond
9 Inch pie dish
Directions
Cream the butter
Add Almond powder, sugar and vanilla sugar
Mix in the eggs one by one
Sift in the flour little by little and mix gently. Ensure there’s no lumps
Roll open the pie dough / puff pastry
Cut two circles the size of your pie dish. One for the bottom (10 inch) one for the top (9 inch)
Put the larger circle at the bottom of the pie dish
Scoop in the filling and even out
Push the whole almond somewhere in the filling
Cover with the second circle and pinch the sides shut to the bottom
Trim
Cut some slits in the cover
Mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of hot water, creating an egg wash
Paint the pie crust with the egg wash
Use the dough trimmings to make little figurines (stars) and glue them to the pie crust with the egg wash
Preheat oven as follows: (use F as close as possible)
Electric: 200 C / 390 F (after 15 minutes turn down to 175 C / 350 F)
Convection: 180 C / 355 F (after 15 minutes turn down to 155 C / 311 F)
Gas: Setting 3 (after 15 minutes setting 2)
Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Tip: Use the slits to check the inside filling for doneness with a toothpick
Cool pie, slice
The person who gets the slice with the whole almond is “King for a day” and is exempt from chores, can pick what’s on the dinner menu the next day, etc.. Be creative 😉