Delicious King’s Cake

In Switzerland, they have an amazingly cute tradition! They hide something edible, in a special bake, and the one who finds it, becomes the king or the queen of the day. I love the thought of this and I love adding new traditions into our family life. So this is a new one. I prepared a sweet yeast dough and added a piece of chocolate to one of the buns. My youngest daughter found this and therewith became the queen for the day! She was very excited and started putting yewellery on. A lot of yewellery. Layering is super en vogue. Anyways. Here is the recipe for the king’s cake ….

Save this and thank me later.😉 Here is what you need:

Recipe for a king’s cake

•  20 g of yeast
•  250 ml of milk
•  70 g of sugar
•  1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

1. Mix for a minute and then get the remaining ingredients ready!

• 550 g of flour and 
• 65 g of soft butter 
• 1 egg
• 10 grams of sugar beet syrup or honey
• 1/2 tsp of orange zest (optional)
• one pinch of salt
• (+1 egg yolk +1 Tbsp of milk – for step 3 )
• 1 piece of chocolate or an almond

2. Mix everything together and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. Cover it up with a clean cloth and let it rise for 120 minutes ( or longer) in a warm place. I sometimes prepare dough like this in the evening and let it rise in the fridge overnight.  Once the dough has doubled in size- you can split it into one bigger bun and six smaller ones. Take one of the smaller buns and hide a piece of chocolate in these. Shape these up like I did and cover this up with a clean cloth for another 60 to 120 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 170°C.

3. Separate an egg, take the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of milk, mix that together and spread it onto the king’s cake for a wonderful glaze. Add white sugar crystalson top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the color! If it brownes too much – put another baking sheet on top. You can check if the king’s cake is done by knocking on the bottom of it. The sound should be hollow.

Enjoy it warm with some fresh butter or Marmelade. Or just plain. It’s soo good.

Have you heard of this tradition? Let me know in the comments.

Love and Happiness,

Sue