Deaf Pagan Crossroads

Here are a few recipes should you desire to make your own Twelfth Night Cake…

This one is somewhat like a tart, and the recipe comes from France – where it is often known as a “Galette des Rois”…the King’s Cake. It’s kind of like a puff pastry with a cream filling:

1. Sift 1 ½ cups of flour with a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl, cut in 6 tablespoons of butter until the mixture is like small crumbs. Gradually add approximately ¾ cup of water until the dough is light and nonsticky. Knead gently, then place dough back in bowl and cover with a towel and leave in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

2. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until it is about ¼ inch thick, and then fold it up like a napkin, cover it with a towel, and again stick it back in the refrigerator for another 20 minutes.

3. Divide the pastry dough in half. Form each half into a ball, and then roll each ball into a circle about 9 inches in diameter. Place one circle onto a greased cookie sheet.

4. Now make the filling: Cream six tablespoons of butter and 1 cup of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add two egg yolks, and about ½ teaspoon of almond extract, ½ cup of ground almonds, and 3 tablespoons of liqueur – amoretto is recommended, or you can use others such as frangelico, kirsch, brandy, etc. Mix everything into a smooth paste, and then spoon the filling onto the center of the round base pastry on the cookie sheet, leaving a small margin around the edge.

5. Now take your hard dried bean (the sort you make soup with) and hide it in the filling; you can also use some type of small object such as a small gold charm or ring or a penny or whatever. Just make sure that whatever you do use can withstand the high temperature in the oven. Beat an egg with a little water, and use it to brush the margin around the base pastry. Then place the second circle of pastry on top of the cream filling, and gently press down the edges so that they stick together. Cover the cake lightly with a towel and place it back in the refrigerator for 45 minutes before baking.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take your cake out of the refrigerator and brush the top with more of the beaten egg. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The top should be crisp. Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar, or regular sugar mixed with cinnamon. If you wish, you can cut out a gold crown from foil or paper or cardboard, and place it around the sides of the cake.

7. Serve your cake, and remember that whoever finds the bean or the little token in their piece gets crowned as the King or Queen of the Twelfth Night festivities!

This recipe is easier…personally I don’t care for it because I don’t like raisins, but you may find you enjoy it. I’ve never made it, but it seems to be a bit like a fruit cake.

1 cup (two sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups sifted flour, with ½ teaspoon cinnamon added

4 eggs, beaten

1 ½ cups currants (tiny raisins)

1 ½ cups raisins (dark brown raisins)

1 ½ cups sultanas (golden raisins)

3 tablespoons brandy

3 tablespoons honey

¼ cup candied cherries

1 dried bean

Preheat oven to 300 degrees, grease a cake tin

Cream the butter and sugar, and then add in the beaten eggs and the brandy

Fold in the sifted flour/cinnamon, and then stir in the dried fruit (the various raisins)

Add the bean

Pour the mixture into the greased cake tin and bake for three hours at 300 degrees

Allow to cool for 30 minutes before removing cake from pan

Heat up the honey so it flows easily, and glaze the top of the cake, and decorate with the cherries

Serve your cake, and see who gets the bean!