The King’s Cake at Dominique Ansel Is Fit for a King

Photos: Dominique Ansel                                                                                

Dominique Ansel is offering a classic Galette des Rois (or "King's Cake") to celebrate Epiphany, the day the Three Kings visited Baby Jesus. This traditional French cake is filled with creamy almond frangipane inside a flaky, buttery puff pastry crust (think: almond croissant in cake form!).

Fun Fact: The galettes are made with an inverse, or reverse, puff pastry crust, which means that the butter block is on the outside of the dough during the lamination process, rather than being inside the dough like a traditional puff pastry. This results in an even flakier crust with a beautifully golden, almost caramelized, texture.

Each whole galette (serves 6-8 guests) is hand-scored on top to resemble a crown and comes with its own gold paper crown and a little fève (a small prize) to hide inside the cake, so whoever finds it is deemed king for the day. (A little secret: the cake tastes even better warmed up!)

The galettes are available at Dominique Ansel Bakery in Soho (DominiqueAnselNY.com/shop) and at Dominique Ansel Workshop in Flatiron (DominiqueAnselWorkshop.com) now through Jan 23rd (with 48 hrs notice).