Epiphany cakes

Eaten on 6 January; the French trade association fixed its rules in the 20th century

Food and drink — the cakes of Twelfth Night and the Three Kings

Across Catholic Europe and Latin America, 6 January is marked by a shared cake containing a hidden token, and whoever finds it is crowned. In northern France it is the galette des rois, puff pastry filled with frangipane; in the south and in Spain a ring of brioche flavoured with orange-flower water and studded with candied fruit. The token, the fève, was once a real broad bean and has been a porcelain or plastic figurine since the nineteenth century. The custom descends from the Roman Saturnalia, in which a bean chose a mock king, by way of the medieval Lord of Misrule.

How to spot them

▸A hidden bean or figurine, and a paper crown for whoever finds it
▸Puff pastry and frangipane in the north of France; a candied-fruit ring in the south and in Spain
▸Descended from the Saturnalian bean-king and the Lord of Misrule
▸In New Orleans the colours are purple, green and gold, and the figure is a plastic baby
▸The Élysée Palace version deliberately contains no token

Key facts

Puff pastry filled with frangipane, scored in a spiral, with a porcelain figure baked inside

The galette des rois of northern France. The youngest child traditionally hides under the table and allocates the slices.

Originally a broad bean; porcelain figurines replaced it from the nineteenth century and are now collected

The fève — the French word still means 'bean'. Collectors of them are fabophiles.

A ring of orange-blossom brioche studded with candied fruit, cut on 6 January in Spain

Roscón de reyes. In the Mexican version, rosca de reyes, whoever finds the figure of the infant Jesus must provide tamales on 2 February.

Purple, green and gold sugar, and a plastic baby that obliges the finder to supply the next one

The New Orleans king cake, eaten from 6 January through the Carnival season to Mardi Gras.

The Roman midwinter feast in which a bean drawn by lot chose a mock king for the day

Saturnalia — the ancestor of the custom, which passed into the medieval Lord of Misrule and the English bean-king.

The cake presented to the French president each January is made deliberately without a token

Republican protocol: no head of state may be crowned king, even in jest.

Portugal's version is a wreath of candied fruit and nuts whose name means 'king cake'

Bolo Rei. Switzerland's Dreikönigskuchen is a ring of small brioche buns pulled apart.

Greece's New Year loaf hides a coin and is cut for St Basil rather than for the Magi

Vasilopita, eaten on 1 January — the parallel custom on a different feast.

Key ideas

The token is a lottery for a day's authority, and every version keeps the inversion: a child, a servant or a stranger is made king. The French republic's response — a cake with nothing inside — shows how seriously the symbolism was once taken.

Quick-fire facts

•The galette des rois of northern France is puff pastry with frangipane; southern France and Spain favour a brioche ring with candied fruit
•The hidden token is the fève, French for broad bean, originally a real bean; porcelain figures replaced it in the nineteenth century
•The youngest person present traditionally goes under the table and calls out who gets each slice, so the draw cannot be rigged
•In Spain the roscón de reyes is eaten on 6 January; in Mexico the rosca de reyes hides a figure of the infant Jesus, and the finder provides tamales on Candlemas, 2 February
•The New Orleans king cake is iced in purple, green and gold, the Mardi Gras colours, and contains a plastic baby
•Portugal's Bolo Rei and Switzerland's Dreikönigskuchen are further national versions
•Greece's vasilopita is cut on 1 January for St Basil and contains a coin, the flouri
•The custom is generally traced to the Roman Saturnalia, where a bean chose a mock king, and to the medieval Lord of Misrule
•The galette presented to the French president contains no fève, so that no one can be made king at the Élysée
•English Twelfth cake, with its bean and pea to choose a king and queen, faded in the nineteenth century as the Christmas cake took over

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Sources

Darra Goldstein (ed.) — The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
SIAL Paris — Galette des Rois: history and traditions of the Epiphany cake