The celebrations never seem to end. The day before yesterday we celebrated The Three Kings Day also known as Epiphany day and today it is Roberto’s birthday. As you see above there has also been some cake involved in the celebrations. The cake in the picture is called Roscón de Reyes and it is eaten all over Spain at Epiphany day. Every year at the sixth of January we celebrate the three kings together with some of our friends and it has become a tradition for us to prepare this cake. Today for Roberto’s birthday I prepared another cake. I followed this recipe but changed the peaches and vanilla to apples and cinnamon. It is a great recipe in that way. You can select fruit after season and make the cake for any occasion.
I have definitely had enough cakes and pastries for a very long time (at least for a day or two) but I still wish to share the recipe for our version of Roscón de Reyes with you so lets get back to that. Our recipe is a bit different from the traditional one since we have added a filling made of butter and marzipan. No point in sharing a recipe for a very famous cake without adding your own twist to it, right? So, if you are in the mood for something new next Epiphany day you should give this recipe a go. I hope you will like it as much as we did!
Roscón de Reyes
For the Batter
25 g yeast
2 1/2 dl / 1 cup milk
7 dl / 2.9 cup white flour
75 g butter
1 dl / 0.4 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
grated orange zest from 2 oranges
For the Filling
100 g butter
200 g marzipan
100 g candied citrus zest (cut into small pieces)
For the Garnish
1 egg
1 dl / 0.4 cup candied red cherries
1 dl / 0.4 cup candied green cherries
50 g almond flakes
Method:
1. Heat the oven to 200ºC / 390ºF. Place the yeast in a bowl and pour the milk, heated to 37ºC / 98ºF, over it and stir until the yeast has dissolved. Add butter (room tempered ), salt, sugar, orange zest and half of the flour. Work the dough for a few minutes while you add the rest of the flour. Continue to work the dough for a little longer and then leave it to rise under a kitchen towel for approximately 50 minutes or until it has risen to the double size. You might find the dough a bit sticky but that’s fine, if you add more flour the cake will become dry.
2. When the dough is resting you prepare the filling. Stir the room tempered butter and the marzipan into a smooth mixture and set aside.
3. When the dough has risen to it’s double size you kneed it once more for a few minutes. Roll the dough out into a rectangle and spread the filling on top of it using a spatula. Sprinkle the small pieces of candied citrus zest all over the rectangle. Starting at long side, tightly roll up and pinch the seem to seal. Place the roll on a baking tray, covered in baking paper, in the shape of a circle ( like in the picture above ). Leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
4. Use a scissor to cut small holes in the roll where you later place the candied, red and green cherries. Don’t cut as deep as the first layer of filling. Split the cherries in halves and create a pattern on the cake through placing the cherries into the holes. Brush it with a beaten egg and sprinkle the almond flakes over it.
5. Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes until it gets a nice, golden colour. Let it cool a bit before you serve it. Enjoy!
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