It was about time that I shared my take on this French pastry called Galette des Rois!
If you have never heard of it, “Galette des Rois” is a traditional pastry popular in France during the month of January for the Epiphany. It consists of two layers of flaky puff pastry filled with a sweet almond filling. It’s buttery, rich, and delicious!
A “Galette des Rois” usually contains a “fève” which is a small ceramic figurine that is hidden in the filling. The one who finds it becomes the king, or queen for the day!
This version is vegan, refined sugar-free, and can be made gluten-free if you use gluten-free puff pastry.
Almond flour makes the base of the filling. Then we have coconut sugar, vegan butter, almond milk, applesauce, and cornstarch to help it thicken slightly. Since we are using coconut sugar instead of white sugar, the filling will be darker than in an authentic “galette des Rois”. It doesn’t compromise on flavor though.
To get that authentic flavor that makes Galette des Rois so addictive, we add almond and vanilla extracts. I know some people like to add a tablespoon of rum in the filling, I didn’t do it here but if that is your thing feel free to do so!
Once your filling is ready, it’s time to assemble your galette. Place a disc of vegan puff pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and then spread your almond filling on top, leaving about one inch on the sides. I chose to make the filling thick because it’s just the best part of a galette des Rois!
Place the second disc of pastry on top and press down using your thumb to seal the edges. At this point, you can use a knife to flute the edges as shown above.
Now, brush your galette with a mix of maple syrup and almond milk, this will give it a nice golden color during baking. For the decoration, you can be creative and score a geometrical pattern, or draw round lines as I did there.
You want to make a hole in the middle and poke the top of the puff pastry a few times to prevent it from rising too much. If you don’t do it your galette will have a lot of air on the inside, not something you want. Plus the filling could escape from the sides, so make sure to poke holes!
Before baking, I recommend you refrigerate it for 30 minutes. The galette will rise more evenly and look better.
30-35 minutes in the oven and your Galette des Rois is ready!
This Galette can be served warm, or at room temperature. It is usually served with a glass of cider as a dessert or an afternoon snack. There is a tradition that says the youngest person needs to hide under the table and tells whoever is cutting the galette who gets which slice. This way he can’t see which slice has the fève so he is not biased!
This Galette des Rois is a real treat, it’s rich, buttery, and easy to make. Now, who will be the King/Queen!?
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Vegan King Cake (Galette des Rois)
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp vegan butter (homemade or store-bought), at room temperature
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 and 3/4 cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tbsp applesauce
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 whole almond or "fève"
- 2 8 ounces vegan puff pastry rolls
- For the wash: 1 tbsp maple syrup mixed with 2 tbsp almond milk
Instructions
- Prepare the filling: In a large mixing bowl, cream the coconut sugar with the vegan butter until soft and fluffy. Add the almond flour, cornstarch, almond milk, applesauce, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Mix using a wooden spoon or spatula until well combined. It won’t look smooth and will be thick because of the almond flour, this is normal. Set aside.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll your puff pastries and cut them into about 8 inches discs. Place one disc of pastry on your prepared baking sheet.
- Spread the almond filling on top of the disc of pastry, leaving about one inch of the border exposed. At this step, you can place a whole almond or a “fève” in the almond filling. The person who will find it will become the king or queen!
- Place the second disc of pastry on top and seal the filling by pressing the edges with your thumb. Using a knife, flute the edges as shown in the photos. Next, make a hole in the center of the top disc of pastry, this will prevent the galette from rising too much.
- Brush the top of the galette with the maple syrup wash (try to avoid the edges as it might prevent them from rising well) and draw a pattern using a sharp knife.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Remove from the refrigerator and brush it a second time. Using a fork or small knife, poke small holes in the top. Again, this will prevent it from rising too much and allow the steam to escape during baking.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool at least 35 minutes before serving.
- This galette can be served at room temperature or slightly warm. I found out it tastes even better the next day as the flavors have time to merge and the filling to firm up slightly.
- This Galette des Rois will keep for up to 3 days at room temperature, covered with aluminum foil.
Thomas, all your recipes look amazing! I wish you had a restaurant near me, in Toronto Canada. A couple remarks:
1. Whe I was a child (in the fifties, there were two things in the cake: a dry fava bean (la fève), and a little figurine in ceramic (le sujet). The golden crown was for the one with the “fève”, and the silver crown for the one with the ‘sujet”.
2. Having the child under the table also helps ensure that he or she always end up with the fava bean!
I wonder if it would be suitable to replace the puff pastry with filo pastry, dozing the whole thing with a can of bubbly water (Perrier, for instance). I do this for spanakopita, but I am not sure this would work here).
Thanks!
I have never known the dry fava bean! 🙂 Here in France all galettes contain a small ceramic figurine.
Haha, yes you are right about the child 🙂
Regarding the filo pastry dough, I actually tried it and it worked pretty well! I recommend layering 4 sheets of filo pastry, brushing each one of them with a bit of oil and sprinkle with coconut sugar. Then add the filling and cover with 4 more sheets of filo. Try to push the edges of the top layer between the filling and the sides to enclose the filling. Also, make some holes so the steam can escape.
I’ve actually never heard of Galette Des Rois before! The pictures of this look really good though haha I’ll definitely have to make this recipe soon
Thanks Bryan! 🙂
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks Vanessa 😉
Can’t wait to try it out for this year’s fete des rois! Do you think I could replace the almond flour with regular unbleached white flour? That’s the only ingredient I’m missing..
Hi Clemence, almond flour is a key ingredient in this recipe, and in traditional king cakes.
Thomas, I cannot find vegan puff pastry rolls anywhere! Where do you find these? Thank you!
I find these in the supermarket. It is not written “vegan” on it but if you check the ingredients, many are made with oil or margarine instead of butter.
This was absolutely delicious! I’ll be making it every year from now on. It was a hit with the whole family.
Thank you Vicky! 🙂
Hi! My son is allergic to coconut, so could you recommend a different sugar to use with this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Esther,
You could use brown sugar, or even white sugar (you might have to lower slightly the amount) if you are not looking for a refined sugar-free recipe.
I’m in the process of making this now, but I’m confused about how to create the look of the gallette de rois with the crust. I wish there were a picture of how each 8″ disc was laid down. I see the completed “crust,” but I wonder how it got to that stage and also how to make it look like the baked crust. I really want to make a vegan version of this, but my non-vegan friends will be cinvinced only if I make it look like the rust of the traditional gallette de rois.
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by laid down.
You should place a circle of pastry crust on a baking sheet, and then spread the filling over that crust, leaving about one inch around. Then, cover with another circle of pastry crust and press down around the filling to enclose it.
If you are talking about the pattern on top, I simply used a large pastry circle as a guide and drew curved lines using a sharp knife (be gentle as you don’t want to cut the pastry). You might find videos on how to do that online, there are also many other possible patterns.
Thank you, Thomas! You made my first attemp at a Gallete des rois fun and tasty! Can’t wait to make it again next year!
Thanks for your feedback Michal! 🙂
Wonderful to find this delicious-sounding vegan version of Galette des Rois, which I’ve wanted to make for a long time (have made the non-vegan Galette des Rois many times, for others). Will try this recipe asap. Thank you!
Thanks Gina!
Absolutely delicious! A huge hit with my household. I added more almond and vanilla extract to the filling, along with a pinch of salt, as I wanted it very flavorful. Subbed rice milk for almond, since that’s what I had, with no issue. I made homemade vegan pastry, which is likely why mine had to cook for 1+ hour, but still came out exactly as hoped. Thanks for making our holiday with this perfect treat!
Great! So happy to hear you liked this Galette des Rois 😉