Once again this year, January 11, 2025, the Alliance française in Halifax will invite Francophones to wish each other a happy new year by sharing the traditional King’s cake (galette des rois). Will it be a cake made of puff pastry filled with frangipane or a brioche cake in the shape of a crown covered with grains of sugar and candied fruit? The question is still debated among the guests. If the Alliance Française chooses the frangipane puff pastry cake, it will be referring to a French specialty enjoyed in most of France, while the brioche crown is preferred in the south of the country. It will also not fail to tirer les rois, a very French tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages…

A very French tradition

In France, the King’s cake is a pastry that is shared on the Sunday after January 1 (January 5, 2025), and the surrounding days, on the occasion of the Epiphany, the Christian festival that marks the revelation of the baby Jesus to the Three Kings. According to a tradition inherited from the Middle Ages, a porcelain bean is hidden in the cake and whoever finds it becomes king or queen and, wearing a “fancy” crown, chooses a queen or king. Beforehand, the youngest of the guests, placed under the table, randomly assigns the portions of the cake. To tell the truth, the election of this ephemeral king at the dawn of a new year has nothing to do with the Three Kings. Rather, it evokes Saturnalia festivals of ancient Rome, when masters and slaves at random elected a junk king who gave fanciful orders. Of pagan origin, the tradition of sharing the King’s cake would have lasted until today. The funniest thing is that although the bean is now made of porcelain, it was once edible. Legumes were replaced around 1875 by porcelain figurines because the elected official who found the bean had to offer a drink and had an unfortunate tendency to swallow it discreetly to avoid the expense.

In any case, the French tradition of the puff pastry King’s cake with frangipane, also appreciated in French-speaking Europe, has come back into fashion in Quebec. But until recently, it was still unknown in Nova Scotia. And it is precisely the French bakers who introduce it at the time of the Epiphany. At the beginning of January, as every year, the French bakery LF Bakery, in Halifax, will prepare the cakes ordered by the Alliance française. And in Cape Breton, the French bakery La Bel-France offers its customers delicious King’s cake, each with a “fancy” crown and a hidden figurine. Be careful, some figurines are winners. Enjoy your meal!

Header image: King’s cake (image Pixabay).

Jean-Marc Agator
Paris, France

Primary Source

Cretin, Nadine ; Table festivals and food traditions; Le Pérégrinateur éditeur, Toulouse, 2015.