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My first Twelfth Night Cake - French Edition

I have known about "Twelfth Night Cakes" for a while, but I had never baked one before this French Twelfth Night Cake (Gateau des Rois - King's Cake). This cake is really more of a rich bread, due to the high number of eggs, and the relatively low amount of sugar. It goes great with a cup of coffee for breakfast, too!

In old English and French Twelfth Night celebrations, a cake would be baked to celebrate Epiphany. In both English and French traditions, an bean and a pea would be baked in to the cake, and whoever got the piece with the pea and the bean, would be the king and queen of the night. To read more about twelfth-cake (also called King's Cake) see Wikipedia.

This cake takes allllllll day to make - but it is not difficult. There are hours and hours of down-time to do other things. From start to finish I think this cake took me about nine hours to make - so start first thing in the morning!

Ingredients for the cake:

1 envelope dry yeast
1 tablespoon lukewarm water
3 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1/2 orange
1 tablespoon orange-flower water (a non-alcoholic mixer - available at Bev Mo, or other liquor stores)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Pan: well-buttered 8-inch square cake pan

Instructions for the cake:

1. Dissolve packet of yeast into lukewarm water in a small bowl.

2. While waiting for the yeast to bubble, beat eggs and additional yolk, add salt, sugar, lemon and orange zest and orange-flower water.

3. Combine egg-mixture with yeast, flour and butter and mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended and no butter pieces show.

4. Chill batter for 4-5 hours in the fridge.

5. Turn dough into a buttered 8-inch square cake pan, cover loosely and set to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk - about 3/12 to 4 hours (my kitchen is cold, so I put it in a warm oven four about 4 hours - it never quite doubled in bulk, but it still cooked quite well).

6. After rising, bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes (until golden brown and a tester or toothpick comes out clean).

7. Cool in pan, then cool on a rack.

8. Spread with glaze (see below).

Ingredients for the glaze/topping:

Candied cherries and fruit peels (I used a fruit-cake mix of candied fruits)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract
1 teaspoon rum (or brandy) (optional)
1/2 to 1 1/4 tablespoons hot water, as needed

Instructions for the glaze:

1. Combine sugar, cornstarch, extract and liquor (if desired).

2. Gradually add hot water, one tablespoon at a time, until a smooth, thick paste is achieved.

3. Spread glaze on cooled cake, spread with knife, sprinkle with candied sugar pieces.

4. Let glaze dry, or, if you are impatient like me, just dig in and enjoy!

Both recipes adapted from Visions of Sugarplums by Mimi Sheraton, 1981.

15 Days Until Christmas - Brew Your Own Rootbeer

Gift idea: Root Beer Kit

Makes a good gift for: Families with kids, or kids at heart!

It seems like home-brewing has become a very popular trend. For a more family-friendly tilt to the brew your own trend, a root beer brewing kit would be a great gift that a family could do and enjoy together.

Mr. Rootbeer Root Beer Kit- $26.95

Brew it Yourself Root Beer - $14.95

16 Days Until Christmas - Puzzles to Keep the Kids Busy

Gift idea: Puzzles

Makes a good gift for: Families, kids

Christmas time means the kids are home from school, and probably need something to do. So why not find a unique puzzle – either in subject or shape, and keep some kids entertained!

Twelve Days of Christmas Puzzle

Twelve Days of Christmas Puzzle - $49.99

3-D Globe Puzzle

Puzzle Ball - The Globe - Uncommon Goods - $40.00

17 Days Until Christmas - Warm Up with some Cocoa

Gift idea: Hot Cocoa Set

Makes a good gift for: Families, anyone, foodies

Christmas time is the time for hot drinks, and what hot drink is more classic than hot chocolate? There are a lot gourmet hot chocolates on the market these days, and a lot of fancy marshmallows and peppermint sticks to dip in your hot chocolate. If you have the time and inclination, you could certainly head out to a nice grocery store (I am thinking Whole Foods or something along those lines) and pick up the makings of your own set: fancy hot chocolate mix, fluffy marshmallows, peppermint sticks, maybe some nice cookies or candies, and then of course, a nice mug (perhaps a Christmas-themed mug, or an initial mug, like one of these.

If you don’t have the desire or time to search out all the bits and pieces of a set, you should check these sets out:

Williams-Sonoma Hot Chocolate Marshmallows Set - $33.00

BellaRoseChocolates on Etsy - $8.50

Hot Chocolate Gift Set - $40.00

Or, if you can think of lots of people on your gift-list who might enjoy some hot-sweet cocoa, or you are planning on having a holiday party and need some favors, you should check out this deal on Etsy where you can get 10 hot-cocoa “cones” for $32.50:

Bowls and Boxes of Holiday Presents

The Urn of Fate

Instead of a bowl full of jelly, how about a bowl full of presents? Ancient Romans exchanged gifts for luck in the New Year, and many Italian families still take turns drawing small gifts by chance from a large bowl called the "Urn of Fate" at their Christmas gatherings.

For more information on Italian Christmas traditions, check out this page, and this page.

Boxes of Hope and Goodwill

In the Middle Ages, earthenware boxes with a slit on top for coins became known as Christmas boxes. On the First Day of Christmas, the nobility distributed these boxes to their servants who later broke them open to receive the small sums of money inside. Other boxes were used as a Yuletide tip jar for guild tradesman (the material used for these boxes was called pygg - the predecessor of piggy banks).

During Advent, donations were collected in churches and monasteries in alms boxes also referred to as Christmas boxes. On the day after Christmas, these boxes were opened and the contents were distributed among the poor. Still other boxes were kept aboard sailing ships for donations to the priest who would offer mass - Christ-mass - prayers upon the safe return of the sailors.

Not surprisingly, the First Day of Christmas (December 26th) is still known as Boxing Day in many parts of the world that once formed the British empire.

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