Epiphany, Theophany or Three King’s Day, January 6th is the day that marks the end of the Christmas holidays in Spain. During the night of January 5th, the three kings come to all houses to bring presents for the whole family and during January 6th, everyone will open the presents and eat a roscón de reyes. As a tradition, this sweet cake also comes with a surprise: hidden inside there is a faba bean and a king figure. If your piece has the king figure, you can be crowned for the day, but if you get the faba bean, you have to pay the cake.
The cake is made of a sweet brioche dough with orange blossom water and usually topped with candied fruits (that everyone makes fun of the fact that almost no one likes to eat them). Since I do like the candied fruit, I decided to create a version that includes the fruit cake mix inside the dough.
Ingredients
- 430g bread flour
- 80g granulated sugar
- 60g unsalted butter
- 7g dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs + extra egg for eggwash
- 160ml milk
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water
- 1/2 cup fruit cake mix
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Lemon and orange peel
- 1 dry faba bean (optional)
- 1 small king figure (optional)
- Heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Heat the milk with a stick cinnamon and the lemon and orange peels to infuse the flavor. Once the milk starts to boil, remove from the heat and let it cool. Once cooled, remove the cinnamon and peels.
- Using a stand mixer, combine the bread flour with granulated sugar, dry yeast and salt. Add the cooled milk, 2 tablespoon orange blossom water and 2 eggs and knead until you get a smooth dough.
- Once you have a smooth dough, add 1/2 cup fruit cake mix and keep kneading while adding the unsalted butter at room temperature in small cubes.
- Cover the dough with plastic film and leave to proof until it doubles size (~one hour).
- Transfer the ball of dough to a greased baking sheet and make a hole in the middle. Stretch the dough hole bigger until you have a a big circle or rosca.
- Cover with film and leave to proof until it doubles size again (~one hour).
- Preheat the oven at 190ºC (375ºF).
- Brush the dough with egg wash and top it with some sugar and more candied fruit (for this recipe I topped it with cherries and candied kumquat).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake turns golden brown.
- Once cooled, split the roscón. Top the bottom layer with whipped cream and hide the faba bean and the king figure in different places within the cream. Top the roscón with the top layer.
Nutrition
- Calories 490 kcal
- Fat 12,08g | Carbohydrates 82,16g | Protein 12,98g