One of the highlights of Epiphany on January 6th, Three Kings Day and the end of the Christmas celebrations in Germany, is the once a year experience of having a piece of the cake baked in honour of the Heilige Drei Koenige, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar’s Dreikoenigskuchen.
Eaten sometime during the day it is not only enjoyed because it tastes good but also because it contains a tiny figure of the Christ Child or a dried bean, and whoever finds either of these in their portion of cake will be crowned King, or Queen, for the day, and might even be excused from doing any chores at least until tomorrow.
Traditionally the cake is divided by the number of people present plus one, with the extra piece left for those who can not be there for whatever reason, and which in former times was then given to a person in need, either someone in the street outside or who had knocked on the door of the home.
The basis of a Three King’s Cake is sweet yeast bread dough, but here is a traditional German recipe to try.
Ingredients
2 cups + 3 tbsp flour
1.4 oz fresh yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp lukewarm milk
7 tbsp melted butter or good quality margarine
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely chopped lemon zest
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 eggs, 1 beaten whole, 1 separated - the egg white and egg yolk lightly beaten separately
1/2 cup raisins, soaked in rum
1 cup mixed chopped dried citrus fruit
A dried bean sized plastic figure, or a dried white bean
Decoration optional
2 tbsp powdered icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup halved red candied cherries
Method
Place 3/4 of flour into a bowl, in the centre make a hole to which add yeast and mix with a pinch of sugar and some of the lukewarm milk.
Dust the mixture with flour to prevent a skin forming, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Then add to mixture, melted butter, salt, lemon zest, ground cardamom, one whole lightly beaten egg, one lightly beaten egg white, together with the remaining milk and flour. Knead dough until smooth.
When the dough begins to form a ball, stir in rum soaked raisins, mixed dried fruit and plastic figure or bean.
Form the dough into a cylinder. Divide into 4 equal parts and form 2 balls from each.
Grease a springform pan with a central tube. If you do not have a cake pan with a middle tube place small oven proof dish in centre. The finished cake should have a circular crown shape.
Place dough balls into the pan.
Cover the pan, leave in warm place and allow yeast mixture to rise.
Brush dough with the beaten egg yolk and place in pre-heated oven (350 degrees F) for approximately 30 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.
To make the optional glace icing decoration, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice to a thin but not too liquid coating consistency.
Using brush or knife cover the cake with the icing, and then decorate with the halved candied cherries. In the German speaking area of Switzerland almond slices are added.
A golden or silver cardboard or foil crown, which will be placed upon the head of whoever finds the ‘Christkind’ or bean in their portion of the Dreikoenigskuchen, is folded and put in the middle of the iced and decorated circle, and the Three Kings Cake is ready to be served.
Guten Appetit!..........And enjoy your Dreikoenigskuchen
Here you will find the perfect stick resistant authentic Kaiser of Germany Backform for your Dreikoenigskuchen, or any cake, and it has both a smooth and waffle designed base.
We have heard about the Magi bringing gifts to the Christ Child, but who they were and what brought them to Bethlehem has always been a mystery. Epiphany: The untold epic journey of the Magi is an enjoyable historical novel which is difficult to put down, and it gives us a real insight into ‘what might have been’. A 'must read' for the holiday season.
Photograph Three Kings Cake by courtesy ginalina
