Dreikönigskuchen or Epiphany Cake
Tomorrow is Ephiphany and in Switzerland we celebrate the visit of the three wise men by eating a sweet yeast cake. This ritual dates back to the 14th century, reportedly celebrated by the guilds hiding a bean in one of the buns.
Around its center piece several smaller buns are attached and in one of them a small plastic figurine of a king or queen is hidden. The lucky person who gets it will be king or queen of the day and may order everybody around. As children when we were king or queen we were exempted from drying the dishes (I mean, imagine wearing a crown and drying the dishes at the same time) - those were the days!
And each year we want to be king or queen for the day!
Giovanna of Blue Jelly Beans recently wrote about the Spanish tradition of the roscon de reyes and the intricacies of making a perfect yeast dough. It is her year of experimentation, tackling so far taboo recipes and writing about it and I have the feeling it will be a very funny and great year. Wonderful plan, Giovanna, and you inspire us to follow suit.
Her roscon de reyes also reminded me of our Swiss tradition. Normally we get our Dreikönigskuchen from the local bakery (some years ago, I had one made to order having a figurine in every bun, I do not think it was appreciated by everybody!) but I might bake one myself next year.
I will use the same recipe (maybe I will add some raisins in the dough) as for my now rather infamous Grättimaa or Grättifrau on December 6 to celebrate Santa Claus.
So far the dough has always risen magically and never failed me. I think the most important thing is kneading, kneading and kneading. I delegate this task to my faithful mixer.
Basic Yeast Dough Recipe
Ingredients
1 kg all purpose wheat flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 cube (42 g) fresh yeast
1 TS sugar
100 g butter
ca. 5 dl milk
1 dl fresh cream
1 egg
Coating
1 yolk
1 TS milk or cream
beat yolk, add milk/cream, mix well and coat your creation.
Method
preheat oven to 180° C
Sieve flour into a bowl, make a hollow in the middle and strew sea salt on top of the flour
Put yeast together with sugar in a small non reactive bowl and stir until fluid
Pour it in the flour hollow and mix it with some flour
Melt butter and add first the cold milk, cream and egg. Mix well and then put it in the flour bowl
Knead for at least ten minutes until your dough is smooth and elastic
Cover dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour (it should be twice the size then)
Knead again, if necessary add some flour
Form your loaf and coat it
As shown in the picture above you might wand to add some sugar and almond slices
Baking time: 30 – 40 minutes on lower rack
Has Mickey been here?
We drink hot cocoa (the bitter version, homemade with very little sugar added to it) but topped with a lot of whipped cream and an extra spoonful of sugar. It is yet time to spoil ourselves silly, the fasting time is approaching and will start after Ash Wednesday or Mardi Gras (depending on where you live) somewhere near the middle of February.
Do you celebrate Epiphany and if yes, what are your culinary delights?
Enjoy the baking experience and share your stories, tips and tricks!
Noooo...don't add raisins. Two nights ago I bit into what I thought was a chocolate chip cookie, only to find RAISINS! It was terrible and it will be a long time before I trust a cookie again. Also, don't add fruit to jello, because it is just wrong.
I loved the post, though. Despite my firm anti-raisin stance, it entertained as always. :-)
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It is not a tradition or celebration I am familiar with but I am a supporter of all things tasty so this catches my eye.
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@Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes Hi Josh! I will celebrate anything that involves food irrespective of religion and culture! Have a wonderful and interesting week!
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This looks very similar to our Finnish pulla coffee bread: yum! When we were young, my mother used to bake our birthday cake and place lots of little trinkets in the cake. We'd so enjoy finding our little treats as we ate the cake. I'm sure today that would be forbidden, because of course someone might choke on it, unsafe, haha! Cheers! Kaarina
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@KDillabough And a lovely day to you, Kaarina! Did you go out in the snow this morning for an invigorating walk? Now this is a lovely idea for a birthday cake, oh my, the issues of health hazards, or imagine a broken tooth and the ensuing lawsuit.
When I was young we were often presented with a miracle ball of yarn (it had all kind of little trinkets in it as well) and of course we did not have the patience to knit to the very end and discover one treasure after the other. I remember I had to go hospital for an operation and the children's ward had about 10 beds in a room, we (all of us newly operated!) threw the yarn ball from one bed to the other and - bling bling - the trinkets started to come out and oops - a very stern nurse came in and told us some. Needless to say I was happy to leave this not so hospitable place, the food was horrible, too.
Woah, you get me going, looking forward to tomorrow's skyping, I am heading towards the cake NOW! Bye for now!
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@Late_Bloomers I LOVE that ball of yarn image and idea! That is so cool. Enjoy the cake: I look forward to our Skype tomorrow as well. Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough And how our stomachs hurt with all the darn metal pins in it! There is another story waiting for you .... Have a wonderful week and see you in a few hours!
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That does look delicious - I love baking with yeast so I'm going to try this one out. I shouldn't make too much of a has of it! Thanks for the recipe, I might be daring and add some dried fruit to it :)
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@kittiewalker Hi, Kittie, happy Sunday to you! Haha, be daring! Giovanna has the recipe for a roscon de reyes with dried fruit, rum and orange blossom water on her blog today, just click the link to Blue Jelly Beans above.
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@kittiewalker Thanks, looking forward to sinking my teeth into that Dreikönigskuchen! :)
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We've never celebrated epiphany but I will have some hot chocolate today like you mention it here as that's the way I love it :)
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@tandysinclair Hi Tandy!
I celebrate all holidays irrespective of religion and culture as long as there is food involved! Challah and latkes for Chanukkah!
Are you not approaching summer in SA, just meaning hot cocoa on a hot day! I will think of you then tonight when I sip my first of two cups (more would really make me feel sick as I have developed a lactose intolerance in the last years) ;-)
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Hi Barbara! Thanks a lot for this post. I love to see how we all have very similar traditions. Your Epiphany Cake looks gorgeous! Its texture is like a brioche, right? Perfection!!
Take care and ¡Feliz día de Reyes!
@giovymena Hola Giovanna!
And thank you for this post's inspiration! How much I love the almond paste huesos you have at All Saints, no such thing here!
The honours for the Dreikönigskuchen in the pictures go to our local bakery, they are excellent bakers and they have a very mean Russian braided loaf (again it is yeast dough but with nutty filling). And yes, the texture is like a brioche, the kneading again ...!
Looking forward to your experiment # 2! Have a lovely Sunday and Feliz dia de Reyes!
Oh, yes! Los huesos de santo :) They are made with marzipan, I'll post the recipe one day :) Thanks again :)
@giovymena Buenos dias, Giovanna! I will look forward to that post! Have a great week!
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Hi Barbara!
That looks yummy! We, too, (us who follow the Lebanese traditions) have what we call "Epiphany Bread"! Our bread is flavoured with anise and deep fried. We eat it dipped in suger (:o ) It's wonderful! This year we took a few pieces up to the fire in the woods and warmed it in a basket over the fire. It tasted just like it tastes when we remove it from the oil and (cooing it a little, dip it in sugar and enjoy. I believe we have started a new tradition!
Now you have me curious about your hot cocoa recipe. My mouth is watering. Will you share it - or have you shared it in a post you can point me to?
:-)
Lori
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@Lori Hi Lori!
Mhh, I love anything with anise in it, deep fried, I can just taste it. And what a wonderful idea to warm it in a basket over the fire. We sometimes wrap fresh dough around a stick and bake it in an open fire, aptly called snake bread. And deceiving like one: black on the outside and rather raw inside, but the children love it.
I never posted the cocoa recipe, it is quite easy: I always buy van Houten bitter cocoa, 2 spoonfuls of it per cup, warm up your milk and add cocoa powder, whisk it until your arm falls off, pour cocoa (I always use a sieve as I hate that milk film on top, gives me goose bumps), a lot of whipped cream on top and a spoonful of sugar sprinkled over it - delicious!
Have a great Sunday, I think I will go back to bed as Chica woke me up at 3 and I have been up ever since ....
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This looks so yummy! I have developed a love for baking (recent progress!) and I baked chocolate cake, orange muffins, brownies, so many pasta recipes! So maybe I will do this soon. And this looks easy! :) Or does it put your fingers in a twist? ;)
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@Hajra Wow, Hajra, you keep surprising me! When will you do your GP in the YOUR TURN! series? I have misplaced my list ...
I think it is easy, which probably does not amount to much, yeast is very susceptible to temperature and other parameters, never on a rising moon, never on a waning moon, you name it. And your fingers, hands, arms et al will greatly profit from all the kneading, no need to go the gym any longer!
Thanks for stopping by, Hajra, always a pleasure to talk to you!
@Hajra Do so, you will love it, you could also make Swiss rolls with that dough!
Winters in Switzerland: long nights, short days, lots of rain in the flats and lots of snow in the mountains (there are also seasons when there is barely any snow). Sometimes we get periods of lovely weather spells, spectacular blue skies and temps around 0 - 10° C. I sound like a meteorologist! Waiting for spring ....
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