Roscón Reyes recipe (Three Kings cake)

Yesterday, we posted about the Reyes Magos. In response, a number of you asked for our Roscón Reyes recipe – so here you go!

This ring shaped cake is similar in consistency to doughnuts – almost breadlike. It comes in the shape of a ring and is decorated with fruits and nuts and sometimes split lengthways and filled with cream.

If you are making this traditional recipe, however, be sure to include a little creamic (or heatproof plastic) king figurine and a dried bean (big enough to be spotted). and remember to be careful while eating so you don’t choke on the two imposters.

The person who gets the King gets good luck for the rest of this year… and the person with the bean has to reimburse you for making the cake. Well, that’s how the story goes anyway.

If you dash out today, you’ll have enough time to get all the ingredients and have it ready for the morning of the 6th January when it is traditionally eaten. This recipe takes a few hours to complete (because of all the resting time) so don’t leave it until the last minute.

Ingredients

• 350 grams of strong flour
• 25 grams of fresh yeast (usually one sachet in a pack)
• 125 ml of full fat milk (lukewarm)
• 100 grams of white sugar
• 75 grams of butter (room temperature for “creaming”
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• Zest of one orange (no pith)
• A tablespoon of dark rum or brandy
• The juice of one orange (or two if they’re small) or a teaspoon of orange essence
• A pinch of salt
• Dried fruits, candied fruits, flaked almonds – all for decoration
• Icing sugar for decoration (optional)
• A King figurine (optional)
• A dried bean (optional)
• A mugful of whipped cream (optional)

Method

• Add the yeast to the milk and leave it for 15/20 minutes nto activate
• Mix the flour, orange zest and sugar in a bowl.
• Add the milk/yeast blend to the flour and mix in a well in the centre. Don’t worry about incorparating all the flour – that comes in a bit.
• Now add butter, the orange essence or juice, the egg yolk, the salt, and the rum or brandy
• Mix it all together well. Make sure you scrape all the flour from the sides – a flexible spatula is great for this.
• Take a fistful of flour and sprinkle it onto a clean work surface.
• Plonk the dough on top. It may be a little sticky at first – but as you keep kneading, it will become easier.
• Need for a short while until when you push it across the surface, it doesn’t stick but is still a little damp.
• Form the dough into a ball.
• Place it into a large bowl that has had some flour sprinkled in the bottom and up the sides (so it doesn’t stick)
• Cover it with a damp tea towel and pop it somewhere warm for a couple of hours, or until it doubles in size.
• Give it a bit of a knead for a minute or two – but not too much.
• Form it into a ball again and then make a hole in the centre with your fingers.
• Pull it out into a ring shape as large as you can without it being too big for a baking sheet.
• Lift up the ring on one side and insert your King figurine
• Repeat with your dried bean
• Just make sure you can’t see either of those from the top.
• Okay – baking sheet. Either grease and flour it… or use a sheet of baking parchment. Place the ring on it and neaten it.
• Cover with another sheet of baking parchment and put it back into the warm place until it doubles in size again. This will take another 3/4 of an hour or so.
• Preheat your oven to 160º C (302º F)
• Now gently beat your egg and use that to paint the top of your cake ring.
• Decorate it with your dried or candied fruit and your nuts
• Bake for about half an hour or until it is golden
• Leave to cool
• Before serving – you can either just sprinkle the top with icing sugar… or slice it lengthways and fill it with whipped cream.
• Enjoy!

Elle Draper

Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.