A selection of the best galettes des rois 2023, to succumb once again to the tradition celebrated on January 8!
If the Epiphany is first the celebration of the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, the origin of the “galette des rois” is to be found on the side of a Roman festival. From the Roman festival of Saturnalia, to be exact! This is where all the folklore of naming the king of the day comes from.
Already in ancient Rome, the occasion of the saturnal feasts gave place to the designation of a king elected among the young soldiers. He could then order whatever he wanted! Where does the tradition of the galette come from then?
With the evolution of celebrations, two folklores have merged to become one: the tradition of the “galette des rois” has found its place on the day of the Epiphany. As for the bean, it was, until the 16th century, a real legume. But in the 16th century, it became a coin – before taking the form of a Saxon porcelain bean in 1875.
While the Galette des Rois is primarily a modern celebration of the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, it has long been an opportunity for pastry chefs to celebrate their creativity!
The best pastry chefs in the world often operate from the kitchens of Parisian palaces, so it is not surprising to find all the sublimity of their luxury instilled in galettes…
Les Galettes Des Rois 2023 Parisian Palaces
The Ritz Galette by François Perret
We know the love that Marcel Proust had for the Ritz. Its hot chocolate, and… The iconic madeleine which today inspires many delicacies at tea time at the Ritz! Moreover, the tea room is called Salon Proust.
At the Ritz Paris Le Comptoir, the 2023 galette des rois is crafted by François Perret, the world’s best pastry chef, elected in 2019. Imagined in a melting frangipane, lined with a crunchy macaroonade of flaked almonds, the 2023 Ritz’s galette des rois also marvels at its inverted puff pastry!
The 2023 Galette des Rois at Le Meurice by Cédric Grolet
“The beautiful makes people come and the good makes people come back,” Cédric Grolet adroitly points out. And it is indeed the exquisite memory of its “galette des rois” that makes one tremble with envy for the 2023 version. Worked together with the pastry chef François Deshayes, the galette des Rois of the hotel Le Meurice is irresistible with its airy and flaky brioche… We taste a galette des Rois delicately filled with a cream of roasted almonds with fleur de sel… A divine delight!
The Galette des Rois of the Hôtel de Crillon by Matthieu Carlin
In 2023, the oldest hotel in Paris reinvents the inevitable frangipane with the originality of cocoa nibs.
Like an echo of his 75% dark chocolate Christmas log, the Pastry Chef of the Hôtel de Crillon revisits the traditional “galette des rois” by adding a subtle touch of cocoa. Composed of a crispy puff pastry and an almond frangipane with a thin layer of cocoa nibs, this creation retains its authenticity while surprising with its chocolate flavors. On top, a crunchy almond and cocoa nib tuile enhances the cake and gives it a unique touch” notes the palace.
A unique taste experience, which comes with a bar of chocolate from Madagascar… A bar that also has the chic of the ceiling decoration of La Cave d’Exception du Palace Parisien!
La Galette du George V by Michael Bartocetti
At the Four Seasons Hotel George V, we rewrite the balance of the galette des rois. And it is the very talented Michael Bartocetti who imagines it this year as a tribute to his Italian origins!
We discover a crispy galette des rois with a touch of almond macaroni on top… A subtle caramelized puff pastry completes the tasting around a buttered croissant dough, filled with a marcona almond frangipane.
A galette des rois rich in flavors, which hides a porcelain bean handmade by the artist Olivia Pellerin … Like a delicate almond flower.
The Galette des Rois at the Plaza Athénée
At the Plaza Athénée, it’s a four-handed galette des rois that can be ordered without delay. The work of Angelo Musa, World Pastry Champion and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, and Elisabeth Hot, pastry chef at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée – the Palace’s galette des rois pays homage to the peasant world of the past.
The result? A crispy cake, where the almond cream filled with almond slivers is revealed under a crust made of crushed almond and barley brown sugar.
La Galette du Lutetia by Nicolas Guercio
Pastry Chef Nicolas Guercio of the Lutetia works the galette des rois around subtle pecan flavors. Several puff pastry disks reveal unexpected textures – a buttercream, a melting crumble, and a praline made of pecans too!
Better yet, slipped inside one of the Lutetia’s galettes des rois, a golden bean will open the doors to one of the suites of the iconic Left Bank hotel. The time of a night.
La Galette des Rois du Shangri-La Paris by Maxence Barbot In Collaboration With La Joaillerie Persée
At the Shangri-La Paris, Chef Maxence Barbot works on the traditional “galette des rois” with frangipane, in an original flaky pastry with rum and pink pralines… Inside, the “galette des rois” reveals raw almonds and tonka beans infused with rum and covered with pink pralines!
And it is the jewelry house Persée Paris that has created rose quartz beans especially for this palace galette – numbered beans from 1 to 100 that will give two exceptional gifts. The first, the iconic Eternam gold bracelet of the house. The second, a floating round diamond ring signed Perseus.
The Burgundy Paris’ Galette Des Rois by Pastry Chef Pierre-Jean Quinonero
An inspired galette des rois – Pastry Chef Pierre-Jean Quinonero, Best Apprentice of France in 2014 and Champion of France in Dessert in 2021, has imagined a galette with a subtle design combining hazelnut and vanilla.
With a decoration that draws a magnetic rosette, it is, in the mouth, a delicious galette des rois with its traditional frangipane, with hazelnuts delicately flavored with Tahitian vanilla, which revives the palate!
Les Galettes Des Rois 2023 From Chocolatiers
At Jean-Paul Hévin, we offer this year a king’s cake that sublimates the tradition. The cake, with its round and golden shape, honors the meeting of the sun and the moon around a succulent aroma… The almond cream, the chocolate chips and the vanilla butter will conquer your taste buds!
The house of Pierre Hermé has magnified the tradition by slipping into 11 of its beautiful cakes beans not in macaroons but in gold or silver ceramic palets… The gift? These pucks will change into gold or silver macaroon coins from La Monnaie de Paris!
Philippe Conticini has joined forces with the Girl Scouts to celebrate the Galette des Reines. A galette just as greedy as the Kings’, with a generous almond disk that pays tribute to women by drawing a delicate profile.
“Chef Philippe Conticini retains all the flavors of the traditional Galette des Rois that we love so much: generous frangipane, crumbly inverted puff pastry, while adding new dimensions in the mouth with a regressive ingredient: Gianduja,” the company points out.
At Ladurée, Chef Julien Alvarez innovates and imagines a galette des rois between the Basque cake and the classic puff pastry. An original delight which, at its heart, reveals a pistachio mi-cuit, enhanced with a note of orange blossom.
Dalloyau has teamed up with Kujten, an icon of cashmere, to create a “galette des rois” as a made-to-measure piece. The chef Jérémy Del Val has imagined a galette based on a flaky pastry with Poitou Charente PDO butter, spiked with almond, peanut and vanilla cream and filled with a peanut praline and Dominican Republic 46% milk chocolate. To devour without hesitation!
The chocolate maker Hugo & Victor has once again imagined a “galette des rois” in trompe l’oeil. This time, Hugues Pouget deceives the senses with a flaky pastry galette, a chocolate financial cookie and a chocolate ganache that looks like a chocolate bar!
The most complicated part here? Make your choice among so many tempting proposals!
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