I was thinking that the Magi and the the baby Je' wouldnt be too upset if we had our Epiphany Feast a day late, although Duncan and Oscar did take the tree down while I was at the hospital (more info on Epiphany can be found HERE).
Tonight we had a roast duck dinner (sorry vegetarian readers), which was lovely.
Then we had home made Epiphany cake. The general consensus did seem to be some sort of almond cake, so that's what I did. I will put the recipe at the end of this post.
I had intended to make 3 little kings for decoration (I bought little tiny wooden door handles to do something with), but time ran away from me. I had already made a crown though. Tradition in many countries is to put a charm into the cake and the person who gets the charm is king for the evening. I decided against that and made the crown to fit Oscar. Mainly to give him more tangible traditions to hold on to and associate with the day.
I made the crown from play felt and decorated it with buttons and sequins, using the Waldorf Birthday Crowns as inspiration (more info on Waldorf birthday traditions HERE). I embroidered (quite badly lol), the first Initial of the 3 Kings on the crown as well, G. M. B. for Gasper, Melchior and Balthasar.
After dinner was over we gave out Epiphany Gifts (to represent the gifts from the Kings). Since Christmas is such a big affair and the gifts on Christmas Day also represent the same thing, I felt the gifts should be (very) small and more of a token really.
So, for Oscar Mama made 'Ghost' gloves and white organic chocolate
For Duncan Mama made bookmark and organic winter chocolate
For Aimee Mama made coin purse (with obligatory don't give an empty purse coin) and organic milk chocolate
And for me Some nice tea (I had ran out and Duncan cant knit lol), and some organic milk chocolate.
So not a bad day, even if it was a little late. I have some more photo's to share of the boys in the garden during the day, while I was taking it easy, so look out for them tomorrow. For now, its bath, bed, tea and chocolate.
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Epiphany Cake
Ingredients
- 1kg shop bought puff pastry
- For the almond frangipane filling:
- 125g unsalted butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 125g ground almonds
- 25g flour
- 4 tablespoons Amaretto or Brandy (I used Cointreau, because I have a bottle and I thought the orange would go well with the almond, and it did).
Method
Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat them together until they are thoroughly combined and light in colour and texture. Then add the eggs.
Mix in the eggs until they are thoroughly combined, then put in the flour and almonds.
Mix the mixture until it is combined, then pour in the Amaretto or brandy and stir that in.
Put the frangipane (the mixture), between two sheets of cling-film/plastic-wrap and press it into a disk shape, about 2cm thick. Then put it into the freezer for 30 min.
Preheat the oven to 180°c.
Roll out half of the puff to a thickness of about 5mm, put a plate on to it and cut out a disk.
Put the disk of pastry onto the plate, then remove the frangipane from the freezer, take off the cling-film/plastic-wrap and place the frangipane in the middle of the disk of pastry on the plate. Brush the band of exposed pastry with some cold water.
Roll out the other half of the puff pastry to about 5mm, then put this over the frangipane on the plate, smooth it down, press the two disks of pastry together at the edge and then cut off the excess pastry around the edge of the plate.
Transfer the whole thing to a lined baking tray and seal the pastry together by crimping it using a butter knife and your fingers.
Brush the top with milk and, very lightly, cut a pattern into the surface of the pastry (don’t go all the way through). Then put the cake into the oven for 1 hour.
Remove the epiphany cake from the oven and allow it to rest for 1 hour before serving.
(can be made up to 3 days in advance and kept covered in the fridge).
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