No New Year blues for the French! January is a blessed time. Epiphany (the Three Kings arriving in Bethlehem) is celebrated with a simple but such addictive cake: a crisp puff pastry tart filled with a delicate, buttery almond cream called frangipane. A treat shared at home, with family but also at work with colleagues, each buying one in turn. Creative pâtissiers often add a twist (a fancy flavour or shape), which leads to a hunt for the very best one. If you’re, like me, from the South of the country, you long for the brioche variant, topped with sugar pearls and candied fruit.
We end up indulging not just one day but the whole month. It’s not only delicious: it’s festive. Each cake hides a small, collectable ceramic charm. Whoever finds it in their share is given a paper crown and named King of Queen of the day. Fancy a slice of French life? Here is where to find a gorgeous galette des rois in London:
Belle Epoque
> Islington & Newington Green
> Frangipane galette
> Website
Boulangerie Jade
> Blackheath Royal, Blackheath Village, Chiswick
East Dulwich, Royal Arsenal, Victoria Park
> Frangipane galette
> Website
Bread Ahead
> Beak Street, Borough Market, Hampstead,
Pavilion Road, Queen’s Park, Wembley
> Frangipane galette
> Website
Jacques et Lilie
> Brioche galette, flavoured with orange blossom,
topped with crushed almonds and casson sugar
> Online orders only
> Deliveries in London and Kent
> Website
Ladurée
> Call & Collect from Burlington Arcade & Covent Garden
> Puff pastry galette, filled with an almond cream
with hazelnuts and milk chocolate chips.
> Website
Mariage Frères
> Covent Garden
> Frangipane galette. Two choices of flavours: white tea & rose petal
or lime zest & candied ginger
> Website
Mon Panier Latin
> Online orders, UK delivery
> Puff pastry galettes filled with frangipane or apple compote
> £10 off your first £35 order with the code MERCICORALIE
> Website
Miel Bakery
> Fitzrovia
> Frangipane galette
> > Click & Collect + UK delivery
> Website
Orée
> Covent Garden, Fulham, Kensington High Street, Notting Hill
> Frangipane galette
> Website
Paul Bakery
> Baker Street, Bankside, Bow Lane, Brompton Road, Charterhouse,
Covent Garden, Fleet Street, King’s Road, Kingsway, Marble Arch, Marylebone,
Notting Hill, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Richmond, South Kensington,
Tottenham Court Road, Wimbledon
> Frangipane galette
> Website
So choux
> Parsons Green
> Frangipane galette & brioche galette
> Website
Click on the map below to find the nearest location to you:
