The Starving Artist :: Mamère's King Cake

:: Eventually, mercifully, the waitress pried the spoons out of our hands and took the dessert stuff away, and we were able to stumble zombielike out into the night. ::  
- Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent Travels in Small Town America

 

As I get older I realize how blessed I was to have Mamère, my little French grandmother.  On the outside she was a typical Uptown New Orleanian.  She spent most of her professional career as a sales lady at Town & Country on the corner of St. Charles Avenue at Melpomene Street.  There she dressed the brides, debutantes and Mardi Gras queens of New Orleans (pronounced New Or-lee-onz, not New Or-leans, New Aw-lee-ans nor Nawlins', as those are dialects for other distinguished parts of the Crescent City).  

If you had an opportunity to befriend her, or happened to be her grandchild, you would eventually realize that Mamères' personality was as impossibly thick and sticky as cane syryp.   For twenty years she hosted an Edgar Cayce meeting at her home.  Under the roof of her little house on Duffosat Street, Mamère provided the characters of the city with soul expansion under a metaphysical choche.  She often comforted me with intense imagery, as when she would suggest I quiet my anger around some thoughtless human injustice by rolling my tongue in my mouth until it was numb.  Much more entertaining than counting to ten!  In the next moment she might be raising her hard soled fancy bedroom slipper over your head, ready to squash you like a cock roach.  Mamère was the oddest of the clumsy angels.

Mamère's King Cake
Servings :10

Mamère's King Cake, assembled and refrigerated the night before you will bake it, is a classic galette.  On baking day preheat the oven to 400°F.  Place the refrigerated King Cake on a baking sheet.  Before placing in the center of the oven, check that the seams of the two rounds of puff pastry dough are sealed and that the slit in the center of the King Cake is open.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is dark golden brown. Allow to cool for an hour before serving.  

Special Items

• A roll of 1/4" ribbon in purple, green and/or gold
• 9 flat, tiny trinkets and 1 glorious tiny trinket that will be slid between two pieces of parchment paper, under the King Cake.
• 2 sheets of parchment paper large enough to cover a cookie sheet
• 1 crown for the top of the King Cake.  Here is a link to a how-to video in French or Spanish!
• 1 cake plate (optional) 

Ingredients for Frangipan

• 1 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of softened butter
• 1 1/2 cups of ground almonds
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 3 eggs - reserve one for paintig
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tbl of bourbon (optional) 

Directions for Frangipan (Almond Paste)

 

You can buy almond paste in stores.  I haven't found it here in the Yucatan so I make my own using Mamère's recipe.  I think it taste better.   Using a food processor, blend the butter with the sugar until well combined.  Add lemon zest followed by the ground almonds.  Beat 2 eggs with vanilla, and add slowly to the food processor.  Finally, if you are using the bourbon, add that slowly.  Allow to rest in the refrigerator.

Beat the third egg in a bowl.  You will need 1 lb of puff pastry dough.  In Mexico, ask the bakery department for masa hojaldre.  Cut the dough in half and roll out into two even circles, about 12 inches in diameter.  Place the first round on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Using a pastry brush, paint the outer 1 1/2 inch circumference of the pastry with beaten egg.  Spread the frangipane in a round in the center of the pastry so that it just meets the painted on egg.  Place the other puff pastry round on top of the first. Use the tines of a fork to press the edges closed. Brush the top of the galette with the beaten egg and bake following the instructions at the beginning of the recipe.

While you are waiting, assemble the favor pulls.  Cut 10 ribbons at 10".  At one end, glue or tie one of the tiny trinket favors.  Cut your second piece of parchment paper to fit atop your cake plate and put it in place.  Arrange the ribbons in a circle, even spacing, with the favors on the cake plate and 8" of ribbon hanging down.  When the King Cake has cooled, cut off the excess parchment paper, maintaining a circle of paper underneth the King Cake, placing it atop the trinkets.  Place your crown in the center of the King Cake.  When your guest arrive, have each one pull a favor.  The one that gets the bigger trinket is the King or Queen of Mardi Gras and may wear the crown!

YUM!

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