The three wise men are back in town, this year in icy cold weather – we had -12ºC this morning. Brrrrr! That’s what I call winter, people.

I still remember last year when I made my first roscón de reyes. It certanly was a time consuming work but I was quite happy with the result. At the end, I managed to get a bean in my slice of roscón, (aka king cake) which meant I would have had to make it next year again! So, here I am, with a new version of this cake, equally delicious and festive.

THREE KINGS CAKE – ROSCÓN DE REYES
(For more detailed instructions, please check my other recipe.)

For the cake dough:
400g flour, sifted
20g fresh yeast
100ml lukewarm milk
2 egg yolks
150ml cream (35%)
50ml rum
50ml butter, melted
a few drops of lemon essence
1 egg yolk and 1tsp cream for brushing

For the orange and cardamom infused pastry cream filling:
300ml whole milk
grated peel of 2 oranges
3 cardamom pods
3 egg yolks
40g flour
50g sugar

Decoration:
candied fruit (6 lemon slices)
grated coconut
chopped almonds

1 bean
1 figurine / trinket

1. Prepare the dough as instructed here.
2. Let it rise (this time I’ve let it no more than 1 hour), then shape into roscón, place it on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, insert a round cup in the middle, and let it rise for another half an hour or so (covered, of course).
3. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Brush your roscón with the mixture of egg yolk and cream and place the baking sheet in the oven (middle position). The top should brown quite  fast, so you will need to cover it with aluminum foil (at least I had to do so). Check if it’s baked by inserting a wooden skewer in the dough – if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
4. Let the cake cool on a rack, in the meantime you can prepare the pastry cream if you haven’t done it before.
5. Pastry cream: boil the milk together with orange peel and cardamom pods. Set aside, covered. Beat the yolks with sugar, then add the flour -little by little- while stirring, or better, whisking continuously. Now slowly pour the milk (filter the cardamoms and orange peel before that) into the egg mixture, still whisking continuously. You can choose either to heat the mixture directly on the stove or over double boiler (bain marie) – I chose the latter. Keep on whisking until the cream thickens, then set aside and cover (or keep in the fridge, in case you’re not using it right away).
6. Hide the bean and figurine inside the cake, cut through horizontally, then fill it with pastry cream. Cover the cake with upper part and decorate it.
7. Brush the cake with the leftover syrup from candied fruit procedure (this will give it a nice shine) and sprinkle it with almonds, coconut, then decorate it with candied lemon rings.
8. Let it rest during the night, if possible – we always fail at it, so we end up eating it the same day. Keep it covered in the fridge.

The cake came out moister than a year ago because I used the “trick” I learnt while making potica – both adding yolks instead of whole eggs, plus substituting a part of milk with 35% cream (I guess that’s what they call “whipping” cream”) lead to a significant difference in texture of the dough – that’s something worth keeping in mind (or in your cookbook)

Have a merry feast of Three kings, everyone!