Bouchon Bakery: Pithivier

Pithivier also known as a Galette des Rois (King’s Cake) pops up in French patisseries after the New Year in preparation for celebrating the Epiphany on January 6th. The concept is similar to the cake made for Mardi Gras. A little trinket is hidden inside the pastry and when found, he or is she is king or queen for the day.

While the Mardi Gras cake is a yeasted bread, the pithivier is made from puff pastry and filled with almond cream. The Bouchon Bakery twist is to add pastry cream to the almond cream, making it a frangipane and is extra luscious and delicious. I went one step further with my filling and incorporate chocolate pastry cream with the almond cream.

I was a little confused with the instructions for the floral design so I just went all out and covered the entire surface in petals. The simple syrup brushed on at the very end really gives the pastry a nice sheen.

Delicious! The chocolate pairs with the almond flavor nicely. My pithivier was 6″ in diameter (vs the 9″ in the book) so I cut the bake time down by half for both temperatures settings.