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French customs

The President’s Cake – La galette de l’Elysée

There is a popular tradition in France for friends and family to share a cake containing a little figurine on 6th January, the feast of the Epiphany (see more information here on my other blog). The person who gets the figurine in their slice of cake then chooses a king or queen. I made my own cake for the first time this year and promptly forgot the figurine despite my large collection (see below). When I told my husband, he said “So it’s the President’s Cake! Since the president cannot be king, they never put a figurine in the King’s Cake served at the Elysées Palace.” Well, that’s a relief!

Nous avons tous tiré les rois à maintes occasions. J’ai fait ma propre galette à la frangipane aujourd’hui pour la première fois et malgré ma grande collection de fèves (voir ci-dessous), j’ai oublié d’en mettre dans la pâte. Lorsque je l’ai dit à mon mari il m’a répondu “Donc c’est la galette du Président. Puisque le président ne peut pas être roi, on ne met jamais de fève dans la galette des rois servie à l’Elysée”. Me voilà rassurée.

6 replies on “The President’s Cake – La galette de l’Elysée”

It’s a lovely tradition and one that I miss. Our village had a celebratory (and free) evening in the Salle de Fetes and along with the local fizz served, laterly, a tray baked sponge /galette. Our first year the feves were somewhat religious but soon became more of the Homer Simpson type. Love your collection.

I have been to a lot of local galette-sharing New Year celebrations. Sadly I stopped going a few years ago because half the people I knew came down with the worst flu I’ve ever had. They sent us a New Year card instead this year.

I used to see sets for sale at our local baker. Plus, of course, the local ‘car boot sales’ often had a stall with odd but charming ones.

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