Roscon de Reyes (Spanish Kings' Cake)
Method
To make the dough, add the flour, yeast, sugar & salt to a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients before bringing the dough together into a slightly sticky smooth ball.
When making the dough, you can choose to use a mixer with a dough hook.
Place the dough into an oiled mixing bowl, cover firmly and leave in a warm place to prove for around an hour, or until doubled in size.
Once the dough has doubled in size, shape it to form a ball. Take 120g of the dough and form into 6 equal sized balls. Form the remaining dough into a round ring shape. Leave the dough to prove for around 30 minutes.
You can use a savarin tin to make and hold the shape of the dough.
Preheat the oven to 190c/170fan/gas 5/350f.
Roll out the retained balls of dough into 15cm long oblongs.
Turn the dough out onto a lined baking sheet. Glaze generously with egg yolk. Add the oblong sheets at intervals.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds and add sugar crystals to the top.
Embed the cherries and other glace fruits of your choice lightly into the surface.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and well risen.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack.
To serve, slice in half horizontally. It is recommended to top the base with whipped cream and sandwich with the top half.
Mix the juice of the orange and sugar to form a sticky glaze.
One cooled, using a pastry brush evenly stroke the surface of the cake with the glaze. Top with a light dusting of additional sugar.
