The 3 Kings Day and the King´s Cake

January 6th is the last day of Christmas season on the Christian calendars. Known as the 3 Kings Day, in the Portuguese culture this is still a festive day - not as much as it used to be in the old days -  when people undo the Christmas threes, sing carols (so called Janeiras) and have the King´s cake (bolo-rei).

The 3 Kings Day refers to the "Magi of Bethlehem", Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. According to the Bible, these three kings saw a bright star on the night Christ was born, following it to Bethlehem, where they found the Christchild and presented it with gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The King´s cake resembles a king´s crown. It´s a round cake with a hole in the middle, a very golden color and lots of candied fruits on top.

In reality, this cake is also present on Christmas Eve, but since there are so many other desserts and sweets to eat on that day, the poor cake ends up being a bit neglected. That´s what I see every year - a beautiful cake decorating the table... But not today! The King´s Cake can be bought in every pastry (no one makes it) and found at every Portuguese home. In some regions of Portugal, I would say more in the countryside, the carols tradition is still alive wherein a group of people go from house to house to sing the Carols (as Janeiras), getting in return a slice of the King´s cake and a glass of Porto wine.

For those who, like me, are not particularly fond of the candied fruits, there´s another version of this cake - the Queen´s cake! Like the King´s cake, this one is also made with lots of dried fruits, such as raisins, walnuts or  hazelnuts, just doesn´t include the candied fruits.

I´ll try to find today a Queen´s cake recipe to make it. If I can´t, at least the tradition is already documented here!