Vegan Frangipani tart: easy Galette des Rois ♕ (King cake)

This delicious Vegan Frangipani tart or “Galette des Rois” (King cake) is an almond frangipani and puff pastry delight. Who will be the king/queen for the day? ♕

Hello my beautiful friends!
I’m back with another Vegan version of a classic French recipe. It’s been around 4 years that I make this for Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day, and I finally perfected the recipe so that I can share it with you all.

On January the 6th, in France the tradition wants you to eat a special tart with a little figurine inside, and whoever finds it will be the king (or queen) for the day:

In the northern half of France and Belgium the cake is called a galette des Rois, and is a round, flat, and golden cake made with flake pastry and often filled with frangipane (…) the cake contains a charm, usually a porcelain figurine, called a fève (broad bean in French).
The cake is cut by the youngest (and therefore most innocent) person at the table to assure that the recipient of the bean is random. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket becomes “king” or “queen” and wears a paper crown provided with the cake.
In some regions this person has a choice between offering a beverage to everyone around the table (usually a sparkling wine or champagne), or volunteering to host the next king cake at their home. This can extend the festivities through all of January (source)

I think this is such a lovely tradition, and I’m glad it’s now part of our household because Vegan frangipani tart is so easy to make! All you really need is almond flour, almond extract, (lots of) sugar, and some sort of binder – in my case I opted for almond cream and cornstarch. It works like magic!

The whole “king for a day” kind of makes me think of the Mad Hatter tea party, and that’s the ambience I went for this year.

Just so you know, back in Italy we have an equally charming – although completely different tradition for this day, and it involves a character that looks 100% like a witch, how cool is that?! :D

In Italy, Epiphany is a national holiday and is associated with the figure of the Befana (the name being a corruption of the word Epifania), a broomstick-riding old woman who, in the night between January 5 and 6, brings gifts to children or a lump of “coal” (really black candy) for the times they have not been good during the year. The legend told of her is that, having missed her opportunity to bring a gift to the child Jesus together with the Three Wise Men, she now brings gifts to other children on that night (source)

As a child I used to leave out cookies and milk for her, not for Santa, and it was always amazing to find only a few crumbles in the morning, meaning she stopped to eat the cookies.

Do you have a special tradition for Epiphany? If so, I’d like to know, leave me a comment down below.

Ok now back to this delicious tart: an almond frangipani filling in a flaky crust pastry case. In France you start eating this January 6th, and go on until the end of the month. But most of the time, people simply buy the Galette des Rois either in a supermarket or at the boulangerie/patisserie. I still haven’t found someone else other than me that makes it at home.

But you’ll see that my Vegan frangipani tart is so easy to make, anyone can do it!

I really hope you’re going to try this Vegan Frangipani tart – it’s SO good! If you give it a try, please let me know in the comments’ section below.

And don’t forget to pin this recipe to spread the love ♥

I wish you a love-filled day xoxo