Gingerbread, mince pies, butter biscuits, cinnamon spice cookies, and sugar cookies fill my kitchen, dining room, and home with their amazing scent every December during the Christmas season.
Since I bought a new oven on Black Friday, I have been baking more than ever. My new electric model works consistently and provides a dry heat that gives perfect browning. I haven’t stopped baking different types of Christmas cookies and cakes this month. I’m making hundreds to give away to friends, family members, and neighbors.
To bake the most delicious cakes, you don’t need to be a great chef or a professional baker. A home cook like me can create wonderfully tasty and festive treats. You only need the right tools, the right ingredients, and a reliable oven.
Would you like a different Christmas cake recipe this year? I can share a special one with you. It’s a Spanish recipe that my mum taught me when I was 12, as I have Mediterranean Spanish roots.
This recipe is for a famous Spanish Christmas cake traditionally enjoyed throughout the whole Christmas season and especially on Epiphany Day. Known as “Roscón de Reyes” or “Three Kings’ Cake”, it will guide you through every step to ensure success. I assure you that you and your guests will enjoy every bite of this light and fluffy orange-flavored sweet bread!
⏲️ Prep Time: 45 minutes
⏲️ Oven Time: 20-25 minutes
⏲️ Prep Time after Baking the Cake: 10 minutes
⏲️ Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes (including 2 hours of resting the dough)
👨👩👧👦 Servings: 12 slices
🍊 Ingredients
For the dough:
- 500 g bread flour
- 1 pinch table salt
- 170 g caster sugar
- 120 g butter
- 50 g orange blossom water
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 5 g dried yeast
- Zest of 1½ oranges
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 130 g whole milk
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp rum or amaretto liquor
For decorating:
- 1 egg
- 100 g pearl sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- 100 g red and green glacé cherries
- 50 g sliced almonds
- 5 candied orange slices
For filling the baked dough:
- 300 ml chilled double cream
- 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
🥣 Method
- In the bowl of a mixer, combine the flour, orange blossom water, cinnamon, orange and lemon zest, crumbled yeast, and milk. Mix with the dough hook on low speed for 3 minutes.
- Add the caster sugar, salt, egg, and egg yolks one at a time without stopping the mixer. Continue mixing for 5 minutes.
- Add the cold butter in small pieces, a little at a time, and continue to mix for 5 minutes until fully incorporated.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, fold it a few times to release air, re-cover, and set aside to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Shape the dough into a large ring. Brush the top with beaten egg.
- Mix the sugar and water to make a crumbly texture, then sprinkle it over some of the dough. Place the sliced almonds in other areas. Arrange the glacé fruit and candied orange slices on top to resemble a jeweled crown.
- Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Carefully remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
- Prepare the chantilly cream to fill the baked dough:
- Beat heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
- Slice the cake horizontally into two halves using a serrated bread knife.
- Spread the sweet chantilly cream on the bottom half of the cake. Then carefully place the top half back on the filled bottom half.
- Chill the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
As an option, you can hide surprises inside the cake to bring smiles while eating it. In Spain, it’s traditional to place a small figurine and a green bean. Whoever finds the figurine is crowned king or queen, and whoever finds the green bean is responsible for buying or baking the Ring of Kings for the next Christmas season.
If you choose to hide a figurine and a bean, prepare a crown made from golden cardboard or buy one from a store.
This year, I am bringing this delicious doughnut ring to my Ya-Hub Translations office to share with my colleagues and to wish them a Merry Christmas.
I suggest enjoying a slice of this exquisite Three Kings’ Cake with a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of cava or champagne.
I hope you love baking and feel inspired to make this tasty King’s Ring. Wishing you a season as sweet as this cake.