Corona de Reyes

We haven’t stopped baking since the beginning of Christmas and were determined to keep it up until Epiphany, aligned with our Christmas tree. We celebrated the arrival of the 3 Kings with our debut of the Corona de Reyes, a rolled, wreath-type of cake, stuffed with dried fruit and nuts and decorated with candied cherries and walnuts. A delight for all senses. Ideally we would have loved to include a ceramics figurine, as some Latin American traditions suggest that whoever finds it in their slice will then host a meal at a Candlemass on the 2nd of February but we all know that for the moment, I embodied that figurine myself so it would be rather cynical to be formally allocated that role. Perhaps next year we’ll be a little bit more sociable and enjoy it in the company of other families and finally play the game. A resolution for 2027!

Ingredients

Dough

2/3 cup (152g) milk

6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter

1/3 cup (67g) sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 tsp instant yeast

3 1/4 cups (390g) All-Purpose Flour

Filling

2 TBS (28g) butter, melted

2 TBS (25g) gr sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup (57g) chopped nuts

3/4 cup (90g) dried mixed fruits 

1 tablespoon lemon, orange or lime zest

Garnish

candied red cherries and/or candied orange peel

almonds, pecans, cashews, or walnuts, toasted and sliced.

Method

To make the dough, heat the milk to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour the hot milk over the butter, sugar, and salt, stirring occasionally until the butter melts. Cool the mixture to lukewarm. In a mixing bowl, combine the milk mixture, eggs, and yeast. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing and kneading — by hand, bread machine, or stand mixer — until a soft, smooth dough forms. Place the dough in a greased container, cover it, and set it in a draft-free place to rise until doubled (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). After the first rise, deflate the dough, cover, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle.

For the filling, brush the surface of the dough with melted butter, leaving a 1cm border bare along one of the long edges. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, add nuts, mixed fruits, and zest, and stir to coat. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the buttered section of the dough. To assemble, roll up the dough cinnamon-roll-style, working toward the edge with no filling on it. Pinch the seam together to seal it firmly, then bring the ends together to form a ring. 

Grease the outside of a small bowl or ramekin and place it on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the ring, seam-side down, around the bowl, and pinch together the seam again where the two ends meet to ensure the ring is sealed. 

Flatten the ring slightly, and using a pair of scissors, make cuts in the dough at 6cm intervals around the outside edge. Hide a doll, candy, or blanched almond inside the bread.

Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 to 40 minutes. 

To bake, once the dough is shaped and is rising for the second time, preheat the oven to 180C/350F. When the dough is risen, remove the plastic wrap and brush the top with the egg wash. Place the candied cherries, cut in half, in the spaces between the slits in the dough, and decorate with nuts as desired. 

Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, covering the loaf loosely with foil after the first 15 minutes, as it will brown quickly. Remove the bread from the oven when the inner parts of the slits look cooked and when inserting a knife it comes out clean. Enjoy!

Recipe taken from here

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