Rosca de Reyes

What is Rosca de Reyes?

Rosca de Reyes (“ring of kings”) is a dessert served in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries on January 6th. It’s also known as Three Kings Bread or Kings Day Bread. The dessert is a sweet yeast bread, similar to pan dulce, that is formed into a wreath (rosca), and decorated with dried fruit and almonds, with a light orange flavor. A small doll figurine representing baby Jesus is hidden inside too!

Simple Ingredients

You don't need anything fancy to make Rosca de Reyes. Just pantry staples!

Decorations

Rosca de Reyes is decorated with sugar paste, candied cherries, almonds, and apricots. We'll make the paste from scratch - it's easy!

Make the Dough

Make the yeasted sweet dough, let it rise, then roll it out and shape it into a ring. 

Decorate

Add the decorations. This is so fun! Kids love to help. Kings Bread is meant to look like a jeweled crown. :)

Bake

Now it's time to bake your bread. It is done when it's light golden in color. 

Hide the Figurine

A baby Jesus figurine is hidden in the bread after it has cooled. Whoever finds it will have good luck!