Belgian pastry shop: "Eid Cake" stuffed with 18 carat gold
De Werdt: We made 3,000 cakes this year.
A.F.B
The “cake of kings” is considered one of the traditions of celebrating Epiphany in Belgium and several other countries, and it is customary for a plastic surprise to be hidden in it. golden.
Luc de Verdt proudly displays four small 18-karat gold rounds with the logo of his pastry shop on them.
These yellow pieces, each valued at 500 euros, will be placed in four cakes, which De Verdt will choose at random from thousands.
"Customers love it, and they are very happy," notes De Verdt, 60, who spent 46 of them preparing desserts, expecting his initiative to "attract some additional customers."
As is the case in France and other countries, people in Belgium are massively imitating the Epiphany cake, and they line up to buy it in front of pastry shops, especially if the treasure hidden among the ground almonds with which the cake is stuffed is tempting.
De Verdt, who launched the initiative in 2020, wants to make 3,000 cakes this year, 500 more than last year.
He recounts that "people were standing in line for two hours" in front of his store in 2022, and he was apologizing to half of the waiting people for his inability to meet their requests.
He explains that this year he had to raise the price of the cake by about 2 euros because of inflation.
He explains that «the prices of butter, flour and almonds have increased, and the value of the electricity bill will increase threefold».
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