Bilingual Children’s Picture Book Recommendations
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This year I’m getting REAL specific and niche with my blog. My goal is to combine all parts of me and share them with you all.
I am:
• 1 part homeschool mom
• 1 part bilingual Spanish language nerd
• 1 part teacher heart
• 1 part fresh-milled sourdough health food nerd
• And 1 part whatever tickles my fancy to share
Why We Celebrate El Día de los Reyes
El Día de los Reyes — or Epiphany Day in English — is typically a Catholic tradition, but I’m intentionally adding more Hispanic culture into my mixed children’s lives. We started this tradition last year with a simple cake, a fig hidden inside, and a few picture books, and it instantly became a favorite.
We’re keeping it simple again this year because that’s what works for our family. All you really need is:
• A Bundt cake pan (I use this one)
• Dried figs (I usually get them from here)
• A simple cake recipe (below!)
• A few picture books
Books We Read for El Día de los Reyes
The books we choose are lighthearted and simple. We pair them with a short reading from the Bible or a devotional — this year we read from The Ology (page 99).
Some of our favorite picture books include:
• The Last Slice (my children’s absolute favorite)
• Hooray, It’s Three Kings Day!
• Tres Reyes Magos: Colors / Colores
• Los Tres Reyes Magos
• The Story of the Three Wise Kings
• Ya Llegan los Reyes Magos
• Las Estrellas de los Reyes Magos
We usually check a few out from the library in addition to what we already own. If I had to choose just a couple of low-stress, beginner Spanish options, it would be The Last Slice and Tres Reyes Magos. And for English? You truly can’t go wrong with Tomie DePaola.
Add-On Activity: Folklórico for El Día de los Reyes
This year, we also started adding folclóricos to our homeschool music rotation, alongside our usual folk songs and hymns from AmblesideOnline. For January, I themed our music around El Día de los Reyes and chose “Los Tres Reyes Magos” by José-Luis Orozco to tie in perfectly with this season.
To make this activity even easier, I created a simple lyrics sheet, short history, and coloring sheet for your homeschool music time — and it’s completely free! No email, no sign-up, just click and download:
Click here to get your free Los Tres Reyes Magos lyrics sheet
This little add-on pairs beautifully with your morning time or music rotation, and it’s a fun, hands-on way for kids to sing along while learning about this special tradition.
Why This Is NOT a Traditional Rosca de Reyes
I love la rosca de los reyes, but I’m not calling this that — because it’s very NOT traditional. I’m slowly introducing cultural traditions to my very Americanized children, and this is a simplified, intentional version that works for us.
Traditionally, a plastic baby Jesus is baked into the dough, and whoever finds it makes the tamales. I couldn’t justify buying a plastic figurine and baking it into a cake made with very intentional ingredients — so we use a dried fig instead.
I actually love this swap. Figs are large enough to notice, they’re historically fitting (hello, biblical foods!), and they’re often cut in half — which means two people are now responsible for the tamales. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Why I Love Baking This Cake in a Bundt Pan
I use stoneware Pampered Chef bakeware for just about everything, including this cake. If you can find a good Bundt pan at a thrift store, grab it! If not, this one works beautifully.
There’s something extra fun about eating cake shaped like this, and I highly recommend making everyday baking feel a little fancier — even something as simple as baking banana bread in a Bundt pan every once in a while.
A Healthy Sourdough Cake That Actually Feels Good to Eat
This cake tastes healthy. Yes, there’s sugar — but because it’s made with freshly milled grains, you don’t get that sugar spike or overly sweet, slap-your-tongue feeling.
I use panela sugar (I order mine from Azure Standard — stock up when it’s on sale!). It’s lower glycemic and gives the cake a rich, caramely, molasses-like flavor.
There are four people in my family, and this entire Bundt cake was gone within two days. We had it on El Día de los Reyes and again for breakfast with coffee and sweet bread — a tradition we’ve borrowed from Costa Rican culture (gracias a mi marido).
I can honestly say I didn’t feel guilty eating this for breakfast, and it didn’t give me a blood sugar spike at all.
About the Frosting
For the frosting, I chose something similar to a cinnamon roll glaze since the cake itself is cinnamon swirl. It’s thick, creamy, and lightly sweet — not overpowering. No one complained (ever), and I may actually start making this cake more often.
Making it Fermented Sourdough
You can easily make this more “truly sourdough” for improved digestibility and flavor. Mix the batter as directed except for the baking powder and baking soda. Cover and either let rest at room temperature for 4-6 hours, or refrigerate overnight (8-12 hours). When ready to bake, stir in the baking powder and baking soda, then bake immediately.
Recipe Credit & Adaptations
The original recipe comes from this blog:
https://www.wellmadebykiley.com/blog/mini-brown-butter-sourdough-cinnabundts#recipe=
The original version uses regular flour and four mini Bundt pans. I adapted it for freshly milled grains and one large Bundt pan — and I think we’ve officially found our yearly El Día de los Reyes cake.
Final Thoughts
I hope your family enjoys this cake, these books, and this tradition as much as mine does.
Buen provecho!
Making the cake:
To make the cake, we simply mill the grains (here’s a manual grain mill link). Add your baking soda, powder and salt to the freshly milled flour.
Add the butter and the sugar to a stand mixture (this is my old faithful) and mix until nice and smooth/creamy. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the stand mixer.
Now, add the dry ingredients (except the cinnamon sugar layer) to the wet-mixture (in the stand mixture for me)
Into the bowl that you milled your grains – add the sugar and cinnamon and mix well.
Now you are going to layer your batter and cinnamon sugar mixture into the prepared bundt cake pan. You can use a chopstick or a knife or spoon to mix the cinnamon sugar into the batter to get a nice swirl.
If you’re making this for El Día de los Reyes – be sure not to forget your “baby Jesus” (fig).
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, flip onto a cookie cooling sheet and slowly pull off the bundt cake pan. Once the cake completely cools, frost, and decorate with teddy grahams (very optional – a 7 year old addition last minute).
Enjoy!
Fresh-Milled Sourdough Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Brown Butter Sourdough Cake:
- 3 1/2 freshly milled wheat we used 448 grams of soft white wheat
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup panela sugar or brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt at room temperature
- 1 cup sourdough discard at room temperature
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 dried fig
Cinnamon Swirl:
- 1 cup panela sugar or brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cups powdered sugar
- 2-4 tbsp milk of choice to desired consistency
Instructions
Preheat the oven and prepare the pan:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease your bundt cake pan with butter or spray with avocado oil, then dust with flour.
Brown the butter:
- Add the butter to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Allow to melt and slightly brown, while stirring continuously (~5-8 mins). Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly (~5-10 mins).
Continue making the cake batter:
- While cooling, mill your flour, and mix with, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Once the brown butter is cooled, add it to a large bowl along with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined.
- Then, add in the sourdough discard, greek yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk until combined and smooth.
- Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet and mix until just combined (make sure not to overmix).
Prepare cinnamon swirl and assemble:
- Make the cinnamon swirl mixture by mixing together the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Fill the bundt cake pan 1/2 of the way with the cake batter, spread it flat. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon swirl mixture over the batter. Then, add the rest of the batter, and sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon sugar. Use a butter knife or chopstick to make swirls. Spread to smooth out the top.
- If adding fig to symbolize baby Jesus – ADD NOW – poke it into the batter. Spread to smooth out the top.
Bake, cool, and serve:
- Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- While baking, make the cream cheese filling by beating together all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, until smooth.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Then, invert onto a wire cooling rack.
- Once cooled, Drizzle the cream cheese frosting on top
Option to Ferment
- For improved digestibility and flavor, you may allow the batter to ferment before baking. Mix the batter as directed except for the baking powder and baking soda. Cover and either let rest at room temperature for 4-6 hours, or refrigerate overnight (8-12 hours). When ready to bake, stir in the baking powder and baking soda, then bake immediately.
Prefer a canva printable for your cookbook? Find that here.
