From History of the King Cake:
(The above link for the quote below went missing and is now dead. I can't find the source in a web search. Sorry.)
When Christianity extended its influence and began overshadowing the religions that came before it, many of the local customs were not outright abolished, but instead were incorporated into Christian tradition and given a new spin. This even happened to the tradition of Mardi Gras, and from what we have researched so far seems to be the case, but that's another story. Catholic priests were not predisposed to human sacrifice, so the King's Cake was converted into a celebration of the Magi, the three Kings who came to visit the Christ Child.
In 12th century France where the cake would be baked on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings. A small token was hidden in the cake as a surprise for the finder.
French settlers brought the custom to Louisiana in the 18th century where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season is served on January 6. A small ceramic figurine of a baby is hidden inside the cake, by tradition. However now, the tradition is giving way to the baby being supplied and the customer placing the baby were ever they wish in the cake. Whoever finds the baby is allowed to choose a mock court and host the next King Cake party the following week (weekly cake parties were held until Mardi Gras).
In 1870, the Twelfth Night Revelers held their ball, with a large king cake as the main attraction. Instead of choosing a sacred king to be sacrificed, the Twelfth Night Revelers used the bean in the cake to choose the queen of the ball. This tradition has carried on to this day, although the Twelfth Night Revelers now use a wooden replica of a large king cake. The ladies of the court pull open little drawers in the cake's lower layer which contain the silver and gold beans. Silver means you're on the court; gold is for the queen.
Jane R. at Acts of Hope posted a picture of the French version of the cake, la galette des rois, which looks delicious.
The king cake consists of coffeecake dough, which is then shaped into strips and twisted to form an oval or circle. The original king cakes were decorated with only granulated sugar dyed purple, gold, and green, the official colors of the New Orleans Carnival season. Today most king cakes are covered with icing of some sort, like the cake pictured above, with the dyed sugar topping the icing. Other present-day variations on the original include cakes with fillings of all sorts, from cream to fruit-flavored jelly and whatever else the bakers may dream up.
The funniest commentary I've ever read about a king cake is about the baby, which was once baked into the cake, but is now, for fear of litigation, placed somewhere in the package or box for the customer to place in the cake, thus making the customer liable, rather than the bakery or the market. Here's the link to the commentary by blondiusmaximus at Live Journal. I must warn you that the post is x-rated and forbidden to my readers under the age of 14. And no lying about your age!
My favorite of the comments at Live Journal was this: "Don't Catholics usually eat Jesus in little, easily dissolved cookies?"
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you're over 14, Paul?
ReplyDeleteThe whole thread is hilarious. I liked this comment:
I don't know how I ever did it, but I almost always found the baby, in the very first piece out of it. So instead of keeping to tradition and buying the next one, I'd stick it back underneath somewhere else. >_>
Now that is called cheating!
So, Mimi, which bakery do you favor for king cake?
ReplyDeletewv = poelyse
(protein that breaks down short-story writers)
Paul, we usually buy Haydel's king cakes, but if you're looking to have a cake shipped, Haydel's seems to have them now only in a package, along with Mardi Gras beads and other stuff. Of course, maybe you'd like the extras.
ReplyDeleteOther people swear by Randazzo's king cakes, but I've never had one from there. I also liked the king cakes from the McKenzie's bakery chain, which, sadly, closed down last year.
That plastic baby is ridiculous. Wasn't the old tradition to have a golden coin or bead?
ReplyDeleteOrmonde, the object in the cake was originally a bean.
ReplyDeleteI usually bake my own King Cake, but my oven busted four days before Christmas, and I have to wait for my beloved to come home before we put our pennies together to get a new one.
ReplyDeleteThat said, a friend came to the rescue for my Twelfth Night fete and ordered a cake from Haydel's. Delicious, and I loved getting the beads, dubloons and guide to Mardi Gras. And they put the baby in the cake... found by the teenager at the party.
I took a ninety year old woman to a meeting of the l"Alliance Francais a few years ago. She hadn't really had a way to converse in her native French language for years and she was thrilled to be surrounded by French speaking people/ We were lucky and went on a day when the cake ceremony was happening. They had "gold" rings in the cake and it was such a happy time, lots of laughter and fun. It gets harder and harder to find celebrations that aren't commercially based.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this lovely custom to our attention, Mimi
Nij
SCG, Haydel's king cakes are tasty, and I suppose the out-of-towners like the beads and other extras. The bakery also bakes and ships a good Christmas cake called the Cajun Kringle.
ReplyDeleteNij, the Alliance Française is a wonderful organization. I've wanted to attend their conversational French classes, but not living in New Orleans made it difficult.
Mimi, for many years as my birthday rolled around Bill would say, "eight again." So perhaps I have not reached 14 yet and thus cheated.
ReplyDeleteWV: joilever
I am certainly immature enough to appreciate the idea of a joilever.
"King Cake" has jogged my memory tantalizingly, but not enough. It recalls a haunting story by an Anglican author (Lewis? Tolkein? Williams?) about a boy who found the six-pence baked in an Epiphany cake (or did he eat it?). Can anyone tell me what I'm trying to remember?
ReplyDeleteI get a similar feeling from recalling Tolkein's short story, "Leaf by Niggle," about a failed artist who nevertheless was celebrated afterward for one perfect leaf he'd painted . . .
Paul, Bill's scheme is one way to hold back the clock, however, having a heart that's young enough to appreciate a joiliver is what's important.
ReplyDeleteMurdoch, here's what I found in the entry for Christmas pudding at Wikipedia:
It was common practice to include small silver coins in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included them.[1] The usual choice was a silver threepence or a sixpence. The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year. Despite knowing that a portion might contain a coin, many a Christmas reveller damaged his or her teeth by biting into one, or indeed swallowed one by mistake.
I hope this helps to jog your memory.