Mardi Gras and King Cakes

King Cake and Mardi Gras Mask

Mardi Gras celebrations have been in progress in New Orleans for some time already. The culmination is on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, which this year is on February 12th. In my family, my Mom and Grandma of Slovakian origin celebrated this last day of revelry before fasting with a tradition they called Doughnut Day. Each year on the last day before lent began, mom made us doughnuts. This was a real highlight for us, and I made doughnuts for my children a few times over the years, also.

The tradition of King Cakes in New Orleans was originally brought to North America from France, where the cakes began appearing near the Christmas celebration of Twelfth Night, when the three Wise Men came to pay homage to the birth of Christ. This was a time of special King gifts for children, and the cakes continued to be made up to Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.

The King Cake in olden times would contain one coin or a bean, and in modern times, a tiny plastic baby, representing the Christ child. The one person who got the slice of cake that contained the prize is meant to host the next Mardi Gras party, or at some parties, is crowned King or Queen of that party. It is supposed to bring good luck to find the baby.

The King Cake itself is generally a yeast coffeecake with various possible fillings. It may be rolled up or braided and formed into a ring, The cakes are decorated with a thin white icing with sugar sprinkles in green, gold and purple strewn over, or the icing made be tinted into the three colors and drizzled on. These colors are the traditional Mardi Gras colors with green for faith, gold for power and purple for justice. Here is my recipe for a King Cake, using a rich yeast dough and a praline type filling.

King Cake

King Cake

CAKE:
3½ - 4 cups all purpose flour
1 packet yeast
¾ cup milk, lukewarm
12 tablespoons unsalted butter 6 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon salt

FILLING:
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup pecans, chopped
½ cup flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

ICING:
1½ cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Icing color and/ or colored sprinkles in gold, green and purple

Mix together ½ cup of the flour and yeast in a small bowl. Pour in the lukewarm milk, not too hot or it will kill the yeast. Whisk to combine and set aside. In either a heavy duty stand mixer, or by hand, cream the butter and sugar. When fluffy and light, add eggs, one at a time until combined. Add in salt. Pour in the yeast sponge and combine, adding in more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is smooth. Knead for about 7 to 10 minutes until nice and elastic. Cover and set aside to rise until doubled in size, one or two hours.

Once the dough has risen, make the filling. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well, then set aside. Flour a surface and turn out dough. Fold over on itself a few times, creating a rough rectangle. Roll out the dough to an approximate 12 x 20 inch rectangle. Sprinkle on the filling. It will not be a thick layer. Roll up from the long edge, dampening the farthest edge with water to help the ends adhere. Grease a baking sheet. Form the long roll into a ring on the baking sheet. Slash through the top layer all around, if desired. Cover and allow to rise for an hour or more. Preheat oven to 350. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Make icing by combining all the icing ingredients except the colorings. The icing is usually left white and after icing the cake, sugar sprinkles in gold, green and purple are strewn over at intervals. For this cake I separated the icing into three small bowls and tinted each to the appropriate color. Allow the cake to cool for about a half hour before drizzling on the icing. If the cake is too hot, the icing will completely run off the cake.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Mardi Gras is Just Over a Month Away

Time sure flies. We are just barely past all the winter holidays and now we will be into Mardi Gras time in barely over a month. Whether you celebrate Mardi Gras, or Lent or Easter at all, it is difficult to miss all the hullabaloo. For a time, my husband and I lived in Louisiana, and there of course, Mardi Gras is celebrated. I mean really celebrated.

The King Cakes and the Green, Purple and Gold decorations are everywhere. Masks and beads are found in the most unlikely places. At least to an outsider. We never took the time to go down to New Orleans and celebrate. We are just not that type of party animals. On the other hand, I loved all the diversity of the masks. In the time there, I collected quite a few.
 

My collection of masks

This year I am planning to make a King Cake for the first time. I have some ideas for the way I want to make a recipe. I'll get back to it here in the blog once I have tried it out. King Cakes vary all over Louisiana. The only thing that is the same is that they are made from a rich yeast dough and baked in a ring shape. Some are made with dried fruits and nuts incorporated in the dough and baked, some are made similarly to the Slovak Rolls with a filling in the rolled up dough. Some fillings are fruits and nuts and some are of almond filling. The King Cake tradition has a little plastic baby pushed down into the cake just out of the oven. With icing and the green, gold and purple sugars over top, the hole is not visible. Whoever gets the slice with the baby in it is required to make the King Cake the following year.

When I was growing up, my Mom would celebrate the Wednesday before Lent as "Doughnut Day."  In the same spirit as Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday", Doughnut Day was a little celebration of the bounty of life, prior to the fasting and sobriety of Lent. It was generally the one time in the year that my Slovakian Mom actually made doughnuts; a wonderful thing for a child to anticipate. I tried to carry that little tradition into my children's lives also, and made doughnuts for them, though I lived in Guatemala at the time. It is interesting to think of the way traditions are carried through lives.

King Cake slice

To make doughnuts, Mom used a yeast dough, possibly her mother's bread dough, which was a rich butter and egg recipe, cut out the doughnuts and deep fried them. In reality I cannot even recall how she finished them off, but probably either glazed or sugar and cinnamon coated. That is the way I made them for my children, so I believe it was because that is what I recalled.

I have been having a round-robin type of email discussion with my sisters lately, trying to see who recalls what about the different holiday traditions in our family. It is funny how one will recall something with perfect clarity, and another has no recollection at all. Between us all, there were quite a few things that stood out. The traditions from my Dad's side of the family seem clearer to me. Whatever food traditions your family hold, I hope you carry them on through life and pass them down. They are so enjoyable to share.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.