Mardi Gras King Cakes Taste As Good As They Look
Because the celebration of Mardi Gras dates back to 1703 for the city of Mobile, one can image that many traditions have sprang up in that time period. Along with the many social functions that are hosted around this time, one custom is central to any gathering associated with the holiday: the King cake. The King cake is a type of desert that tends to be the central theme for the many cotillions and luncheons that are hosted during the season.
The cake itself is more of a cinnamon roll type desert rather than a true cake and it is decorated with a sugar icing in the colors of Mardi Gras: green, yellow and purple. Over the passage of time it seems that many different recipes developed for the King cake and every bakery in Mobile has its own version. Most will even ship the cakes across country for those displaced southerners longing for a taste of Mardi Gras.
In times past, beginning with the earliest cakes, the host or hostess of the party would place a gold coin or other small valuable trinket in the batter and it was a game to see who would wind up with the slice of cake that contained the bauble. In the early twentieth century this practice changed to placing a small baby inside the cake, the finder of the plastic infant would become royalty for a day and would be the host for the party for the next year. Recent times have seen this tradition pass away as more people became concerned about the choking hazard involved with placing a small hard object in an edible product. However, just because that tradition has ceased to be, the cake itself is more popular than ever.
These days more and more creative recipes are starting to appear. There are several varieties that even include cream or fruit fillings for the sumptuous desert. The appearance of cake has also been changing in recent decades. In times past, the King cake was a simple braid of a Danish type. Today, bakers are putting new twists (pun intended) on the cake and everything from a simple ring design to elaborate twists and twines have been used. The icing has also been changing slightly. Where it used to be drizzled over the cake and the color came from sugar crystals colored with food dyes, today many bakeries used colored icings that are thicker, richer and more like traditional birthday cake type icings.
While trends for King cakes may come and go, the sheer number of cakes baked every year seems to increase. Today millions of King cakes are baked annually and this number does not even reflect the number of cakes baked for everyday use by individual families!
Most agree that to host a great Mardi Gras occasion, one would be completely remiss to not include as the centerpiece of the meal, the all-important King cake. Guests would no doubt talk about the lapse in cuisine etiquette for years to come.