Celebrate Mardi Gras with King Cake

I haven't been paying close enough attention to the calendar and managed to overlook Mardi Gras. Maybe because it fell so early this year and landed just one day before Valentine's Day (which always gets lots of retail focus). When I lived in New Orleans, it was impossible to ignore, as the season began Jan. 6 and continued until the day before Ash Wednesday.

The origins of the celebration came to this country from the French who settled in the 1700s in the area that is now Alabama and Louisiana. An early governor of Louisiana, Marquis de Vaudreuil, established the practice of holding elegant masked balls for elite members of society. Over time, groups called "krewes" were organized, often with secret membership. They would host balls and assemble elaborate parades to wind through the streets of the city, illuminating the night with flambeaux.

These krewes named themselves after mythological heroes and gods (e.g., Hermes, Proteus, Endymion), and their internal structures were a parody of royal ranks: King, Queen, Dukes, Knights. Today there are hundreds of krewes, and their parades feature lavishly decorated floats, often with celebrities aboard as the honorary grand marshals of the parades and celebratory galas.

The final week and the actual day of Mardi Gras are the busiest, with multiple balls (often including the presentation of debutantes), parties and parades. While the parades offer stunning visuals, one of the most desirable aspects of the parades are the "throws." In the late 1800s, the krewe of the Twelfth Night Revelers began the beloved tradition of tossing items to the crowd. Originally, these were medallions embossed with an emblem of the krewe, or strings of colorful glass beads. Today's trinkets include aluminum doubloons, drinking cups (laughingly called New Orleans dinnerware), stuffed animals, plastic toys and strands of fake pearls.

While lots of Creole and Cajun food is consumed during the weeks prior to Mardi Gras, the focal point of every gathering is a king cake. The party season starts the first week Jan. 6, and richly decorated king cakes appear for sale at neighborhood bakeries and supermarkets. The recipe for king cake produces a texture that is more like a brioche or coffee cake than a layer cake. It's filled with a sweetened cinnamon and ground nut mixture, drizzled with almond glaze and decorated with colored sugar crystals. The royal colors of Mardi Gras were chosen by the crew of Rex in 1892 – purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.

Each king cake is baked with a tiny baby figure tucked inside (originally made of porcelain, but now generally plastic). The lucky person who gets the slice of cake with the baby has the responsibility for hosting the next king cake party or delivering the next king cake to the weekly office luncheon. People living in New Orleans don't typically make their own king cakes. So many bakeries offer signature variations of shapes, fillings and flavors, there's something for every taste preference. If you'd like to sample one of these, you can place an online order for delivery from one of the popular New Orleans-area bakeries (Manny Randazzo, Gambino's or Haydel's - just to name a few). Here in the Lewes area, Old World Breads typically has king cakes on hand the week of Mardi Gras (plan ahead for next year).

Since I needed to make a king cake so we'd have a photo for the column, I considered using the recipe I've had for over 25 years (see below). Instead, I bought a Mam Papaul's king cake mix. The box included prepackaged flour mix, yeast packet, glaze mix, colored sugars and a plastic baby. Instructions advised combining the flour mixture, warm water and chunks of butter in the zip-top bag supplied for kneading. The dough remained quite moist and sticky and didn't rise as much as I expected, but the flavor and texture were terrific. Whether you bake or buy your king cake, remember, whoever gets the baby hosts the next party.

King Cake

1/4 C warm water (110 F)
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 C warm milk (110 F)
2 T sugar
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
3 to 3 1/2 C flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 C melted butter
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 C confectioners sugar
1/4 t almond extract
1 T milk
colored sugar crystals (green, gold, purple)
baby/charm

Measure the warm water into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Stir until dissolved; add milk and sugar, stirring to combine. Mix in butter, nutmeg, salt and 1 C flour; blend well. Add eggs and 2 C flour; mix well.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly grease/butter the inside of a bowl and place dough inside, turning to coat all sides. Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a 9-by-30-inch rectangle. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture over the dough to within an inch of the edges. Starting at the long side, roll the dough tightly and pinch seam to seal. Gently twist dough while bringing the ends together to form an oval. Place oval onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet, pinching ends together firmly. Cover with a dish towel and set in a warm place.

Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake cake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove cake to a wire rack to cool. Combine confectioners sugar, milk and almond extract. Brush glaze over the cake. Decorate with stripes of colored sugar crystals. Before serving, insert a small charm or plastic baby into the bottom of the cake; whoever gets this slice provides the next king cake.