King Cake

A friend of mine in New Orleans sent me a king cake today. Without getting into a detailed explanation of what it is, simply put,   king cake is a part of Mardi Gras. King cake season begins eight days after Christmas and ends the day after Mardi Gras (45 days before Easter). New Orleans has the world's second largest Mardi Gras celebration, one that is today far larger than the Mardi Gras found any in Mardi Gras mad France, Germany and Italy. New Orleans thanks those European countries for the idea, but it has taken Mardi Gras way beyond anything in Europe today. In recent years it has taken the king cake farther as well.

As for the king cake itself, in Northern France the confection is usually a flaky puff pastry filled with almond cream. Delicious! Some bakers in New Orleans still make that style there too. But the New Orleans king cake served today is more typical of what is found in Southern France. It's a sweet yeast bread shaped to form a crown (for a king). People who like sugar like that one. Those who don't like sugar stay as far away from it as possible. The New Orleans version has its own touches. The official colors of Mardi Gras, created in 1872 by the New Orleans parade Krewe of Rex, are purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Those colors are usually added onto the cake as decoration.

What's interesting about those New Orleans king cakes is how the popularity of them has grown during my lifetime. When I was a child king cakes were seen from time to time at king cake parties (the person who gets the piece with the ceramic baby is supposed to host another king cake party...assuming the finder doesn't choke to death on the baby while eating his or her piece). But now they are an addiction. During the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans you'll see more king cakes than cell phones, and more varieties and styles than imaginable.  They are both plain and filled with sweet or savory fillings.

It's interesting how food can expand a culture. Most of the United States does not have any tie to or celebration of Mardi Gras, which is more a Catholic celebration in Europe and South America. But king cakes, their cousins or some variation are springing up all over the United States. Even here in Portland,  which has no Mardi Gras celebration at all, during Mardi Gras season some bakeries and grocery stores sell king cakes. Maybe the simple King Cake will spread the whole concept of Mardi Gras to more places distant from where carnival is a passion.

That would be a good thing.