King cake - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A king cake is a type of cake

Cake

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

/ Carnival

Carnival

Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

. It is popular in the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

(galette
Galette
Galette is a general term used in the French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes, similar in concept to a Chinese bing. One notable type is the galette des Rois eaten on the day of Epiphany...

or gâteau des Rois), Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

(bolo rei
Bolo Rei
Bolo rei is a traditional Portuguese cake that is usually eaten around Christmas, from December 25 until the Dia dos Reis on January 6...

), Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

and Spanish America

Hispanic America

Hispanic America or Spanish America is the region comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations.These countries have significant commonalities with each other and with Spain, whose colonies they formerly were...

(roscón or rosca de reyes

Rosca de reyes

Rosca de reyes or roscón de reyes is a Spanish and Spanish American king's cake pastry traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany....

and tortell
Tortell
right|thumb|A Tortell de Reis This size, approx. 50 [[Metre#SI_multiples|cm]] diameter, usually serves 8 people.Tortell is a Catalan typically O-shaped pastry stuffed with marzipan, that on some special occasions is topped with glazed fruit. It is traditionally eaten on January 6 , at the...

in Catalonia), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita
Vasilopita
Vasilopita is a New Year's Day bread or cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver...

) and Bulgaria (banitsa

Banitsa (pastry)

Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian food prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs and pieces of cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven....

). In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, which celebrates Carnival mainly in the Southeastern region

Southeastern United States

The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....

(Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

and New Orleans in particular), it is associated with Mardi Gras traditions.

The cake has a small trinket

Trinket

A trinket is a small showy ornament or something that is a mere trifle. Trinket may also refer to:* Trinket Island, an island of the Nicobar Islands**Trinket , a village on the island...

(often a small plastic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus

Child Jesus

The Child Jesus represents Jesus from his Nativity to age 12. At 13 he was considered to be adult, in accordance with the Jewish custom of his time, and that of most Christian cultures until recent centuries.The Child Jesus is frequently depicted in art, from around the third or fourth century...

) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration).

History

The "king cake" takes its name from the biblical

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

three kings

Biblical Magi

The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...

. Catholic tradition states that their journey to Bethlehem took five days (the Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day . This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which...

), and that they arrived to honor the Christ Child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night (holiday)

Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...

and Epiphany Day), through to Mardi Gras day. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.

Related culinary traditions are the tortell
Tortell
right|thumb|A Tortell de Reis This size, approx. 50 [[Metre#SI_multiples|cm]] diameter, usually serves 8 people.Tortell is a Catalan typically O-shaped pastry stuffed with marzipan, that on some special occasions is topped with glazed fruit. It is traditionally eaten on January 6 , at the...

of Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, the gâteau des Rois in Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

or the galette des Rois in the northern half of France

France

, and the Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

and Cypriot

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

vasilopita
Vasilopita
Vasilopita is a New Year's Day bread or cake in Greece and many other areas in eastern Europe and the Balkans which contains a hidden coin or trinket which gives good luck to the receiver...

. The galette des Rois is made with puff pastry

Puff pastry

In baking, a puff pastry is a light, flaky, leavened pastry containing several layers of fat which is in solid state at 20 °C . In raw form, puff pastry is a dough which is spread with solid fat and repeatedly folded and rolled out and used to produce the aforementioned pastries...

and frangipane

Frangipane

Frangipane is a filling made from or flavored like almonds. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries, such as the Jesuite. An alternative French spelling from a 1674 cookbook is franchipane with the earliest modern spelling coming from a...

(while the gâteau des Rois is made with brioche

Brioche

Brioche is a highly enriched French pastry, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs" It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied...

and candied fruit

Candied fruit

Candied fruit, also known as crystallized fruit or Glacé fruit, has been around since the 14th century. Whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, are placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it...

s). A little bean was traditionally hidden in it, a custom taken from the Saturnalia

Saturnalia

Saturnalia is an Ancient Roman festival/ celebration held in honour of Saturn , the youngest of the Titans, father of the major gods of the Greeks and Romans, and son of Uranus and Gaia...

in the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

: the one who stumbled upon the bean was called "king of the feast." In the galette des Rois, since 1870 the beans have been replaced first by porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

and now by plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

figurines. The gâteau des Rois is known as roscón de reyes
Rosca de reyes
Rosca de reyes or roscón de reyes is a Spanish and Spanish American king's cake pastry traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany....

in Mexico.

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

(whose wife was French) recorded a party in London on Epiphany night, 6 January 1659/1660: "...to my cousin Stradwick, where, after a good supper, there being there my father, mothers, brothers, and sister, my cousin Scott and his wife, Mr. Drawwater and his wife, and her brother, Mr. Stradwick, we had a brave cake brought us, and in the choosing, Pall was Queen and Mr. Stradwick was King. After that my wife and I bid adieu and came home, it being still a great frost." The choosing of King and Queen from the pie, usually by the inclusion of a bean and a pea, was a traditional English Twelfth Night festivity.

Gulf Coast king cake

In the southern United States, the tradition was brought to the area by colonists from France

France

and Spain

Spain

and it is associated with Carnival (also known as Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

), which is celebrated in the Gulf Coast region, originated in Mobile, AL, but ranging from the Florida Panhandle

Florida Panhandle

The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...

to East Texas

East Texas

East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...

. King cake parties in New Orleans are documented back to the eighteenth century.

The king cake of the Mobile Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche

Brioche

topped with icing or sugar, usually colored purple, green, and gold (the traditional Mardi Gras colors) with food coloring. Mobile king cakes are traditionally deep-fat-fried as a doughnut would be, and there are many variants, some in more recent years featuring a filling - the most common being cream cheese

Cream cheese

Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting, white cheese with a high fat content. Traditionally, it is made from unskimmed milk enriched with additional cream....

, praline

Praline

Praline is a family of confections made from nuts and sugar syrup.-Europe:As originally inspired in France at the Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte by the cook of the 17th-century sugar industrialist Marshal du Plessis-Praslin , early pralines were whole almonds individually coated in caramelized sugar,...

, cinnamon, or strawberry. A so-called "Zulu King Cake" has chocolate icing with a coconut filing, because the Krewe of Zulu parade's most celebrated throw is a coconut. Also, some bakers have now taken the liberty to offer king cakes for other holidays that immediately surround Mardi Gras season, such as green and red-icing king cakes for Christmas, red and pink-icing cakes for Valentine's Day, and green and white-icing cakes for St. Patrick's Day. Others have gone a step further and produce specialty king cakes from the beginning of football season for Louisiana State University and New Orleans Saints tailgate parties, then for Halloween, then Thanksgiving - and do not cease until after Mardi Gras season with an Easter holiday king cake.

It has become customary in the Southern culture that whoever finds the trinket must provide the next king cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

King cake in Spanish-speaking countries

The roscón de reyes
Rosca de reyes
Rosca de reyes or roscón de reyes is a Spanish and Spanish American king's cake pastry traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany....

in Spain or rosca de reyes in Spanish America

Hispanic America

is traditionally eaten on January 6, during the celebration of the Día de Reyes (literally "Kings' Day"). In most of Spain, Mexico and sometimes Hispanic communities in the United States, this is the day when children get presents from the Three Wise Men (not Santa Claus). In Mexico children leave a shoe outside, filled with hay or dried grass for the animals the Kings ride, along with a note, before they go to bed. The Mexican rosca de reyes has an oval shape to symbolize a crown. For decoration, Spanish people use dried and candied fruits like figs, quinces or cherries. The fruit symbolizes the many jewels that a crown would have.

The tradition of placing a bean, candy or figurine doll of the Christ Child

Child Jesus

inside the cake is followed. Whoever finds it must take it to the nearest church on February 2, Candlemas Day

Presentation of Jesus at the Temple

The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...

(Día de la Candelaria), which celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. According to the Jewish tradition, an infant was to be presented to God in the Temple forty days after his birth. The use of candles on Candlemas represents the light of Christ presented to the world. Nowadays in Mexico, people who find the figurines in their piece of the cake usually agree to host a party on February 2 and to provide the guests with tamale

Tamale

A tamale — or more correctly tamal — is a traditional Latin American dish made of masa , which is steamed or boiled in a leaf wrapper. The wrapping is discarded before eating...

s and atole

Atole

Atole is a traditional masa-based Mexican and Central American hot drink. Chocolate atole is known as champurrado or atole...

.

In Argentina, the tradition of consuming rosca on January 6 is also followed, although no figurine is included. In addition, a similar version with whole cooked eggs on top of the cake is also served on Easter

Easter

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

as rosca de Pascua.

In some places, the rosca de reyes is replaced by panettone

Panettone

thumb|200px|right|A non-traditionally shaped panettone loaf.Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan , usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, Malta, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. Maltese nationals are...

French king cake

La galette des Rois (the cake or "wafer" of the Kings), a cake celebrating Epiphany, is traditionally sold and consumed a few days before and after this date. In modern France, the cakes can be found in most bakeries during the month of January. Two versions exist: in northern France the cake (which can be either circular or rectangular) consists of flaky puff pastry layers with a dense center of frangipane

Frangipane

. In the south of France, particularly in Occitania

Occitania

Occitania , also sometimes lo País d'Òc, "the Oc Country"), is the region in southern Europe where Occitan was historically the main language spoken, and where it is sometimes still used, for the most part as a second language...

and Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

, the cake, called gâteau des rois or royaume, is a torus

Torus

In geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...

-shaped brioche

Brioche

with candied fruit

Candied fruit

s, very similar to the Catalan

Catalonia

tortell
Tortell
right|thumb|A Tortell de Reis This size, approx. 50 [[Metre#SI_multiples|cm]] diameter, usually serves 8 people.Tortell is a Catalan typically O-shaped pastry stuffed with marzipan, that on some special occasions is topped with glazed fruit. It is traditionally eaten on January 6 , at the...

. This version of the cake originates in Provence

Provence

and predates the northern version.

Tradition holds that the cake is “to draw the kings” to the Epiphany. A figurine, la fève, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character, is hidden in the cake and the person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes king for the day and will have to offer the next cake. Originally, la fève was literally a broad bean (fève), but it was replaced in 1870 by a variety of figurines out of porcelain or—more recently—plastic. These figurines have become popular collectibles and can often be bought separately. Individual bakeries may offer a specialized line of fèves depicting diverse themes from great works of art to classic movie stars and popular cartoon characters. The cakes are usually sold in special bags, some of which can be used to heat the cake in a microwave without ruining the crispness of the cake. A paper crown is included with the cake to crown the "king" who finds the fève in their piece of cake. To ensure a random distribution of the cake shares, it is traditional for the youngest person to place themselves under the table and name the recipient of the share which is indicated by the person in charge of the service.

Formerly, one divided the cake in as many shares as guests, plus one. The latter, called "the share of God," "share of the Virgin Mary," or "share of the poor" was intended for the first poor person to arrive at the home.

The French President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

is not allowed to “draw the kings” on Epiphany because of the etiquette

Etiquette

Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...

rules. Therefore, a traditional galette without figurine or crown is served at Elysée Palace in January.

Trinket

The traditional trinket

Trinket

A trinket is a small showy ornament or something that is a mere trifle. Trinket may also refer to:* Trinket Island, an island of the Nicobar Islands**Trinket , a village on the island...

in the cake is a bean

Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....

, still seen in some Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an and Mexican traditions but rare in U.S. king cakes. It is echoed, however, in some krewe

Krewe

A krewe is an organization that puts on a parade and or a ball for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with New Orleans Mardi Gras, but is also used in other Carnival celebrations around the Gulf of Mexico, such as the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa, Florida, and...

s' use of a gilded bean trinket.

In the U.S. Gulf Coast since the 1950s, the most common trinket has been a small plastic baby doll. Earlier ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

baby dolls as trinkets are documented in New Orleans back to the 1930s. A king wearing a crown is the next most common trinket. Other figures have been seen historically, and starting in the 1990s again became more common in the more expensive "gourmet" varieties of king cake. The common plastic baby of today is usually colored pink, brown, white or gold. Due to the choking hazard, some bakeries include the trinket separately from the pastry.

Privileges and obligations

The person who gets the trinket is declared the King or Queen of the day, however in some states the person who gets the trinket or baby will soon have a baby. Sometimes there are separate cakes to select the king and queen. In New Orleans, the cake for women is sometimes called a Queen Cake. The king or queen is usually obligated to supply the next king cake or host the next party or both. King cake parties may be held at the homes of people who live on or near the routes of Mardi Gras parade

Parade

A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...

s.

Some New Orleans krewe

Krewe

s select their monarchs via king cake.

In some workplaces, a variation on this tradition is simplified so that workers share a king cake at lunch or during the day, with the person receiving the trinket bringing the cake for the next workday.

In Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, the one who finds the Baby Jesus must prepare tamales for the Candlemas feast.

Sources

Primarily subhead Popular Merrymaking under Liturgy and Custom.

Christmas Trivia edited by Jennie Miller Helderman, Mary Caulkins. Gramercy, 2002
Marix-Evans, Martin. The Twelve Days of Christmas. Peter Pauper Press, 2002
Bowler, Gerry. The World Encyclopedia of Christmas. McClelland & Stewart, 2004
Collins, Ace. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan, 2003

External links

King Cake Recipe at Nola Cuisine
Galette des rois history at Le Montmartre

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.