King cake

• 1. Introduction

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  The king cake, also known as a three kings cake or a baby cake, shows up in North American records as early as 1649. At Port Royal in Acadia, now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, an early French settler owed his landlord a yearly delivery. On the eve of the Feast of Kings, he had to bring a round cake to the lord of Port Royal and his wife. It went to their château and seigneurial manor. The recipe called for a quarter bushel of the finest white wheat flour, six eggs and half a pound of the freshest butter. A black bean sat pressed into the cake's edge. That small bean raises the questions this documentary will chase. Why would anyone hide something inside a cake? Who decides what the finder wins? And how did a Twelfth Night custom from Europe end up wearing sprinkles in purple, green and gold on the Gulf Coast of the United States?

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• 2. Roots Of The Ritual

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  Somewhere inside the cake sits the fève, a hidden bean or figurine, and whoever finds it in their slice wins a prize. Traditionally the cake is made from brioche dough. In most cases the fève is a figurine representing the Christ Child.

  Many people long believed the custom grew out of the Roman Saturnalia. These were festivals for the god Saturn, held so the Roman people could celebrate the longer days after the winter solstice. Margaret Hasluck took this idea further. She argued that the Greek vasilopita, tied to the feast day of St. Basil, and the king cake shared a common origin in Saturnalia and the Kronia.

  Christian tradition gives the cake a different meaning. In that telling, it commemorates the witness of the Three Kings. The Middle Ages added a rule of its own, because the person chosen as king was expected to pay for a general round of drinks. To prevent cheating, the edible bean was swapped for a porcelain one.

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• 3. French Pastry Crowns

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  France bakes two different king cakes. The galette des rois is a flaky puff pastry traditionally filled with frangipane. Fillings now also include fruit, chocolate and cream. Pastry chefs compete to create inventive versions, using flavored liquors, candied fruits and ganache.

  The gâteau des rois goes by other names, including royaume, brioche des rois and coque des rois. It is most popular in the Occitan-speaking regions of southern France. This one is a crown-shaped brioche dough, decorated with candied fruit and coarse sugar.

  In French Guiana, the Creole galette is a variant of the galette des rois, served as a dessert at Epiphany. It can be garnished with cream, coconut or guava. People eat it all through Carnival, from Epiphany until Ash Wednesday, ideally with champagne.

  Bought cakes come with a paper crown for whoever finds the bean, or coin, and becomes king or queen. To keep the slices random, the youngest person goes under the table and names who receives each piece as it is cut. Store-bought fèves can be tiny porcelain figures of religious characters, or increasingly figures from pop culture and popular cartoons.

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• 4. Tables Beyond France

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  The German and Swiss Dreikönigskuchen, meaning three kings cakes, are shaped like wreaths or rounds. Their fève is an almond.

  Portugal's bolo-rei is eaten from the beginning of December until Epiphany. Its recipe descends from the southern French gâteau des rois. The cake reached Portugal in 1829, when Confeitaria Nacional opened as the official bakery of the Portuguese monarchy. The bolo-rei is round with a large hole in the middle, like a crown covered in crystallized and dried fruit. The soft white dough holds raisins, assorted nuts and more crystallized fruit. A dried fava bean hides inside, and whoever finds it must pay for next year's cake.

  In Spain and Latin America, variations of the roscón de reyes appear around the 6th of January. They tend to be oval, since they must be big enough for large groups. Figs, quinces, cherries and candied fruit often decorate them. The Spanish version is a sweet brioche flavored with orange blossom water. It may be filled with whipped cream, cream or almond paste. Its figurine usually represents one of the Three Wise Men, and a dry broad bean is hidden too. Whoever finds the bean pays for the roscón.

  In Mexico and Central and South America, the figurine is the Child Jesus. Hidden in the bread, it recalls the flight of the Holy Family from Herod the Great's Massacre of the Innocents. Whoever finds it is blessed. That person must carry the figurine to the nearest church on Candlemas Day, or host a party that day.

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• 5. Twelfth Night Britain

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  Samuel Pepys, the diarist, recorded an Epiphany night party in London in 1659-60. After a good supper with his family and cousins, a cake arrived. He wrote: "we had a brave cake brought us, and in the choosing, Pall was Queen and Mr. Stradwick was King." He added that the night was still a great frost.

  Britain called the cake the Twelfth cake, Twelfth-night cake or Twelfth-tide cake. Bakers often hid a bean on one side and a pea on the other. The man who found the bean became King for the night, and the woman who found the pea became Queen. They were also known as the Lord or Lady of Misrule. In Shakespeare's day only the Lord of Misrule existed, chosen by the bean, and the idea echoes in his play Twelfth Night.

  The cake faded during the Victorian era. The Industrial Revolution cut short the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas, and the Christmas cake took the Twelfth cake's place. It is still found occasionally.

  One ceremony survives at Drury Lane Theatre. The 18th century actor Robert Baddeley left a will providing £3 per annum for wine, punch and a Twelfth Night cake for the performers in the green room each Twelfth Night. This "Baddeley Cake" has been skipped only 13 times in over 200 years, during wartimes or theatre closures.

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• 6. Gulf Coast Carnival

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  Louisiana and parts of the Gulf Coast settled by the French tie the king cake to Mardi Gras. It is traditionally served from Epiphany until Carnival, and more recently all year round. Its arrival there is uncertain. It may have come with Basque settlers in 1718, or with the French in 1870.

  The Mardi Gras king cake did not become established in the United States until the 20th century. Even so, the gold, purple and green sprinkles have been standard decoration since 1872. Those colors carry meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power. Shoppers usually buy the cake rather than bake it, since the customs of the king cake center mainly on the fève.

  Sugar was always a big industry in New Orleans, and local bakeries took an active part in turning the cake into a modern cultural icon. The simplest style, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted dough resembling a cinnamon roll. Icing or colored sugar tops it. Old-fashioned versions are basically a round braided brioche with no filling. Cakes can also hold cream cheese, praline, cinnamon or assorted fruit. Bakeries now try to outdo one another with inventive fillings.

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• 7. The Baby And Beyond

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  A small plastic baby, symbolizing Jesus, is traditionally hidden in the Louisiana king cake. It stands for luck and prosperity for whoever finds it. That person must buy next year's cake or host the next Mardi Gras party. Bakers often set the baby outside the cake and leave the buyer to hide it. This is usually done to avoid liability for a choking hazard.

  The baby has also become a mascot. In 2009, the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team introduced the King Cake Baby as a seasonal mascot.

  Baseball took up the name too. The New Orleans Baby Cakes, formerly the Zephyrs, were a AAA team that played their last three seasons, 2017-2019, under that name. The franchise then relocated and became the Wichita Wind Surge.

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