T Stands for a King Cake

 Hi everyone. It's been cold with some small snow events this past week here in New Hampshire, and more snow arriving on this T day.   I  got spoiled in January when it was relatively mild (around  32 degrees F or  0 degrees C) and fairly snow free, so now when we've had temperatures much lower than freezing and snow falling, I want to hibernate again. Nothing worse than going out and your teeth getting cold.  Smile. 

That is another good thing I (as many of your probably also) have discovered about wearing a mask. It keeps you lower face warm. 

(History.com photo)

This  Tuesday happens to be Fat Tuesday also called Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. I thought I would make my post a carnival or Mardi Gras themed one. This is  the day that is celebrated with parades in many places, and (at least in  New Orleans) beads, masks, doubloons and lots of partying.  Since I'm not hoping a plane for New Orleans or Rio or any place where there are (or would be non-covid years) big celebrations, how about an online celebration. 

I'd like to offer you a slice of King Cake and some T.

King Cake has been on my baking bucket list for awhile now, and since I'm not working and home,  why not make one? Especially since I have been spending so much more time inside with winter here.  I was going  for a traditional New Orleans style cake, and I needed to look up what that actually was. I also learned a lot about this cake in the process.

King Cake has become a symbol of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but it in many places it is a cake for Epiphany, also called Twelfth Night, celebrated on January 6. This is the day that the 3 Wise Men/Kings visited the baby Jesus.

There were several things to consider before I made my cake. First I needed to get a baby (read on for the baby info) and also purple, green, and gold or yellow sugar for the top. Since I decided to make this cake without enough time to mail order the supplies, I took an early morning trip to a local craft/party store to get them. 

The light in this photo makes all my sugars look green. Ugh! And here's the babies I picked up. I do want to say that these babies are not oven temperature safe, so I ended up slipping the baby into the cake after it had baked and cooled by making a little slit in the cake, pushing in the baby, and then frosting over it to cover the slit. I also washed and dried the baby before inserting it.

Since I am from the land of the Puritans not the land of  fun-filled Mardi Gras, I had to look up  why they put a baby into the cake. I read many things about the baby, but as far as I can tell, the baby represents Jesus, used to be common in Christmas cakes (when King Cakes were first introduced), and if you get the baby in your slice, you will have good luck for the next year. It will also be your job to host the next year's party and supply the King Cake. 

You don't need a baby but could insert a nut,  raisin,  bean or just about anything else into your cake. I liked the baby idea, so I was going with that.

Then I needed to decide on what filling to put in the cake. There were recipes with pecan praline, almond paste, raspberry, cinnamon sugar; you name it, it could probably fill the cake. I figured I'd go for what I had on hand (so I wouldn't need to go out again) and what my husband (the picky eater) would like. That meant  cinnamon-sugar  was the choice.

I've been to New Orleans many years ago. Even in the fall when I went it was mobbed, and I don't think I'd want to be there during the Mardi Gras crowds. Going in the fall, I never had King Cake. In case  you aren't familiar with a New Orleans Mardi Gras King Cake, it is a yeasted cake, more like a coffee bread than a batter cake. I did discover that the first King Cakes were crown shapes made from puff pastry and filled with almond paste, called a Galettes des Rois. In other languages there are different names, but since New Orleans is a city settled when the French controlled the land, I am giving you the French name. Those other style cakes have remained more popular in other places celebrating  Fat Tuesday, at least that's what the internet told me.

I wanted to go more traditional as this is my first King Cake. I got my recipe out of an old cookbook I have by Southern Living Magazine.

I made an enriched dough with Greek yogurt (substituted for sour cream), eggs, yeast, water, sugar and bread flour.  After the first rise, I split the dough into 2, and then rolled, spread the cinnamon sugar mixture and  shaped it into rings. I saw many other "styles" of king cakes on the internet including masks, braided rings, ovals and even single serving ones.

This recipe made 2 rings. I  baked my rings for about 15 minutes at 375degrees F.

Once cooled and the baby inserted, I made the lemon flavored glaze from the  the cake recipe, and then I put on my colored sugar. I saw some people colored the frosting itself, which would also work.

I learned that the purple color stands for justice, the green stands for faith and gold (or yellow) for power.

Since this is T day, let me offer you a slice with a cup of T. For some festivity, I staged my photo with some beads and doubloons (Mardi Gras style, not real Spanish gold ones) that I still have from when I visited the city.

Here's my ticket to T this week over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog where we share a drink related post.

Even though you can't see into my mug in this photo. I went with plain green tea, as the King Cake is on sweet side.

After I took my photo, when I went to eat my slice,  look what I noticed!

Yes, those are legs and a bottom peering out at me.

I guess you'll be having another T day post next year with King Cake from me. Ha-ha!

I made my King Cake  last weekend when my husband didn't have to go to work. That way there they'd be 2 of us eating  it rather than on  Fat Tuesday when it would be just me here all day with the cake in the kitchen. That would be too much temptation.  (I froze ring number 2 for another time.) 

During the weekend when one of us would take a slice of the cake,  the conversation between my husband and myself centered around whether we'd get the slice with the baby.  I think my husband was disappointed he didn't get the baby, but I can't see him making next year's King Cake either. Yet he often still surprises me. 

You might  or might not have known  any of this  info about King Cakes, but I hope you learned something new. Thanks for visiting.

 I hope you have a happy T day. And maybe a little Mardi Gras King Cake too.