What is King Cake to you?

[chowser]

There are so many versions out there, from the galette des rois w/ puff pastry and almond filling to the Mardi Gras brioche filled w/ anything from cream cheese, cinnamon sugar/roll types, preserves, ... What about bean vs. doll? Colors for the sanding sugar--does it matter? What flavor glaze, lemon, almond? What do you think of when you think of king cake?

[roro1831]

The sanding sugar should be three colors, purple, green and gold, the colors of Mardi Gras, the cake should have a doll in it, and since no cakes when I was a kid had any type of filling, to me a traditional cake should not. The new cakes with all the fillings are very good though, but they are just an improvement on the traditional in my opinion.
I think of being in grade school with just a cinnamon king cake and whomver got the baby had to bring the next cake.

[chowser]

That's interesting about the filiings being a new thing. What about the frosting? Was the cake you had like a cake or more like a brioche?

[JungMann]

Galette des Rois is for Epiphany whereas King Cake is for Mardi Gras. I wouldn't describe the latter as a brioche, but more akin to a garish coffee cake filled with cinnamon and cream cheese, pimped out with purple, gold and green sugar. I use a coin instead of the doll or bean.

[chowser]

Thanks for explaning the difference. I thought they were the same thing. Most of the recipes I've seen use brioche for the Mardi Gras king cake and that sounded good to me. I'm bringing one to a friend's house and I've seen so many different versions I wasn't sure if there was a "traditional" one. Good idea on the coin. I have no idea where I'd get a doll. I'll have to make sure to clean one well.

[JungMann]

Just toss a penny in some vinegar and wash it. It's no more dirty than some melty plastic baby from the P.R.O.C.

After cooking gumbo, shrimp etouffee, potatoes, steamed crawfish and king cake (not to mention mixing cocktails for 3 hours), I stepped out of my Mardi Gras party for some air. When I got back, we found that my friend's rottweiler/mastiff had jumped onto the table, eaten an entire platter of cupcakes and completely devoured the king cake before we had even touched it. And on the floor was a gleaming copper penny so of course we got to wear the crown. We were just glad that we didn't use a baby or bean that he could've choked on.

[chowser]

Thanks for the coin idea. I was at the store and saw chocolate mardi gras coins so I'll clean one and put it in after it's baked but before frosted. I've used Dorie Greenspan's brioche recipe and it's looking really good right now.

Your kind--if my friend's dog had done that, I would have have been as forgiving! Hope they weren't chocolate cupcakes.

[rworange]

I had the French version recently. For 'la feve' they used an almond which i thought was a brlliant idea given the frangipane filling. Given Americans unfamiliarity with kings cake I could envision a lawsuit in the making if someone swallowed a charm, baby Jesus or even a bean. An almond is edible.

Walmart was selling the Mexican version ... Rosca de Reyes ... complete with plastic baby Jesus. It was $14.50 and HUGE ... serves 20 and the box was at least two feet long ... as was the ingredient list. It looked like this
http://fronteradepapel.com/6-de-enero-reyes-magos/

Here's a wiki article about King's cakes from various countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake#French_King_Cake

This blog had some nice photos of different versions
http://www.malaysiafrance.com/2009/01...

[MakingSense]

I had an unusual Italian version at a dinner party to celebrate Kings' Day, the official opening of the Mardi Gras Season. Dry, brioche-like cake, with an orange cream sauce, drizzled with bitter chocolate.
The charms were quirky. A hula dancer, a surfer, etc. No relation to anything, but the people who got them will be the "royalty" at next year's traditional party.

As traditional as this custom was when I grew up in New Orleans, as much as I adore the old standard brioche, I have no problem with people having fun with this tradition. Go for it!

[Suzy Q]

I went to pick up a King Cake from my favorite French bakery in town last year, and when picking it up, asked them if the baby had been baked inside or was loose in the box. They looked at me like I had sprouted horns! Apparently they'd never heard the bean/coin/baby custom before. The funniest part is that they didn't have any plastic babies, but gave me a small ceramic gnome to stick inside the cake. That had to be one of the more unusual King Cakes, for sure.

[chowser]

I'd love to have a gnome. Maybe I'll see what else I can find but right now I'm pretty tempted to put in a Polly Pocket.

[MakingSense]

The traditional King Cake in New Orleans was simple cinnamon brioche with a white sugar glaze topped with sugar in the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold, symbolizing justice, faith, and power.
A small token was baked into the cake. Whoever got the piece containing the token was crowned king - or queen - but later the custom evolved that the person was responsible for giving the next party.
The token could be a coin, a large bean like a fava, or a small baby symbolizing the Infant Jesus as the first cake of the Mardi Gras season was usually eaten on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6.

Modern King Cakes have gotten more and more elaborate (and to many of us, downright gloppy and excessive) and are filled with nuts, fruit, cream cheese, chocolate and other non-traditional elements.

People in New Orleans argue about their favorite King Cake like they argue about gumbo or their favorite po boy joint.
King Cakes are available at NOLA area bakeries and groceries from just after Christmas until Mardi Gras. You'll find them in homes and office coffee rooms. Even on the front seats of pickup trucks.
Everybody loves King Cake.

[chowser]

That sound good--I think I'll go with the more traditional cinnamon brioche. I have the dough ready to go in the refrigerator but wasn't sure about stuffing it. It sounds like a cinnamon swirl bread in a ring shape? I wonder if I can find purple sugar without red dye since my daughter is allergic to it. Maybe I'll go with green and gold (at the risk of looking like a Green Bay fan) and circle beads around the outside on the plate.

[MakingSense]

Great solution!
I've never succeeded in getting a clear purple by mixing red and blue food coloring anyway. One year I improvised by using some blueberry juice in sugar. Worked for a simple sugar glaze too.
BTW, I think that there are several USDA-approved red food colors. Maybe your daughter is only allergic to one of them.

Happy Mardi Gras!

[chowser]

The blueberry juice is a great idea and one I'll keep for the future. My daughter is only allergic to red dye #40 but those sugar and dye bottles are so darn small and the labels are even smaller. Even in my younger days I'd have had problems reading the label but these days, my arms are just far too short. Thanks for all your help--it turned out great, and much better than having a gloppy center. Dorie Greenspan's brioche recipe was time consuming but worth it.

[MakingSense]

Hope the "purple" works. Life with a little girl allergic to red dye is a nightmare if you can't figure out how to do pink and purple. After all what other colors are there?
You really have to work on this you know.
Pink and purple are critical.

[sisterfunkhaus]

My old boss was a NOLA native and brought King cakes for the break room. They were just as you describe the traditional ones. His mom sent them from NOLA to him, so I suspect they were not your typical grocery store king cake. They were fantastic.

I loved him. He was such a foodie. He used to drive an hour just to get his coffee beans. He also used to make the best chocolate cinnamon ice cream.

[ipsedixit]

Ugly.

:-)

[MakingSense]

Why would you think that King Cake is "ugly"?
There was nothing that my children and I loved like opening that UPS box from my mother when she sent them up from New Orleans.
Wow!
Beautiful!
Purple, Green, Gold! All that lovely sugar! The cinnamon! Ohhhhh!