King Cake

This is the time of the year when I get an email reminder from some bakery in New Orleans reminding me it's time to order this year's King Cake. I was reminded of the impending reminder when the NYT in yesterday's Food Section did an informative and quite colorful feature on King Cake, 'A King Cake Is Their Way to Make Joy,' its meaning, and how to create one for yourself if you're tired of baking sourdough. Believe me, King Cake is nothing like sourdough.

It's also the time of the year when I tease the members of my family that I'm poised to order this year's King Cake. A chorus of derision breaks out so loud that they drown out NY Giant fans who haven't seen their team score a touchdown in four appearances. You can't call them games. The only chants louder were when Allie Sherman, the Giants coach of long ago was pleaded with to find another job.  (Hey guys, I'm only teasing about ordering a cake.)

A King Cake is so sweet it is no wonder the people of New Orleans are not annually thrown into cardiac and diabetic shock. To me, it is delicious. But I won't order one. I may have even unsubscribed to the bakery's reminder.

I don't remember how many years ago it was that I did order one, and it arrived in all its kaleidoscope of sugary colors, beads, sporting of course the tiny pink figurine that I had no idea what it symbolized. It's baby Jesus. The preamble to the sugary recipe explains the meaning behind stuffing a tiny plastic Jesus in the dough.

Kayla Stewart explains:

And in New Orleans where Roman Catholicism is still the predominant religion Twelfth Night celebrated here on January 6 holds deep significance. The date, also known around the world as Epiphany or Three Kings Day marks the moment when the three Magi, or kings, reached the baby Jesus in Bethlehem after bring stuck on the Middle East's version of a snowbound I-95 in Virginia in January as they tried to reach Bethlehem before the Super Bowl. (The Giants were not in it.) Twelve days and nights to follow that star. Camels are not known for speed.

I'm not a baker, but if you read the recipe for the King Cake you will realize it needs enough sugar to create a shortage on your grocer's shelf. Consider the filling...

½ packed cup/110 grams brown sugar (For those bad at metric conversions, this equates to ¼ pounds of sugar.)

Then there's the dough...

3 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar

And don't forget the icing...

3 cups/330 grams confectioners' sugar (That's about ¾ pound of sugar.)

Ms. Stewart takes us through the ingrained tradition of eating King Cake as children in New Orleans and the search for the tiny Jesus. It's a wonder anyone has any teeth left in Louisiana.

The cake has evolved into a sort of highly sugary, colorful Danish that in some quarters is not meant to be eaten before January 6th. From the Epiphany on, the bakeries in the Crescent City are busy turning out King Cakes for the residents and the online orders like I used to place.

Damn. If the members of my family weren't so vigilant about my health, I'd like to at least order a slice of a King Cake. They don't have to eat it.

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