KING CAKE REIGNS AT MARDI GRAS
Where cake is king, and purple, green and gold reign
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
During the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, one treat reigns supreme in New Orleans. It’s the king cake, a centerpiece of the Carnival season that began on Jan. 6 and runs through midnight on Fat Tuesday.
Made with a sweet dough that’s been shaped into an oval or a pretzel, the coffeecake-like confection is no shrinking violet: Drizzled in icing and often filled with cream cheese, fruit, chocolate or nuts, its sugary topping sparkles with all the color, and clash, of a Mardi Gras parade as seen through beer goggles.
The vivid tones of purple, green and gold, which color everything from masks and clothing to the beads thrown to the crowds on Bourbon Street from floats and balconies during Carnival, came to define the pre-Lenten celebration starting in 1872. That’s when the city’s Rex organization staged the first Mardi Gras parade and selected the official color palette. They were cemented in 1892, when the Rex krewe (crew) chose “The Symbolism of Colors” as its theme and and put forth the meaning inherent in each hue: justice (purple), faith (green) and wealth (gold).
While there is no definitive recipe for king cake (Cochon’s “Elvis” cake includes bacon, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and banana and pastry chef Kelly Fields of Willa Jean fills hers with Valrhona caramelized milk chocolate and espresso), one thing you can count on is that it’s always a visual spectacle. A king cake also is fun, in that no one knows who’ll get the piece with the plastic baby tucked inside (to symbolize luck and prosperity), making the person the “king” or “queen” for the evening.
The pastries are so popular inside and outside Louisiana, that a whole cottage industry of king cake spinoffs has sprung up in recent years.
Call it sacrilege, or maybe just crazy, but today you can chase away thirst with king cake-flavored sodas and cocktails, king cake smoothies and even a king cake golden spiced ale (from Mudbug Brewery). You also can eat them in miniature form as cupcakes or macarons; enjoy it by the scoop as a flavored ice cream or gelato; or wake up with it in your morning cup of joe.
Thanks to Food Drunk, a New Orleans food truck run by P.J. Haines, king cake can even fulfill your daily need for protein. Mr. Haines’ hamburger, which debuted in 2014, features ground Angus brisket, aged cheddar cheese and bourbon bacon nestled atop a brioche bun covered in icing and purple, green and gold sugar.
As Mr. Haines notes on the food truck’s Instagram, “there is always
room for debauchery.”
In that playful vein, we offer some of our favorite plays on the Mardi Gras king cake. They might not be authentic, but they reflect the spirit and color of New Orleans’ biggest street party.
You can find colored sanding sugars, along with small plastic babies (to represent the baby Jesus) at Make a Cake on Rochester Road in Ross.
And for those of you who’d love a taste of a real king cake? There’s still time to order one in time for Fat Tuesday from New Orleans bakeries such as Manny Randazzo King Cakes (randazzokingcake.com) or Gambino's (gambinos.com) You also can find them locally at Prantl’s ($16.49; cinnamon, nut or strawberry cream cheese), Priory Fine Pastries ($12.75; praline-pecan, cinnamon or raspberry cream cheese) and Oakmont Bakery ($13.75; plain, nut, cream cheese, raspberry or cinnamon).