I made a King Cake last night to take to a newly started knitting club this afternoon. These cakes are so yummy! I use this recipe from Southern Living and definitely include the baby. I frosted both of the cakes before adding the sprinkles , and I should have iced and then sprinkled immediately so they would stick better. Oh well, it will still taste good! My husband had a slice last night and immediately found the baby. :)
For those of you interested in the history of the king cake, here is a short summary.
- The top is sprinkled with purple representing justice, green representing faith, and gold representing power-the traditional mardi gras colors.
- Cakes are made between the Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday-January 6th to February 25th this year.
- At some point in the mid 1900's, it became a tradition to place a small plastic baby inside of each cake. There are a couple different theories involved with the baby. Each person takes a piece of cake and the person who receives the baby is "crowned" King or Queen for the day. That person then has to throw the next party and make the next cake. I think it is good luck!
