Carnival King Cakes
They’re a New Orleans Tradition, But They Get Fancier Every Year
The New Orleans King Cake is a symbol of carnival tradition, but that doesn't keep bakers from producing some to honor LSU or the New Orleans Katrina spirit.
The king cake is a traditional purple, green and gold symbol of New Orleans carnival, but it is a tradition that keeps changing.
The original oval version is still available and popular, but for 2008 bakers have also provided:
- A huge LSU cake to celebrate the Louisiana State University’s national champion football team. LSU colors happen to be purple and gold.
- A fleur de lis cake, the New Orleans symbol that has become tremendously popular since the city and surrounding area were struck by Hurricane Katrina and flooded when federally-built levees collapsed in 2005.
Though the king cake is a New Orleans custom imported from France, bakers now annually ship thousands of the cakes to relatives, friends and business associates of New Orleans-area residents located throughout the nation.
One large New Orleans law firm traditionally express-ships several thousand cakes to its clients around the nation. A Hadley, Massachusettes senior citizens center imports king cakes (along with beads, doubloons and other carnival paraphernalia) for its annual Mardi Gras party and parade.
In the New Orleans area, Wal-Mart stacks king cakes on special tables for several weeks prior to Mardi Gras.
Most bakers started decades ago with a simple oval-shaped coffee cake, usually decorated and flavored with cinnamon and/or fondrant icing. Today buyers can choose from cakes with cream cheese, apple, raspberry, German chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, lemon, pecan praline or other exotic filling.
All of them pack loads of calories, which most Orleanians ignore in the let-the-good-times-roll spirit of the carnival season.
A tiny plastic doll is embedded in the cake. Tradition says the person getting the doll hosts the next king cake party. However, that practice has declined as king cakes are shipped across the nation and served more frequently during the carnival season, even as coffee-break snacks in some offices.
The plastic doll is just large enough to keep the recipient from swallowing it, either accidentally or to avoid having to host the next party.
King cakes traditionally appear on January 6, the first day of the carnival season. The day is variously known as the Feast of the Epiphany, King’s Day, Little Christmas or Twelfth Night. It owes its origin to the three wisemen bringing gifts to the child Jesus, but king cakes are served throughout the carnival season. They are especially popular on Mardi Gras.
Three family-owned bakeries, all now located in neighboring Metairie, have decades-old reputations for producing cake cakes in the New Orleans area:
All three ship cakes nationwide. Prices for shipped cakes range from $38 to $47, depending upon the destination as well as the size and contents of the cake. Each bakery will provide information on the number of normal servings available in the cake.
