Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The King Cake and I

Several years ago, one of my office mates (who has since gotten his law degree and joined the dark side) started a "Mardi Gras King Cake" tradition in our office. King Cakes are traditionally served between Epiphany and Mardi Gras. If you don't know about King Cakes, you can read about the here or here. Once or twice we ordered the cake from New Orleans, then we got them locally.

Last year I baked the cake, and it was a big hit, so I made it again this year, even though I didn't get the baby - there as little baby (Baby Jesus) hidden in the cake, and the lucky person getting that piece gets to bring the cake the next year! (Psst, don't tell anyone, but I have never gotten the baby!) Last year's cake was unfilled, but this year I did it with a cream cheese filling. Here's the best
recipe I've found so far. It's the only one with the right proportions for the icing. Half of the filling is plenty, though.)

Here's the curmudgeon baker holding this year's cake. The blue sprinkles are actually purple.


What's even better about this Mardi Gras is that, in addition to King Cake, we're planning a waffle day, where we make waffles with every imaginable topping on them. We had everyone sign up to bring various toppings. Some of the confirmed dieters will be bringing in some "low fat" toppings. However, I can pretty much assure that this is going to be a diet busting event!

3 Comments:

At March 01, 2006, Blogger Neal said...

So what happens if you eat the baby?

 
At March 01, 2006, Blogger Scott said...

Then you've got good plastic mashing molars.

We've never had a baby actually be eaten, but one has a slash mark from some overzealous cake cutter. Mardi Gras does not seem to bring out the kinder and gentler side of us.

We currently have 2 babies. Yesterday, the first was abandoned. Not having any swaddling clothes, I attempted to wrap its bottom in a small piece of paper towel. However, despite having changed hundreds of diapers on our 4 kids, I was not able to do so in a visually pleasing fashion. The second baby was in the very last piece of cake that nobody wanted to touch, so I had to take it home. I guess I'll have to make next year's cake.

Any Mardi Gras revelry at 90 South?

 
At March 04, 2006, Blogger Neal said...

Not as much as you might expect. They served some cajun-style food and played zydeco all day. Any holiday that hits during a weekday is pretty much glossed over. Thankfully, St. Paddy's Day is on a Friday, which is close enough to a weekend.

 

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