WEBVTT - Who Put the Baby in King Cake?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb. Here, we humans mark our

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<v Speaker 1>holidays with glee, cheer, and often mouth watering desserts. Enter

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<v Speaker 1>the New Orleans kincake, the frosted coffee cake like sweet

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<v Speaker 1>roll typically eaten between January six and Fat Tuesday, which

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<v Speaker 1>is the day before Lent begins. It's a staple of

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<v Speaker 1>the Mardi Grass season. For those unfamiliar with this festive dessert,

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<v Speaker 1>the New Orleans version is often made of rich Danish

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<v Speaker 1>style dough, braided and shaped into a large ring, and

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<v Speaker 1>often with one or a variety of fillings I think cinnamon, sugar, chocolate,

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<v Speaker 1>raspberry preserves, chopped sugar cons or sweetened cream cheese. It's

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<v Speaker 1>usually covered in a sweet glaze or frosting and decorated

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<v Speaker 1>with gold, green, and purple sugar or icing, and of course,

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<v Speaker 1>hidden somewhere within the tender layers of this frosted treat

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<v Speaker 1>is a small plastic baby which sounds real beard if

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<v Speaker 1>you're unfamiliar. So let's back up a little, because the

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<v Speaker 1>origins of kincake go way back, and yes, there are

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<v Speaker 1>kings involved. Kincake derives from the holiday three Kings Day,

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<v Speaker 1>also called Epiphany, which is a Christian feast day celebrated

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<v Speaker 1>on January six, which is the day after the twelfth

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<v Speaker 1>Day of Christmas. This holiday celebrates the biblical tale of

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<v Speaker 1>the Three Kings a k a. The Three Wise Men

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<v Speaker 1>or magi visiting the baby Jesus. It kicks off the

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<v Speaker 1>mardy Gras or carnival season, which lasts until the first

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<v Speaker 1>day of Lent, which is a moving holiday that falls

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<v Speaker 1>forty days before Easter. Anyway, the Three Kings are why

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<v Speaker 1>kincakes are a seasonal treat in the shape of a

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<v Speaker 1>crown or a more or less circular band anyway, those

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<v Speaker 1>three colors they're decorated with are symbolic purple for justice,

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<v Speaker 1>green for faith, and gold for power, and tradition holds

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<v Speaker 1>that the plastic baby in the cake represents Jesus. Just

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<v Speaker 1>as Jesus showed himself to the Three Wise Men, he

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<v Speaker 1>will show himself to those enjoying kincake. Whoever finds the

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<v Speaker 1>baby in their slices crowned king or queen for a day,

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<v Speaker 1>or hosts the next Mardy Grass celebration, or at least

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<v Speaker 1>buys the cake next year. It's a lucky token other tokens, coins,

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<v Speaker 1>peas pecans, beans were what was up in the past

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<v Speaker 1>and may still show up. Hundreds of thousands of kincakes

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<v Speaker 1>are sold out of New Orleans every Mardy Grass season.

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<v Speaker 1>I couldn't track down a firm total, but the big

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<v Speaker 1>commercial bakeries ramp up to producing three thousand, five hundred

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<v Speaker 1>kincakes per day at their busiest. The Danish style dough

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<v Speaker 1>is the most popular, but it's not the only kind.

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<v Speaker 1>Either flakier or fluffier dough can sometimes be found, and

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<v Speaker 1>New Orleans isn't the only place to serve kincakes by far.

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<v Speaker 1>In northern France you can find gallette de roy, a

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<v Speaker 1>flaky puff pastry with sweet almond filling. Bulgaria and Greece

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<v Speaker 1>have similar dishes traditionally served around the New Year, but

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<v Speaker 1>the doing No Orleans kincake is closer to the ghetau

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<v Speaker 1>de roi from southern France made with brioche, and the

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<v Speaker 1>rosca de rays from Spain, a ing of sweetbread topped

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<v Speaker 1>with icing and candied fruit, which makes sense given the

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<v Speaker 1>Spanish and Southern French settlers and colonists who got the

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<v Speaker 1>city started in the seventeen hundreds. But Mardi Gras and

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<v Speaker 1>other carnival celebrations have roots that go way back. People

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<v Speaker 1>have been celebrating the end of winter and the return

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<v Speaker 1>of longer, warmer days uh forever since the first brave

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<v Speaker 1>human who dared to celebrate Ancient Babylonia may have held

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<v Speaker 1>the first carnival circa two thousand, six hundred BC. This

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<v Speaker 1>was a festival that celebrated in mirth and change through

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<v Speaker 1>satire by making a show of role reversals. There would

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<v Speaker 1>be a parade through the streets, a pair of peasants

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<v Speaker 1>would be royalty for the day, and royalty would act

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<v Speaker 1>like fools. Pranks were played, Folks would wear costumes depicting

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<v Speaker 1>social classes other than their own, and everyone partied. Sounded

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<v Speaker 1>little familiar. These traditions were incorporated into and or disseminated

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<v Speaker 1>through Grecian and Roman cultural traditions. The first kingcakes may

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<v Speaker 1>go all the way back to ancient Rome. As part

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<v Speaker 1>of the Libration of Saturnalia, a winter solstice and harvest festival,

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<v Speaker 1>a pastry would be baked with a fava bean hidden inside,

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<v Speaker 1>and the finder would be named King for the day.

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<v Speaker 1>The tradition became a part of Epiphany celebrations in the

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<v Speaker 1>Middle Ages, the fava bean was sometimes replaced by a

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<v Speaker 1>porcelain token of a crowned head to take some of

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<v Speaker 1>the pagan out of it. When Spain France spread their

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<v Speaker 1>outposts to the America's, the king cake tradition came with

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<v Speaker 1>them and took on a life of its own, particularly

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<v Speaker 1>in New Orleans. The baby trinket didn't come along until

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<v Speaker 1>a bakery called Mackenzie's came up with the idea in

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen fifties. At first, these figures were made out

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<v Speaker 1>of porcelain and baked inside the cake, but were eventually

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<v Speaker 1>replaced with plastic, which comes alongside the cake, due to

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<v Speaker 1>you know, concerns about baking plastic. These early cakes were

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<v Speaker 1>more brioche like or pendus like and didn't have filling.

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<v Speaker 1>That didn't come around until the nineteen eighties, as bakers

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<v Speaker 1>began adding more eggs and sugar to their recipes or

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<v Speaker 1>straight up switching to Danish pastry recipes, and anecdotal tail

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<v Speaker 1>puts the first commercial filled kincakes in New Orleans to

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<v Speaker 1>nine eight three. According to baker Joan Seaman. That year

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<v Speaker 1>her bakery baked four filled cakes. Her husband took one

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<v Speaker 1>to work, and they got twenty five calls about filled

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<v Speaker 1>cakes within thirty minutes. Through the nineteen eighties and nineties,

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<v Speaker 1>Cajun and Creole food became national trends, and shipping technology

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<v Speaker 1>improved as well, allowing for more or less affordable overnight shipping. Then,

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<v Speaker 1>in two thousand four, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina honed

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<v Speaker 1>New Orleans sense of community history and pride, and both

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<v Speaker 1>local and national hunger for these traditional dishes, which means

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<v Speaker 1>that celebrants have a veritable glut of kincake options today,

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<v Speaker 1>miniature kingcakes, kincake doughnuts, kincake vodka, kincake bourbon milk punch,

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<v Speaker 1>kincake smoothies, and, of course, in a city that loves

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<v Speaker 1>a party, a whole Kincake Festival held in late January.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by myself and Annie Reese, with

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<v Speaker 1>a hat tip to House to Work writer Jeremy Glass.

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<v Speaker 1>It was produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio. For more on this and

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>And for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the

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<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to

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