Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, as it's also known, is less than a week away. In case you didn't know, it's the last big hurrah of merrymaking before the season of Lent begins. The holiday means parades, parties, and of course, lots of good food, drinks and desserts.
One of those desserts you might be overindulging in this Mardi Gras season is the King cake. Morning Edition host Andrew Garcia and I wanted to know more about the celebratory confection. So we decided to reach out to Tida Pichakron, owner of Haute Sweets Patisserie in East Dallas, to fill us in on the confectionary treat. Not only is Pichakron a pastry chef but she was also born and raised in New Orleans, which means she knows a lot about King cake.
We started out with the basics. What is a king cake?
"I want to say it's a glorified cinnamon roll," said Pichakron.
"Essentially, that's what it is. You can get it in different forms. Some people braid the dough, some people roll it. But it's just a celebration of carnival season. As soon as the first parade hits, that's when the King cakes start rolling out."
Pichakron uses a friend's family recipe to create the hundreds of King cakes she'll make this season.
"It's 100 years old and it started with her grandmother. They used that dough recipe to make rolls. And then eventually it turned into a cinnamon roll recipe. And then I've turned it into using it for King cakes.
It has an amazing nice tender crumb. Very moist. I hate using the word "moist," but it's a very moist King cake.
I asked Pichakron what goes into making a King cake, Can you say, whip one up in an afternoon?
As it turns out, no.
While revelers can easily gobble one up during the span of a single Mardi Gras party, making one takes a lot longer.
"The dough has to be made the day before so it can rise overnight," explained Pichakron. "And then the next day we roll it out and then it rises again in a proofing oven and then it bakes. So it's quite the process."
Pichakron says she has fond childhood memories of the cake. Her parents didn't let her eat a lot of sweets, but there was always King cake in her home throughout the roughly 6 weeks of Carnival season. It wasn't until she left Louisiana she realized the tradition of constant King cake was mostly a Louisiana thing.
Another "If you know, you know" Louisiana tradition is leaving the knife in the box.
"A butter knife is always left in the package of the King cake," says Pichakron. You're just going to get a little sliver throughout the day, and so you don't want to have to go get another knife. It's always in the box with the cake."
The cake is a tribute to the biblical story of the Three Wise Men who visited the baby Jesus. The purple, green and yellow icing on the cake stand for justice, faith, and power respectively and symbolize the gifts brought to the child. They're also the official colors of Mardi Gras.
Andrew confessed he had never eaten King cake, so in the spirit of the season, we bought one to the studio for a taste test.
"It's really good," said Andrew. "It's like a cinnamon roll that's ready to party."
Andrew was also unaware of the "surprise" inside King cakes.
"Did you get the baby?" I asked
"Wait. There's a baby in this cake?" replied Andrew.
"There's a little plastic baby that's hidden in the cake," I explained. "The baby symbolizes the baby Jesus and finding it in your slice means you'll have luck and prosperity during the following year. It also means that you buy the cake for the next party."
"I'm looking around my piece, and I am not seeing a baby, so it looks like I'm off the hook," said Andrew.
My vote is we keep looking.
Mardi Gras is next Tuesday, March 4th. Find our list of events and celebrations going on around North Texas at at KERAnews.org/arts.
