Why Is There A Plastic Baby In King Cake?

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In the city of New Orleans, carnival celebrations are in full swing. For folks in the sinking city, that means parades, costumes, general debauchery, and as much King Cake as one can manage. More of a dessert brioche roll than an actual cake, King Cake is a braided, cinnamon sweetened, often-filled-with-cream-cheese-and-dripping-in-icing-and-sprinkles delight feasted on in the weeks between January 6th (A.K.A King's Day or the beginning of carnival) and Fat Tuesday. In true New Orleans fashion, there's a wacky little plastic baby tucked in each cake.

If you haven't had the pleasure of spending a Mardi Gras or two in New Orleans, you may be wondering, "Uhm...why?" Although Mardi Gras is, at its root, a pagan celebration — routinely saluting Roman and Greek gods and goddesses and relishing in a Bacchanalian good time — it was, over time, adopted as a Christian celebration, intended to honor the days leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. That said, for some folks, the plastic baby that comes with each cake is representative of the baby Jesus. The tradition started in the 1940s with a baker named Donald Entringer, who originally included porcelain babies in his cakes.

However, before there was the baby — or Jesus, for that matter — there was the bean. In ancient Rome, the winter holiday was an event called Saturnalia, which honored Saturn, the god of the harvest himself. As fertility was often represented by the fava bean, a single bean would be tucked inside the celebratory cakes. Whoever found the bean in their piece of cake was deemed king for the day. 

The tradition of the King Cake baby is alive and well in New Orleans. While it used to be baked directly into the cake, many bakeries now put it on the side, allowing the buyer of the cake to hide it somewhere within its folds. Others, like the Marigny's Ayu Bakehouse, opt for more pagan representation, using a golden bean fashioned from fondant. The person who gets the baby (or the bean) in their bite gets the sweet comfort of knowing the odds are in their favor. 

It also means you have the honor of buying the next King Cake! If you're wondering where to get it, Manny Randazzo's Bakery has been a go-to for folks for more than 60 years. However, many locals will tell you that Dong Phuong in the East is where you'll find the best King Cake in New Orleans. Wherever you go, make sure to place a pre-order as they sell out fast.

If you won't be able to make it to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras this year, go ahead and make your own party with a delicious King Cake recipe. While the braided brioche-style treat calls for a bit of bravery in the kitchen, it will really pay off. Make sure you stock up on purple, yellow, and green sanding sugar for that authentic carnival look. The colors are meant to represent the three gifts given to Jesus by the Wise Men: Faith, power, and justice — and, whatever you do, don't forget the baby! You can buy a small package of King Cake Babies on Amazon for under 10 bucks.