This is a Creole cake whose history is the history of the famous New Orleans Carnivals celebrated in song and stories. The "King's Cake," or "Gateau de Roi," is inseparably connected with the origin of our now world-famed Carnival balls. In fact, they owe their origin to the old Creole custom of choosing a king and queen on King's Day, or Twelfth Night. In old Creole New Orleans, after the inauguration of the Spanish domination and the amalgamation of the French settlers and the Spanish into that peculiarly chivalrous and romantic race, the Louisiana Creole, the French prettily adopted many of the customs of their Spanish relatives, and vice versa. Among these was the traditional Spanish celebration of King's Day, "Le Jour des Rois," as the Creoles always term the day. King's Day falls on January 6, or the twelfth day after Christmas, and commemorates the visit of the three Wise Men of the East to the lowly Bethlehem manger. This day Is still even in our time still the Spanish Christmas, when gifts are presented in commemoration of the Kings’ gifts. With the Creoles it became "Le Petit Noël," or Little Christmas, and adopting the Spanish custom, there were always grand balls on Twelfth Night; a king and a queen were chosen, and there were constant rounds of festivities, night after night, till the dawn of Ash Wednesday. From January 6, or King's Day, and Mardi Gras Day became the accepted Carnival season. Each week a new king and queen were chosen and no royal rulers ever reigned more happily than did these kings and queens of a week.This is the celebrated The Original Picayune Creole Cook Book cake which was orginally served on Twelfth Night (January 6). It is a basic cake bread, for which New Orleans is famous:
Ingredients:
8 cups of sifted flourDirections:
1/2 oz. yeast disolved in
1/4 cup lukewarm water
milk or tepid water
12 eggs
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of the best butter
1/2 oz salt (2 teaspoons)
candies to decorate
To make the cake, take 6 cups of the flour, and put it in a wooden bread trough [bowl]. Make a hole in the center of the flour, and put in the yeast, dissolved in warm water. Add milk or tepid water to make the dough, using milk if you want it to be very rich and delicate, and water if you have not the milk. Knead and mix the flour with one hand, while adding milk or water with the other. Make a dough that is neither too stiff or too soft, and when perfectly smooth set the dough to rise in a moderately warm place, covering with a cloth. (Remember that if you use milk to make the dough it must be scalded, that is, must be heated to the boiling point, and then allowed to grow tepid.)
Let the dough rise for 5 or 6 hours, and, when increased to twice its bulk, take it and add the reserved 2 cups of flour, into which you will have sifted the salt. Add 6 eggs, beaten very light with the sugar and butter, and mix all well together, kneading lightly with your hands, and adding more eggs if the dough is a little stiff.
Then knead the dough by turning it over on itself three times, and set to rise again for three-quarters of an hour or 1 hour. Cover with a cloth. At the end of this time take it up and work it again lightly, and then form into a great ring, leaving of course, a hole in the center. Pat gently and flatten a little. Have ready a baking pan, with a buttered sheet of paper in it, and set the central roll in the middle.
Cover the pan with a clean, stiff cloth, and set the Cake to rise for an hour longer. When well risen, set in a 350 degree oven; let bake for an hour and a half; if medium size cake, 1 hour and, or if very small, 1/2 hour. Glace the Brioche [cake] lightly with a beaten egg, spread lightly over the top before placing in the oven. Decorate with dragees [a small candy], caramels, etc.
The Picayune's Creole Cook Book
Roots and stuff: scroll down to Mardi Gras king cake
Roots and stuff: scroll down toThree Kings Oil
Roots and stuff: scroll down toTres Reyes Magos
Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe
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