Let them eat King Cake, but not the baby!

I remember the first time I had a King Cake. I was working in Washington, D.C., celebrating Mardi Gras in a cold park so my coworkers and I could remain socially distanced during the COVID pandemic. As someone explained the symbolism of the cake, I dug into its rich layers of cinnamon filling peeking out from ribbons of icing and colored sprinkles. Then, someone excitedly waved around a tiny plastic baby plucked from their slice.

Even though I didn’t have any previous knowledge of King Cake or its history, I could tell there was something special about it.

"I think having all of this additional fun and ritual and tradition and communal celebration around it is part of what makes it so much more than even just like a birthday cake or any other kind of cake that has traditional meaning," said baker and theologian Kendall Vanderslice.

She told NCR that a huge part of the excitement around King Cake is the lore surrounding the treat. "It's a great avenue through which we can tell the story of the church," she said.

While there are several kinds of King Cake, the Louisiana style is the most traditional and recognizable. With a brioche-like texture, it is more of a sweet roll than an actual cake.

The sprinkles, in the traditional colors of Mardi Gras, hold their own meaning: purple for justice, green for faith and yellow for power. The circular shape represents our connectedness as a church and community. 

Hidden inside the cake is a small plastic baby. If the baby is found in your slice of cake, you are then crowned king or queen for the day. It also means that next year, it’s your duty to supply the cake. 

Vanderslice, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, said King Cake is part of a global tradition that developed over hundreds of years.

The celebrations surrounding King Cake originated somewhere in France, around the 12th or 13th centuries, likely coinciding with other festivals that were taking place regionally.

Today, the celebrations surrounding King Cake coincide with the Carnival festival and are celebrated all over the world. Here, our religious and cultural celebrations intertwine. Carnival is a time for dramatic excess and the disregard for order. It is a time of extravagant costumes, celebrations and eating. The celebration is intertwined with the liturgical period between Epiphany and Lent. It is a time to be wonderfully joyful and excessive before entering into a period of fasting.

The celebration begins at Epiphany and follows the story of the three kings arriving to worship infant Jesus as their true ruler. King Herod, fearful and enraged that a small child could hold so much power and significance, decided to invoke wrath across the land.

Throughout the Lenten season, the emphasis is on the reversal of roles and expectations. King Cake is symbolic of that reversal that continues to resonate with people.

"We also have this very tangible reminder that ultimately God is the one with ultimate power and also the way that God was set out that God chose to enter the world is in this very small, simple, subversive way, and we also can navigate life in these very small, simple, subversive ways," Vanderslice said.

The King Cake’s ring shape is also a reminder that we’re all connected. As Vanderslice said: "You wouldn't just buy and eat a King Cake on your own. It’s meant to be eaten in community."