Mardi Gras!!!!!!!!!!! About This Page:

[BostonTeaParty]

So what's everyone doing to celebrate Mardi Gras? I'm thinking of trying to make the official Mardi Gras cake.

Ever been to New Orleans?

I read in the paper recently that celebrations are popping up in other places, such as Switzerland, and Burlington, VT.

Signed,
I want some beads!!!!!

[rescuesk]

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I'm thinking of trying to make the official Mardi Gras cake.

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Never heard of that...do you have a recipe?

Sue

[loobyoxlip]

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So what's everyone doing to celebrate Mardi Gras?

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Buying some paczki's! YUM!!

When I was in high school my friend and I made a pact to get to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Never happened and now we don't speak anymore

[MickeyMAC]

I've got to have a King Cake and yes I've been to New Orleans--neat place to visit but I don't know about living there.
Linda

[luvnwdwgal]

No Mardi Gras celebration here, although DH and I did go out to eat! May not sound like a big deal, except that we hardly ever eat out, maybe only 4 times a year.

We went to New Orleans once, about 20 years ago, but I didn't care for it at all. It's definitely not someplace I'll be wanting to visit again.

[BostonTeaParty]

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I'm thinking of trying to make the official Mardi Gras cake.

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Never heard of that...do you have a recipe?

Sue

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Sure Sue, here you go (with a little background to boot). After reading it I can see why you might want to pick one up at the bakery. It looks like a project!

(From the FoodNetwork website):

No Mardi Gras party is complete without King Cake--the colorful braided brioche that satisfies the sweet tooth. But even more important is what's hidden in the dough, because whoever gets a slice with a miniature plastic baby inside must supply the next King Cake--among other duties.

"I've heard whoever gets the baby has to do the dishes, or people put money into a pool and whoever gets the baby wins the pot," says David Haydel, owner of Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans, which produces 60,000 King Cakes each year for Mardi Gras revelers around the world. "Traditionally it's used to select the king and queen of the Mardi Gras krewe." Krewes are clubs that host Mardi Gras balls and parade elaborate floats down New Orleans streets.

If a man finds the prize in the King Cake, he's named king of the krewe's ball and chooses his queen. If a woman finds it, it's lady's choice. Typically, the queen provides the place for the next party, and the king provides the food. This tradition is said to have begun with the 1870 ball of the Twelfth Night Revelers in New Orleans, when one gold and several silver beans were hidden in King Cakes to determine the queen of the ball and her maids-in-waiting.

Most locals buy ready-made cakes, though the recipe is simply flour, eggs, butter, yeast and milk or water. The dough can be lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and citrus zest, or filled with cream cheese and fruit. Then it's braided into an oval ring to represent a crown and decorated with fondant icing, colored sugar, and candies in the Mardi Gras colors: gold for power, green for faith, and purple for justice.

Recipe is from http://mardigras.com/


TWELFTH NIGHT OR KING'S CAKE

Those using a bread-making machine should follow a recipe for brioche or sweet roll dough.

1 envelope dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
4 cups, approximately, unbleached flour

Mix the yeast with the warm water. Stir 1 teaspoon of the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the flour into the yeast and set aside. By the time you have measured the other ingredients, the yeast should be beginning to bubble and show signs of life.

Bring the milk to a boil and stir in the butter and the sugar. Pour into a large bowl; the mixture should be lukewarm. Beat in the egg yolks, whole eggs and the yeast.

Beat in approximately 2 cups of flour, until the dough is fairly smooth, then gradually add enough additional flour to make a soft dough that you can form into a ball. Knead it, by hand or machine, until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a bowl, turn the dough once or twice in it to grease it lightly all over, cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Pat the dough down and cover the bowl with a damp towel, plastic film over that and refrigerate until the next day. This recipe makes enough dough for two king cakes. Extra dough may be frozen, or make two king cakes and freeze one. Thaw frozen cake and reheat 10 minutes in a 375-degree oven.

FILLING

1/2 recipe king cake (above)
1 (16-ounce) can cherry, apple or apricot pie filling
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 dried bean (to bake in the cake as per tradition)
Colored sugars or confectioner's sugar and food coloring

Remove dough from refrigerator and with well-floured hands, while it's firm and cold, shape it into a long sausage shape. Using a floured roller on a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 30-by-9-inch rectangle as thin as pie crust. Let dough rest.

If necessary, drain extra juice from pie filling. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar, flour, egg yolks and vanilla. Spoon an inch-wide strip of fruit filling the length of the dough, about 3 inches from one edge. Spoon the cream cheese mixture alongside the fruit, about 3 inches from the other edge. Brush both sides of dough with egg wash. Insert the bean.

Fold one edge of dough over the cream cheese and fruit, then fold the other edge over. Gently place one end of the filled roll onto a greased pizza pan or large cookie sheet. Ease the rest of the roll onto the pan, joining the ends to form a circle or oval. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Brush again with egg wash and cut deep vents into the cake. Sprinkle with colored sugars if desired.

Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cake is well risen and golden. Cool before icing with confectioner's sugar mixed with enough water to make a spreadable paste and tinted purple, green and gold. Make one cake that serves 10 to 12 people. If using a plastic baby instead of the bean, insert it into the bottom of the cake after it is cooked.

[*Pixie*Dust*]

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Buying some paczki's! YUM!!



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Yummy, I haven't had any good ones since my nana died. She used to make her own and fill them with raspberry jam .

[Mouseketeer]

We're going to miss going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras this year. We usually have a fun day as one of my relatives lives on the parade route and the parades pass right in front of her house. I do have my Mardi Gras wreath decorating my front door, and I also have some decorations in the house.

If you are needing a king cake for a party Nancy, there are bakeries that can ship the cakes out overnight. I'm lucky because the last time we had company, they brought two king cakes for us. I promptly cut one into slices and froze it, so I could extend our treat throughout the season.

By the way, the Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold and green stand for justice, power and faith. And in order to catch beads, you need to say "Throw me something Mister!"

Lynda

[Tara O'Hara]

I LOVE Mardi-Gras, Nancy!! The beads are my favorite part!! I have never been to New Orleans, but Muffin has and he always brings back beads and crawfish!! One year he even brought home one of those yummy King Cakes!! Now, we have to have a party or something!! Too fun!

[rescuesk]

Thanks, Nancy for the recipe and the history!

I may give it a try,(in my breadmaker)or maybe I'll just go try to find one at the store. But if I do bake it, I'll be sure to remember where I hid the baby so that I get my DH to provide the food (ie take me out to dinner!)

Sue

[kadterp]

Never been to New Orleans, but would love to. Maybe when the kids get older and I can leave them to live the wild life!!