Epiphany is a thrilling concept. Imagine knowledge downloaded wholesale, without any of the tedious intermediary steps, like fretting or mulling or arguing. Poof! Epiphany.
Which is the effect we expect each January when Epiphany kicks off the carnival season that stretches all the way to Mardi Gras. It’s a celebration that features many of our favorite themes-tyranny, gluttony, jewelry and cake. At once.
Not that we’ve taken in carnival in its natural habitat. But a holiday that promotes eating-a lot-in order to shore up for a spell of good behavior sounds sound. Our grasp of foreign language assures us that gumbo must be good, that gras means fat and that etouffee translates as stuffed.
We are particularly moved by descriptions of certain customs: bands of revelers dressed as bakers, enormous pastries rolled through the streets and the “cake march,” in which young women discover their destiny baked into a sweet. Here is a tradition that shares our deepest values.
After sufficient stuffing with parades and beads and jambalaya and a rum-heavy collision called the Hurricane, the Mardi Gras reveler will settle down to the duties of king cake. In some reaches of the Christian world the cake, a plain flat round of sugar-dusted pastry, commemorates the gifts three kings proferred to the tradition’s renowned baby king. We know families in which this humble cake is sliced and served in quiet solemnity on Jan. 6 (known as King Day, Twelfth Day or Epiphany), the trinket-bearing piece surreptitiously aligned with the youngest child’s plate.
Not, obviously, in New Orleans. There, in accordance with the festive ethic, king cake rules the entire season, Epiphany to Mardi Gras. It arrives garishly glazed in the holiday clash of green, purple and gold. Is yeast-puffed, often stuffed and frosting fluffed. And conceals, unnervingly, a miniature plastic baby.
Should the recipient of the baby-laced slice manage not to inhale the toy and expire, she is expected to proclaim, indelicately, “I’ve got the baby!” Which, in keeping with local custom, crowns her hostess of the next party.
This sudden news counts as an epiphany, of sorts.
KING CAKE
Serves 12
1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
6 tablespoons milk
4 cups flour, plus a little more for kneading
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus enough to slick a bowl and baking pan
3/4 cup granular sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 teaspoon water
1 small plastic baby, fava bean, coin or other trinket, rinsed and dried
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
Juice of one lemon
Gold, purple and green sugar crystals
1. Proof: Mix yeast and water in a medium bowl. Wait 10 or 15 minutes for bubbling proof that the yeast is indeed active.
2. Scald: Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Let cool, removing skin if necessary. Stir in cooled milk and 3/4 cup flour to form a very soft dough.
3. Cream: Beat butter, sugar and salt in an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in 4 of the eggs. Scrape in the yeast mixture and mix thoroughly on low. Continue mixing, shaking in about 3 cups of the flour, until dough is soft but not unduly sticky.
4. Rest: Settle dough in a large buttered bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled, about 3 hours.
5. Knead: Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead in the remaining 1/4 cup or so flour, working about 5 minutes.
6. Shape: Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a long thick rope. Twist the two strands together. Coil into an oval, securing ends with a firm pinch. Alternatively, you can roll each half into two ropes, twist and coil, producing two smaller, easier to handle, if less dramatic cakes. Transfer to a buttered baking sheet. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
7. Bake: Beat the remaining egg with water. Brush over the cake and bake at 325 degrees until golden brown, about 35 minutes for the small cakes, 45 minutes for the large one. Remove to a cooling rack.
8. Hide: Tuck the baby into the cake. Don’t fret: any telltale entry dimple will be sequestered under garish decoration.
9. Glaze: Whisk together confectioner’s sugar and enough lemon juice to achieve a shiny glaze. When the cake has cooled slightly, drench with glaze. Shake on broad swaths of colored sugars.
10. Serve: Enjoy wedges warm or at room temperature. Recipient of the baby-laced chunk is charmed, unless clueless enough to ingest it.
