(12-29-2019, 07:58 AM)Super Wrote: LOL The person that gets the bean is King for a day...that is funny.
I think that’s the British version of the tradition. In New Orleans and areas of the Gulf Coast that celebrate Mardi Gras, the person who gets the little plastic baby (and hopefully doesn’t swallow it or choke on it!) is supposed to buy the next King Cake. That gets old pretty fast and people start intentionally looking for and avoiding the piece with the baby. Like I said above, it’s never been my favorite thing to eat anyway. The old tradition was a cake with a texture that somewhat resembles a dry, slightly stale sweet roll which is covered with a heavy topping of colored (purple, green and gold) granulated sugar. As you can imagine, that has an unpleasant “mouth feel”. Fortunately, there are bakeries who do it right and by the early 90s, I was introduced to filled King Cakes with glaze icing instead of granulated sugar and fillings like blueberry cream cheese or chocolate (both my favorites). I’m still only in the mood for a couple pieces a season, at most.
I should mention that for many years, my favorite King Cakes were made by Randazzo’s in Chalmette LA (actually, it might’ve been Violet LA but I can’t remember). At the time, the business had been assumed by the second or third generation of the family and was called Good Children Bakery. Like everything else in St Bernard Parish, the business locations were completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the family relocated to the North Shore (St Tammany Parish, north of Lake Pontchartrain), renaming the business Nonna Randazzo’s. Nowadays, my favorite King Cakes are (as I mentioned above) made by Paul’s in Picayune MS (which is still kinda-sorta the North Shore). Nothing against the Randazzo family but their baked goods have to be shipped to my present location and the King Cakes cost upwards of $60.
Sorry, I took this thread WAAAAAY off topic!
