History of the King Cake

I am driving to Mardi Gras as soon as I publish this post.  It is Lundi Gras (the Monday before Fat Tuesday) and New Orleans should be in full celebration.  I plan to eat a whole King Cake as soon as I get there!

photos from the Cupcake Project blog

The King Cake is a cinnamon roll-like cake gets its name from the biblical kings that came to honor Christ on Epiphany (The twelfth day after Christmas). The king cake season is from (January 6) Epiphany Day or the Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras Day.The famous King's Cake was brought to the New Orleans area by colonist from France and Spain. New Orleans bakeries feature their own style in the variety of recipes... The most traditional is twisted or braided bread. This cake is then topped with sugary icing and decorated purple, green, and gold sugar, icing, and sprinkles. The purple, green, and gold are the traditional carnival colors. Purple meaning Justice, Green for Faith, and Gold standing for Power; these colors were chosen by the Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch Romanoff of Russia during a visit to New Orleans in 1872.


King Cakes in Southern Louisiana date back to the eighteenth century, but in more recent history some New Orleans bakeries have begun to add their own touches to the traditional king cakes by adding a variety of flavored fillings including; apple, blueberry, chocolate, lemon, pineapple, raspberry, bavarian cream, cherry, cream cheese, pecan praline or strawberry. Throughout history, each cake was said to have a small trinket, or "baby" hidden inside. A tradition from the Roman Empire placed a little bean inside; in 1870 this bean was replaced by a porcelain figurine and more recently a plastic "baby." It is thought that this bean, or figurine was to represent Baby Jesus. And tradition declares whoever "gets the baby" or finds the figurine in their piece of king cake has the obligation to bring the next cake, or host the next carnival celebration.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Enjoy today with family, friends and loved ones.  Eat cupcakes together!

(the recipe of the week will be posted tomorrow)

mi kasa (Donna) via Flickr

Cake Creations by Shelly  via  Flickr

2010 Olympic Winter Games - Vancouver

Have a cupcake and celebrate the opening of the

2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver!

                 
The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp in 1920. The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings:  blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. These five rings represent the five continents of the world: Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.


       

visionsofsugarcrumbs via Flickr

Giant Valentine's Cupcakes

customcakeshop via Flickr

Sugar Craft by Rosie via Flickr

aryelle2685 via Flickr

Cupcake Luggage Tags

C-U-T-E   

I found these cupcake luggage tags at Target today!

(more) Mardi Gras Cupcakes

Starting to pack for Mardi Gras.  Can't wait to get there and check out some cupcake bakeries.  It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it....

TidyMom via Flickr 

 

jamminjamaican via Flickr 

paulahennig via Flickr

 

Frosting:Gourmet via Flickr 

Laissez les bons temps rouler

bigred911 via Flickr

Valentine's Day Cupcake Collars

February 14th is approaching and I am getting ready to make cupcakes.  You know I love Cupcake Collars and the heart template is a free download from Chica and Jo.  The other templates can be purchased and downloaded (.pdf) from Cupcake Collars.

Give a Valentine cupcake to someone special!

Crocheted Cupcakes

I have been searching for a crocheted cupcake pattern....here are some of my favorites.

stripeyblue via Etsy

crocheted cupcake rug from All Things Cupcake

Bakerella

Crystal Creates

Valita's Designs

Cupcake billiards from KTBdesigns

Recipe of the Week - Orange Cupcakes with Orange Frosting

Week 30

It's Super Bowl Sunday and since the big game is being played in Florida, I thought orange cupcakes would make a great recipe of the week! 

Orange Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 (zest of) orange
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 egg yolks (room temperature)
2 egg whites (room temperature)
1/4 cup sugar
orange food coloring (optional)


Orange Frosting

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
orange food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare 18 muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in oil, buttermilk and vanilla, beat one minute using an electric mixer. Add in the orange juice and egg yolks and beat for about one minute more.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the whites to the creamed batter.

Evenly divided the batter between the muffin tins. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until cupcakes test done.
Allow to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING:  beat the butter until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in the vanilla, zest and orange juice; beat until combined. Add in 3 cups confectioner's sugar to start, adding in more if needed to achieve desired consistency.

** Orange cream cheese frosting would also taste great on these cupcakes **

Cupcakes Ate My Soul

One of the followers of Carpe Cupcakes! has a blog called Cupcakes Ate My Soul.  I love the name of her blog and I wanted to feature it this weekend.  Ellie's Cakes is located in the UK so I can't drop by, but the next time I get to cross the Atlantic I will definitely stop in for a cupcake!

Check out Ellie's Cakes  and  Cupcakes Ate My Soul!