These little cuties are a good example of King Cake prizes, (small porcelain figurines generally baked into cakes as good-luck tokens), a popular french culture tradition. These figurines can range from animals to people, and can be usually be picked up at places such as eBay. One of our ALES members has one that is a French Mulassier (a french Horse breed), approx. 1" tall. The idea is, the person who gets the token in their slice is the "lucky" recipient for a dose of good luck for the year.

The history of the King Cake began in 12th century France where the cake (cross between a coffee cake and a french pastry) would be baked on the eve of January 6 to celebrate the visit to the Christ Child by the three Kings. Beans, peas, coins, or other small tokens were often hidden in the cake as a surprise for the finder. Whoever found it received a year of good luck and was treated as royalty for that day.

The King Cake tradition came to New Orleans (and later Mardi Gras) with the French settlers around 1870, continuing the custom of celebrating the coming of the Magi, calling it the Feast of Epiphany, Twelfth Night, or King's Day. It is generally oval-shaped and decorated in traditional Mardi-Gras colors: purple (Justice), green (Faith), and gold (Power). Legend has it the three colors first appeared in 1872 on a Krewe of Rex carnival flag especially designed for the visiting Grand Duke of Russia. He came to New Orleans just for the carnival, and thus the universal colors remain his legacy.

Wealthy Louisiana plantation owners in the later 1800s had their own spin on things and were known to sometimes substitute a precious stone or jewel as the good luck token in their King Cakes. Then, starting around the 1930s, the Mardi-Gras King Cakes of today began using a tiny naked baby charm in place of the traditional bean or coin tokens, in an attempt to better represent the origin of celebrating when the three Kings found baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

(This Page last updated: September 18, 2004)