Twelfth Night Cake

Twelfth Night Cake (aka Rosca de Reyes, Gateau des Rois, King Cake) honors the Three Wise Men who visited the baby Jesus on the 12th day after his birth. This Christian holiday is called Epiphany, Twelfth Night, and Three Kings Day. These festive enriched goods are consumed through Mardi Gras, ending on Ash Wednesday, the commencement of Lent.

The cake is a basic yeast-based brioche filled with dried fruits and nuts. The recipe descends from Ancient Arab recipes. The practice of serving this particular cake, often with a prize or bean inside, around Christmas time predates Christian times. Ancient Romans served a similar item. The traditional King Cake, as we know it today, was made by Christians throughout most of Europe by the Middle Ages. King cakes were introduced to America by European settlers. In places settled by Spanish missionaires (Mexico, South America, Florida, California), rosca de reyes was served. In the United States, the King Cakes of New Orleans are probably the most well known. German/Bavarian Dreikonigskeuchen (recipe here) is encased in a gold paper crown.

"Twelfth-Night Cake. In many countries it was customary to celebrate Ephiphany with a feast on its eve, or Twelfth Night. A central feature of these festivities was a cake in which a bean or token was hidden. He who found it in his piece of cake was named lord of the evening's entertainments and could command guests to do his bidding. In France the cake was known as gateau des rois, or king's cake, in honour of the Wise Men, whose feast Epiphany is; in Louisiana it is "king cake"; in Germany it is Dreikongskuchen; it is the Black Bun in Scotland; in Portugal it is bola-rei; and in Spain it is rosca de reyes."

---The World of Christmas, Gerry Bowler [McClelland & Stewart:Toronto] 2000 (p. 230)

"A long succession of mock kings have ruled over winter holiday merrymaking in Europe. In ancient times they presided over feasts held in honor of the Roman festival of Saturnalia...In the Middle Ages the boy bishop and the Lord of Misrule directed certain Christmas festivities...Twelfth Night celebrations, however, came under the special supervision of another mock ruler: the King of the Bean. In past centuries, the English, French, Spanish, German and Dutch celebrated Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve, with a feast. The Twelfth Night cake not only provided dessert, but also helped to facilitate an old custom...While preparing the cake the cook dropped a bean, coin or other small object in to the batter. The man who found the object in his slice of cake was declared "King of the Bean." If a woman received the bean, she became queen and appointed a man as king...The king presided over the rest of the evening's activities...Christmas season mock kings sprouted up regularly in mediveal Europe. Records indicate that in late medieval France thse kings were selected by a kind of edible lottery...In the sixteenth century, ordinary Dutch and German households celebrated Twelfth Night by baking a coin into a cake and acknowledging whoever received the coin in their slice of cake as king of the feast. In the next century, this Twelfth Night custom spread to England, France, and Spain..."

---Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, Tanya Gulevich [Omnigraphics:Detroit] 2nd edition, 2003 (p. 404-5)

"King cake. A brioche-style cake made during the Louisiana carnival season, beginning in January and ending at Mardi Gras...By tradition the cake contains a red bean (sometimes covered in gold or silver lear) or a figurine of the baby Jesus. It is sold widely throughout Louisiana...the person who finds the bean or figurine is prmosed good luck. There are various stories as the the origins of ther cake, though most in some way derive from the legend of the Three Kings visiting the infant Jesus in Bethlehem, as described in the New Testament. In the first half of the sixteenth century France commemorated Kings' Day--the twelfth day after Christmas--with a "Twelfth Night cake." A century later King Louis XIV took part in such a feast at which gateau des Rois ("Kings' cake") contained a hidden bean or creamic figure, as it does to this day. Before the Civil War American King cakes often contained gold, diamonds, or valuable instead of beans; after the war, with the end of gala Creole balls in Louisiana, peas, beans, pecans, and coins were used, and in 1871 the tradition of choosing the queen of the Mardi Gras was determined by who drew the prize in the cake...The colors of purple (for justice), green (for faith). And gold (for power) that traditionally tint the cake's icing first appeared in 1872 after the Rex Krewe, a Mardi Gras parade organization, chose those colors to celebrate that year's festival."