This may be heresy to folks from the South and I apologize deeply.
But the fact is that I don't have the wherewithal to make one of those traditional "King Cake" recipes like you may have seen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake
I'm sorry I can't find a picture of last year's cake so I'll have to describe it. Last year I made a Faux King Cake for a Christmas party. I wanted a pretty cake to sit on the buffet and it had to be festive. I started with a bundt cake since it had a shape similar to the classic King's Cake. I used cake mix for spice cake.
After I baked it and turned it onto the plate and let it cool, I pushed the "baby" underneath the cake. I couldn't get my hands on a plastic baby toy to push into the cake. Then I read that sometimes a pecan nut was used, I got a pecan and drew a little face on it with a marker. That was the baby. By tradition whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby gets to host the next party or bring the cake to the next party.
I then got some white frosting and divided it into 4 parts. I used food color to make purple, green, yellow, blue and then frosted different sections of the cake in different colors. It was a riot of color. A few sugar crystal sprinkles on top to make it sparkle. A little hand printed sign to say "Happy Birthday Jesus" and it was done.
While it wasn't a real King Cake, I like to think my Faux King Cake conveyed the spirit of the season and the coming of the King.
I hope this idea finds a place in your plan or inspires you to make a traditional King Cake.
Have a joyful day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento, Calif.
