Why is there a baby in my king cake?
Unless you live in New Orleans, you are probably confused by the idea of a Mardi Gras king cake baby. Why would anyone put a small doll in a cake? Here’s everything you need to know.
A king cake is a sweet, circular pastry, cake, or bread. It is round to represent the crown of a king. It is usually decorated in purple, green and gold icing. Purple, green & gold are the official colors of Mardi Gras. Purple represents justice, green represents faith, and gold represents power. These colors were chosen by the New Orleans Rex parade back in 1872.
King cake is eaten on January 6th, in honor of Epiphany (or Twelfth Night) which marks the arrival of the three wise men/kings in Bethlehem who delivered gifts to the baby Jesus. That date is also the start of Carnival season, which continues until Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Fat Tuesday is your last day to overindulge before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent and giving up your favorite things.
Every king cake contains a trinket, usually a very small plastic baby. Why is the baby is hidden in the cake? One explanation is that the baby represents the baby Jesus that the wise men are searching for. Whatever the reason, watch out when you are eating so you don’t swallow the baby. If you get the piece of cake with the baby inside, you get to be king for the day, but you must host the party next year!
So why do we care about a Mardi Gras king cake baby in Asbury Park, NJ? Because they are mascot of the Asbury Park Mardi Gras Day 2022 on February 26th. We’ll be hiding a bunch of babies in stores all around downtown. Don’t worry, they are much larger than a baby that is baked in a king cake. It is your job to find them in our Mardi Gras scavenger hunt. We’ll even give you a list of the businesses where they are hidden. After you’ve found all the babies, you’ll also be able to enter to win awesome prizes from the merchants of Asbury Park. It will be a sweet time at the Jersey Shore.