King Cake traditions

Yesterday we were invited to eat Galette des Rois and cheer the new year with Canard-Duchêne roséchampagne at my husband’s family. The hosts had ordered this huge cake from a famous bakery and it came with kings’ and queens’ crowns. It had lots of marzipan, so I was a very happy guest!galette des rois

Following the tradition, the youngest child of the family placed herself under the table and informed the person in charge of cutting the cake who gets which slice. This is particularly important because there is a trinket, la fève, inside the cake that everyone wants to have (but as our cake was so big, there were several trinkets inside). The tradition also says that whoever get the trinket will become the king or the queen, hence crowned. 

a trinket of the king cake

In a religious sense, the cake is said to “draw the kings” to the Epiphany. Remember, those kings; wise men who visited Jesus in Bethlehem on the 12th day of Christmas? Today, there are slight variations of the King Cake tradition across the world and even the trinket is not always baked inside the cake for the safety reasons. But if you are traveling in the Catholic world around this time of the year, check out the local bakery to see if they offer the King Cake! 

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