King cakes can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Europe. The Three Wise Men were honored during the celebration of Christmas with their own special feast day — Epiphany, the 12th night after the birth of Christ. This day became known as “Twelfth Night” and was celebrated with pageants and special cakes. Children were given gifts to symbolize the gifts given by the kings to the baby Jesus.

When the Europeans arrived in New Orleans, the Creole celebrations included “Bals de Roi” where kith and kin gathered and enjoyed a traditional king cake. In the cake was a hidden bean, “la feve,” and the lucky finder would be named “Roi or Reine de la Feve.” Their reward would be to reign over the next ball.

In January 1870, the Carnival krewe called the Twelfth Night Revelers debuted. And in 1871, they began the tradition of selecting a queen. For this ceremony, a cake with a bean was used. At the ball, the men skewered slices of the cake on spears and attempted to distribute the sweets to the ladies. In one slice of cake was a gold bean, and the fortunate recipient was then supposed to step forward. Well, you can imagine what a messy production it was. So the next year, the king of the krewe, the Lord of Misrule, made sure he knew which slice of cake contained the bean.

In modern king cakes, the bean was replaced around 1930 with a baby doll tucked inside the oval-shaped cinnamon dough brioche covered with icing and sugar in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

Today, more than 750,000 of these wonderful cakes are devoured in metro New Orleans alone, and at least another 75,000 are shipped nationwide to people who aren’t lucky enough to be here during Carnival time.