"king cakes" news and stories

• Happy Valentine's Day! Chocolate desserts cure everything, you know.
• Next holiday: Mardi Gras. Ready for king cake?
• Speaking of French-inspired traditions, try knocking back a French 75.
• One can always use a refresher course in chicken and dumplings.

• Need a king cake for Mardi Gras? Here's the city's royal roundup.
• ... Or perhaps you'd like to make your own king cake.
• Where's the beef? Nowhere to be found during Lent, so eat up now.
• Speaking of meat, here's a classic recipe: tournedos Provencale, a Commander's Palace staple in the 1970s.
• After Ash Wednesday, whip up this Thomas Keller-inspired macaroni gratin recipe. Lent will fly by.

I find this picture, posted by Stef, slightly creepy and yet totally fascinating, all at the same time. I know that it's tradition to bake trinkets into the King Cake, so it's not quite as strange as it could be, but it's still a little nutty to see a plastic baby climbing out of a cupcake. For the story (and recipes!) on these cupcakes, check out Stef's post on her blog, Cupcake Project. Apparently, these babies won her third place in a King Cake Bake-off. Good job, Stef!

If you want to see your cupcakes (or other baked goods) up here on the Food Porn Daily, make sure to head over to the Slashfood Flickr page and join the group. All the cool kids are doing it!

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The traditional King Cake is a ring of rich pastry, similar to brioche or Danish pastry, which is filled with a rich filling, like cream cheese, marzipan or a buttery cinnamon mixture. The cake is frosted with brightly colored icing: purple to represent justice, green to represent faith, and gold to represent power. King Cakes are served some time between Epiphany and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras and can be eaten with breakfast or as a dessert.