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Maurice French Bakery |
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King for a Day
For most Americans, the advent of the new year is a time to make resolutions to trim the waistlines expanded by Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities. However, in party loving New Orleans, the first week of January begins King cake season, a traditional gastronomic prelude to the city’s Mardi Gras celebrations.
Between January 6 (Three King’s Day) and Mardi Gras, New Orleans bakers produce thousands of King cakes made from Danish dough that is braided with cinnamon and sugar, baked, and then topped with icing in the Mardi Gras colors purple, green, and gold representing justice, faith, and power. Hidden in each oblong of the braided coffeecake dough is a bean or plastic baby. Custom dictates that whoever finds the hidden treasure must give the next King cake party, thus ensuring the partying never ends in true New Orleans fashion!
Hundreds of King cake parties are held in New Orleans every year. After the cake is served, the cry "I’ve got the baby" announces that a partygoer has received the slice of cake containing the baby or bean. That guest is King or Queen of the party, an honor that includes playing host at the following week’s King cake festivity, where a successor is chosen in the same manner. King cake enthusiasm also extends to offices, which serve the cakes at coffee breaks and to parties for children whose birthdays fall during this time (Youngsters often find that a thoughtful mother has arranged for a baby to appear in every piece of cake.)
On January 6, New Orleans bakeries, filled with the sweet, spicy bouquet of King cakes, are besieged by throngs of devotees eager to sample the first King cakes of the year. New Orleans bakeries estimated they took more than a quarter of a million King cakes from their ovens before the season ended this year on Fat Tuesday. The traditional cinnamon flavored cakes are the most requested, but in recent years, bakeries like Maurice French Pastries have broadened the King cake selection by adding to their recipes. Apples and raisins, chocolate bourbon pecan, blueberry and cream cheese, and praline and brandy cakes are just a few of the many varieties now available.
The illustrious career of Maurice French Pastries’ owner Chef Jean-Luc Albin includes experience in some of the world’s most exclusive resort hotels. From the George V Hotel in Paris, to the Southampton Princess in Bermuda, to executive chef at the Fairmont in New Orleans, and eventually Chief of Operations at the Filmland Corporate Center in Los Angeles, headquarters for MGM/UA studios, this native Frenchman is now proud to call New Orleans home. Albin, who was one of 93 chefs chosen from 17 cities featured on the Great Chefs – Great Cities television and book series (Volume 1), is now pursuing his childhood dream of owning his own bakery, Maurice French Pastries.
Just as New Orleans feels lucky to have this international superstar reside in their town, Citystuff.com New Orleans is proud to offer his authentic Mardi Gras King cakes all year round. Watch out for the baby! |
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