That said, there are things about Mardi Gras that do appeal to us -- those metallic purple, gold, and green beads, for example. We got our annual fill of those from our brother-in-law, who was down there this year for the festivities. In fact, we probably would have forgotten all about Mardi Gras had those spangly things not arrived in the mail last week. And then it reminded us of what we did actually miss about Mardi Gras season: king cake.

King cake is the traditional pastry of the season. According to David Morris, owner and founder of the Bread Garden bakery in Berkeley (purveyors of the best chocolate peanut butter cup you will ever eat), it was originally a special cake served on Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas, but in New Orleans, king cake is enjoyed from Epiphany until Fat Tuesday. It's a brioche-style dough, decorated on the outside with multicolored sugar granules and filled with an almond paste. There's also a prize hidden inside -- depending on whose cake you get, it's a plastic or porcelain baby (symbolic of the Christ child), or it's some other small thing. Bread Garden's is a lima bean. Whoever gets the prize is king or queen for the day, the duties and responsibilities thereof including buying the next king cake.

Bread Garden's king cake is a very tasty example of the form, plus they include a crown for the king or queen. They usually have them available from Epiphany to Mardi Gras, so by the time we remembered it was the season, we were afraid it was too late. But fortunately, David Morris says that you can special-order them ahead of time whenever you want. So if you missed it like we did -- or just didn't get enough of it this year -- give them a call at (510) 548-3122 or email them.

Image courtesy of the Bread Garden