January 6 is the celebration of epiphany or 3 King's day, the 12 night after Christmas. It is a very old church tradition that is part of the church calendar to end the Christmas season and prepare (well in the south) for Madi Gras and the season of Lent. My family and I have refused to take down our decorations and to stop celebrating Christmas because we've an amazing time. There are many traditions that span cultures to celebrate epiphany meaning to reveal, make known, but we are sticking mostly with southern tradition. So here is my first attempt at a King's cake, a sweet bread like dessert that you hide a baby Jesus in and who ever gets the slice with Jesus is King or Queen for the day! And must bring the king's cake next year! Today, refers to the 3 magi that visited Jesus so the cake is shaped like a crown and decorated with green, purple and gold, the colors of this season (um don't those colors sound familiar?) I only found two gluten free recipes online....lesson learned don't try random recipes from the internet....I think I mistreated the yeast because the dough didn't really rise, which then in turn didn't really cook into a bread/pastry cake more like a flat bread sugar/almond filled sandwich.
This day also celebrates the tradition of Jesus' first 3 miracles and Jesus' Baptism. In many cultures, children put their shoes outside to receive money or candies for being good, representing the gifts the king's brought. I had my friends bring all their spare change to donate to an orphanage in Mexico that my church supports. This day is also a day to bless the house, so many people write the year above the door with crosses or the initials of the magi, remembering that the Magi tricked Herod so he would not kill the new born king. So for my second attempt, I baked a pistachio and apple bundt cake, almond is a traditional flavor of this day and bundt cakes look like pretty crowns....it tasted as good as it looks!! Yuuuuummmmm!! And that's all she celebrated...