Many Mardi Gras Season dinners often include a King Cake. The cake has a little plastic baby baked into it. The person getting the baby is responsible for bringing the King Cake the following year. The baby in the cake symbolizes the Baby Jesus and clay or porcelain “babies” were baked into cakes in some parts of Europe before the 19th Century on the Twelfth Night of Christmas. After the Civil War, King Cakes became popular in New Orleans, often with a bean inserted to symbolize “Rebirth.” While many used real beans in the cake, some elite parties used beans made of gold or silver.
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