The children had a special project at Sunday School...making, baking, and decorating small "king cakes." We learned that the traditional king cake (originated with the French) is a symbol of the 3 kings/wise men. The tri-color topping is representative of a jeweled crown in honor of the three wise men who visited Jesus on Epiphany (also the day that the carnival season officially begins). Green symbolizes faith, gold symbolizes power, and purple symbolizes justice. The round shape not only represents a crown, but also portrays the circular route taken by the Magi in order to confuse King Herod. A plastic baby is often placed inside the cake (symbolic of the baby Jesus). This was a kids' project...made with canned biscuit dough, butter, sugar and cinnamon, cream cheese icing, and colored sugar, but MOMMY learned a lot!
