Mardi Gras is a great excuse for a mid-week dessert celebration. Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday” in English, marks the end of the Carnival season in New Orleans. Carnival begins on January 6, on the Feast of the Epiphany and ends the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Throughout the Carnival celebration, there are masked balls, parades, and good food. In New Orleans, as in France, the Epiphany is marked by a party featuring the “Galette des Rois”. The Galette des Rois or almond cake literally translates to Cake of the Kings. This cake, a pithivier, is made of flaky puff pastry filled with a layer of almond cream into which a “feve” (usually a bean or small trinket) is baked. The lucky person who finds the feve in his or her piece of cake becomes the King (or Queen) for the day…and has to host the next Galette des Rois feast party.

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is an even bigger celebration than France’s Epiphany cake. The New Orleans style (NOLA) King’s Cake is traditionally baked in a ring shape, covered in a flat icing, sometimes filled with fruit or cream cheese, and always decorated in the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold, and green. These colors have represented justice, power, and faith respectively, since 1892.

So take advantage of this built-in mid-week holiday (yes, it is an official holiday in Louisiana) and celebrate with either a traditional French pithivier or a NOLA king’s cake. You’ll be glad you did.

The Winter holiday season is associated with a number of traditional desserts, scents, and events.  One that encompasses all three of these is the gingerbread house competition.  One of my favorite Gingerbread House Competitions is the annual national competition hosted by the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.  Held each year in mid-November, this competition attracts competitors in all ages from all over the country.  As a judge of the competition, each year I am impressed by the quality of the work that the competitors show. 

Although this year’s competition has passed, as past winners will tell you, it is never too early to begin thinking and planning for next year.  Enjoy some of my favorite entries from this year’s show below…or catch them on Good Morning America on December 24.  You may also view photos of the top three winning entries from each age category online at the Grove Park Inn’s web site:  https://www.groveparkinn.com/gallery/National-Gingerbread-House-Competition.

In the meantime, grab a little royal icing and some candies and decorate your own house today!