Paul’s Pastry Shop, Home of the Original Cream Cheese King Cake™ in Picayune, MS is proud to announce that we have partnered with and trained bakeries in California, Oklahoma, Washington State, Ohio and New Jersey to make our Original Cream Cheese and Fruit Filled Mardi Gras King Cakes. You can purchase Original Paul’s Pastry Fruit & Cream Cheese filled Mardi Gras King Cakes at these new locations: Torrance Bakery in Torrance, CA; Merritt’s Bakery in Tulsa, OK; Celebrity Cake Studio in Tacoma, WA; Ele´ Cake Company in West Carrolton, OH and La Bonbonniere Bake Shoppes in Edison, NJ. If you have friends or relatives living near these locations, please let them know.
Paul’s Pastry Shop is located in Picayune, MS and was designated by the “Official Best of” as the Best King Cake in 2014—the first bakery to receive this King Cake designation. Visit their web site at www.officialbestof.com for the video.
In European countries, the coming of the Wisemen bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas or the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting.
All over the world people gather for festive twelfth night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings…”a King’s Cake.”
European’s hide a bean inside their cake and the person receiving the bean must portray one of the Kings. Latin-American people put a small plastic baby figure inside the cake representing the Christ Child. It is said that a year of good fortune awaits the lucky person who gets “The Baby Inside the King Cake.” That person also brings the next King Cake to the next celebration during the Mardi Gras Season.
Mardi Gras revelers like the idea of perpetuating the celebration by having the person who received the baby continue the festivities with another party and another King Cake. Starting the twelfth day after Christmas, King Cake Parties continue until the first day of Lent, ending on Fat Tuesday…Mardi Gras Day! This year Mardi Gras is on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.
King Cakes were originally a simple ring of dough with little decorations. They are now decorated in three colors: GREEN – Representing Faith; PURPLE – Representing Justice, and GOLD – Representing the Voice of Power. In the early 1970’s, Paul’s Pastry Shop began making their own special King Cake dough and began filling the King Cakes with an assortment of Fruits and Cream Cheese, then topping them with the brightly colored Mardi Gras King Cake sugars and sliced Almonds…thus the beginning of a new Mardi Gras King Cake tradition. Our customers not only have the choice of the traditional cinnamon King Cake, but also an exotic, deliciously filled King Cake with your choice of up to four flavors in the same cake.
Tens of thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year in Louisiana, Mississippi and now around the United States. Mardi Gras season is a cultural gumbo of European tradition, pagan celebration and religious doctrine, spiced with more than a dash of local flavor. Today’s Mardi Gras has evolved into an American phenomenon. Paul’s King Cakes are now available; not only in Picayune, Mississippi, but also in California, Oklahoma, Washington, Ohio & New Jersey. The professional bakers at Paul’s Pastry and these other bakeries wish to continue the Mardi Gras tradition of making quality King Cakes for customers to enjoy. Stop by one of these Bakeries to purchase a Paul’s Original Fruit & Cream Cheese filled King Cake or ship one to your family & friends. Please visit our web site to get a current list of Mississippi locations selling Paul’s Pastry King Cake this 2015 Mardi Gras season.
