Mardi Gras King Cake Sales Top 500,000 and Growing - Secret Easy King Cake Recipe Revealed

    BATON ROUGE, LA, February 03, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- If you've ever been to Mardi Gras, anywhere in the Southern United States, and most certainly in Louisiana, then you understand the overwhelming significance of the King Cake!

Representative of the Epiphany, when done properly King Cake not only is a shared experience for friends and family in celebration, but can be a revelation of the finer points of culinary bakery skills.

Holly Clegg, author of the Gulf Coast Favorites Cookbook, specializes in the best of Louisiana and Southern Cuisine, made Trim and Terrific. Holly Clegg's Mardi Gras King Cake recipe has been proclaimed as "even better than ones you purchase in the bakery."

"The history and tradition of the King Cake make it a special part of Southern Culture and our appreciation for food and family," commented Clegg, "I want to share this time perfected recipe with everyone who can't be here with us to celebrate Mardi Gras."

According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau "More than 500,000 King Cakes are sold each year in New Orleans between January 6 and Fat Tuesday, and another 50,000 are shipped out-of-state via overnight courier." Without a doubt the Mardi Gras King Cake is one of the most popular foods of Mardi Gras.

The story behind the Mardi Gras King Cake is a time-honored tradition beginning when people celebrated the arrival of the Three Kings, who brought gifts to baby Jesus on Twelfth Night (the end of Christmas and the beginning of Epiphany).

Along with giving special gifts to children, the custom became to eat a special kind of Cake for the celebration, which originally was a simple ring of dough.

Over the years, the King Cake has had different shapes, but today the most popular King Cake is shaped in a ring of braided dough with cinnamon.

Before baking the dough, a plastic baby is inserted inside the dough to represent baby Jesus. The colors of Mardi Gras, purple (justice) green (faith) and yellow (power) decorate the King Cake. If you are the lucky one to be served the piece with the baby you are crowned King or Queen of the evening, and also responsible for next year's cake.

"A friend of mine asked me several years ago when she found the figurine and took on the responsibility of the next year's cake to share with her my secret family recipe. This year she suggested that I share it with everyone who can't be here for the celebration," commented Clegg (http://hollyclegg.com)

Social Media is abuzz about Clegg's much lauded King Cake Recipe.

@PastorJoelle (From IL) Beautiful King Cakes! My favorite recipe comes from Holly Clegg: We taste-tested your recipe against a yeast-based recipe and a store bought cake. Yours won easily!! -- from Twitter.

This highly anticipated King Cake season begins on Twelfth Night (January 6) and ends on Mardi Gras (always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). A King Cake, festive and delicious, is a memorable food during the carnival season. Here's an easy, kid-friendly King Cake recipe made with crescent rolls to celebrate Mardi Gras wherever you live! Clegg's blog also includes easy, healthier Mardi Gras recipes at http://thehealthycookingblog.com

With over 1 million cookbooks sold, Holly Clegg has become a culinary expert on easy, healthy and practical recipes through her nationally recognized best-selling trim&TERRIFIC cookbook series, including the more targeted health focused cookbooks, Diabetic Cooking with the American Diabetes Association, Eating Well Through Cancer, Alimentándose bien durante el cáncer (Spanish edition) and Eating Well to Fight Arthritis.

Clegg has appeared on Fox & Friends, NBC Weekend Today, QVC, The 700 Club, USA Today, Web MD, The Huffington Post and partnered with Walmart to promote healthy, affordable cooking through webisodes. She also has a partnership with Our Lady of Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, worked with Baylor Hospital in Dallas and other hospitals nationwide. Follow her on all social media, website and blog!

Holly Clegg hopes to make a difference in your lifestyle by cooking healthier with her easy, healthier and fabulous favorite recipes.

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