king cake
UK/kɪŋ keɪk/
king cake noun: a decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on Epiphany. In many traditions it contains a pea, a trinket or some other small object which entitles its finder to be the "king" for one day.
Noun
king cake (countable and uncountable, plural king cakes)
- A decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on Epiphany. In many traditions it contains a pea, a trinket or some other small object which entitles its finder to be the "king" for one day.
- A pretty superstition was also connected with the King's Cake. The lucky finder of the pecan, or bean, or ring, which was hidden within was henceforth to be favored by fortune. The queen cut the bean in two, and gave half of it to her king, and so, if a gentleman found it. The lucky bean was...1901, “Twelfth Night or King's Cake. Gateau du Roi.”, in The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, 2nd edition, New Orleans, La.: The Picayune, →OCLC, pages 314–315
- In New Orleans, Twelfth Night is the beginning of the Mardi Gras season. The New Orleans Twelfth Night Cake or King Cake, as it is usually called today, is a traditional sweet yeast bread served on Twelfth Night and during the Mardi Gras season. The New Orleans King Cake is shaped to form a crown...2003, Marcia [G.] Gaudet, “The New Orleans King Cake in Southwest Louisiana”, in Marcia Gaudet, James C. McDonald, editors, Mardi Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture, Jackson...
- Synonyms:
- baby cake, epiphany cake, three kings' cake, twelfth cake, twelfth-day cake
king cake meaning in Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese
king cake in Arabic
- cake eaten on Epiphany
- كَعْكَة عِيد الغَطَّاس
king cake in Persian
- cake eaten on Epiphany
- کیک پادشاه
king cake in Vietnamese
- cake eaten on Epiphany
- bánh vua
Examples of king cake in a sentence
- The New Orleans Twelfth Night Cake or King Cake, as it is usually called today, is a traditional sweet yeast bread served on Twelfth Night and during the Mardi Gras season.2003, Marcia [G.] Gaudet, “The New Orleans King Cake in Southwest Louisiana”, in Marcia Gaudet, James C. McDonald, editors, Mardi Gras...
- Local custom dictates that Carnival has its official beginning when a debutante at her “coming out” ball finds a golden bean in her slice of king cake at the Twelfth Night Revelers’ Ball.2006, Louise McKinney, New Orleans: A Cultural History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 222:
- King cakes, rich briochelike delicacies, make their appearance on 6 January, or Twelfth Night, and herald the beginning of the Carnival season in New Orleans.2007, Susan Tucker, “King Cakes”, in John T. Edge, editor, Foodways (The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; 7), Chapel Hill, N.C....
- A king cake is filled with cinnamon, fruit, or cream cheese.2014, Julie Murray, “King Cake”, in Mardi Gras (A Buddy Book), Minneapolis, Minn.: ABDO Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 18:
Synonyms of king cake
Forms of king cake
| plural | king cakes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | kingcake |
| alternative form | king's cake |
| alternative form | kings' cake |
Origin of king cake
Probably a calque of French galette des rois (literally “galette of the kings”), meaning the three Magi who visited the baby Jesus at Epiphany.
Questions about king cake
- What does king cake mean?
- King cake means a decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on Epiphany. In many traditions it contains a pea, a trinket or some other small object which entitles its finder to be the "king" for one day.
- What is king cake in Arabic?
- King cake in Arabic is كَعْكَة عِيد الغَطَّاس. See King cake meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use king cake in a sentence?
- The New Orleans Twelfth Night Cake or King Cake, as it is usually called today, is a traditional sweet yeast bread served on Twelfth Night and during the Mardi Gras season.
- What part of speech is king cake?
- King cake is a noun.
- How do you pronounce king cake?
- King cake is pronounced /kɪŋ keɪk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of king cake?
- The plural of king cake is king cakes.
Words near king cake in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: king cake (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-king cake.ogg.
Cite this entry: “king cake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/king_cake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.