130 COBB LIFE | APRIL 2019
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PARTING SHOT
Bernard and Dee Carter, owners of Bourbon Street Ice
near the intersection of Barrett Parkway and Old 41
Highway in Kennesaw, sprinkle colorful sugar onto a
king cake in anticipation of Mardi Gras. The couple makes
their colorful sugar in-house without artific al coloring so kids
with food allergies can have king cake, too.
Dee, who was raised in New Orleans and learned to cook
from watching her mother and sister, said that once the cakes
come out of the oven and cool down to room temperature, the
duo coats the cakes with a generous helping of icing and sugar
colored green, purple and gold. The fi al step was to take a
little trinket shaped like a baby and stick it into the cake.
“King cake actually signifies he three kings looking for
baby Jesus,” Bernard Carter said. “The kings are looking for
baby Jesus, and that’s why a little baby is placed inside, kind of
hidden, to signify baby Jesus.”
Whoever fi ds the baby Jesus in their slice of king cake
can expect to have good luck on the way and to be responsible
for putting on the next king cake party.
Bernard Carter said in the old days, the baby was baked
inside the cake, but nowadays, especially outside of New
Orleans, bakers often leave the baby peeking out from the
cake’s surface so customers will not choke.
“In New Orleans, the tradition is to stick it inside. Here in
Georgia, everyone may not necessarily know that part of the
tradition, so we put it on top,” he said. “If the individual asks us
to put it inside, then we put it inside.”
PHOTO AND STORY BY ROSS WILLIAMS