Children’s Activity Parties: Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day)

This month’s children’s activity party has a fun Mardi Gras theme.  Mardi Gras is celebrated around the world from 6 January up until and including Shrove Tuesday, when there’s often a colourful carnival. The words ‘mardi gras’ mean ‘fat Tuesday’ and the principle is the same as the origins of our own Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day: it’s a last chance to enjoy eating anything you liked before the season of Lent begins.

King Cake Before Decoration

I’d suggest starting by making a traditional King Cake, which is a rich, sweet bread.  King Cakes were originally associated with the feast of the Epiphany:6 January when the 3 Kings arrive to visit the baby Jesus.  However, they are now often associated with the whole carnival season and in New Orleans, the King Cake is made for Mardi Gras.

If you like, you can do some of the preparation in advance: the coloured sugars can be made days in advance (store in an airtight container) and the dough could be made up before your guests arrive. Make sure you get your butter out of the fridge to warm a little while before you start to make your dough.

The King Cake

You can either make your dough by hand or in a bread-maker on the dough cycle.  In either case you need to mix together 4 fl oz/120ml warm water and the same quantity of warm milk; 4oz/110g caster sugar; 1.5 teaspoons of salt; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; a tub of mixed peel(usually about 200g); 5 egg yolks (keep one of the whites to one side for later); 4oz/110g room temperature butter;  1 lb 8oz/700g white bread flour; 3 teaspoons dry yeast and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  If the dough doesn’t form a nice elastic ball, you can more warm water or flour as appropriate.

When you have finished kneading your dough, put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and place in a draft free place for about an hour or when the dough has roughly doubled in volume.  Most bread-makers include a rise in their dough programmes, so with a bread-maker omit this first rising. Punch the dough down and shape it into a cylinder, twist it and loop round on the greased baking tray, pinching the ends to form a circle. Alternatively, if you prefer you could try plaiting it. Cover in cling film again and allow it to rise for 45 minutes.

Beat an egg white and 1 tablespoon of milk together and brush onto the top and sides of your cake – this will give it a lovely brown crust.  Put your King Cake into a preheated oven at 190 degrees centigrade/ 375 degrees Fahrenheit/ gas mark 5 for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Decorating the King Cake

Decorating the King Cake

Once the cake has cooled you can decorate it with coloured sugars.  You can make these by mixing a little sugar with some food colouring – you can make as many colours as you like and you can change the depth of colour by adding more sugar to lighten or more colour to darken.  Start with a tablespoon of caster sugar and a drop of food colouring (you can also use food colouring pastes) in a small bowl and mix quickly together.  You’ll need at least 2 colours. Make a lemon frosting by adding 3oz/75g sieved icing sugar to the juice of one lemon, add more lemon juice or sugar to get the right consistency for spreading.  Cover a section of the cake with icing at a time and sprinkle on one of the coloured sugars.  Then add another band of icing and using a different colour.

Mask Making

Mask Making

While you are waiting for your King Cake to cook, you can make party masks.  Make a template from an old newspaper to get a good fit for your child and then transfer onto coloured card and cut out.  Use anything brightly coloured to decorate your mask: coloured feathers and sequins look great.  You can either attach a stick or a straw to the back of the mask or pierce holes and insert elastic thread.

Finding out more about Mardi Gras

I’ve found a few books that feature Mardi Gras: Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Alphabet Book by Karen Jansen and Mardi Gras by Dianne M. MacMillan.  The Alphabet Book is geared towards younger children while the other book is written for school age children and includes lots of colour photos.  You can easily find images and video clips online by using the image search on your browser or visiting YouTube, but please check any images before you show them to young children, as some of the party goers really like to let their hair down.

Copyright © 2010 Erica Price

Related posts:

1. Children’s Activity Parties:Bastille Day
2. Children’s Activity Parties: St.George’s Day (23 April)
3. Children’s Activity Parties: Wimbledon
4. Children’s Activity Parties: St.David’s Day (1 March)
5. Children’s Activity Parties: Burns Night

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