our deparment were the lucky recipients of a traditional Mexican treat. One of the parents of a student was generous enough to gift us with a very large cake made fresh from Tijuana...
The treat was the Rosca de Reyes (or "King's Ring"). The name refers to the Three Kings or Magi who went to visit the baby Jesus. This is usually eaten after the "Twelfth Day" of Christmas, which is also the first day of Epiphany, which is a Christian Feast Day that celebrates the revelation of God the son as a human being in Jesus Christ.
I don't mean to get all religious on you, but felt it was important to explain the meaning behind this cake. Being Filipino American, I didn't grow up eating this. My other non-Hispanic co-workers were also unfamiliar with this cake as well. The majority of the office however had grown up with Rosca de Reyes and joking asked where the "atole" (Mexican hot chocolate or "champurrado") was!
Inside each cake are little plastic babies (meant to represent the baby Jesus). Whomever gets the baby is meant to host a party on February 2 ("Dia de la Candelaria" or Candlemas Day) and provide tamales to everyone. The addition of the baby Jesus in the cake represents the flight of Jesus from King Herod, who ordered all male babies to be killed so he could wipe out the "messiah" that the prophets spoke of.
Apparently you can get the cakes even after January 6th. We joked, "Hey, just how OLD is this cake?". Our co-worker assured us that the parent had it made fresh that very day from this bakery. It was also made of wheat.
Traditionally, the cakes are round, but sometimes are oval if they are meant to feed large amounts of people. The cake is made of a flaky dough and filled with dried fruits and cream cheese (at least this one was).
The top of the cake is decorated with strips of dried fruits and candied fruit to represent jewels in a crown.
According to my co-workers, the fruit strips were made of guava and membrillo (quince) dyed in different colors. They all tasted the same. There were also candied figs on top (green) and cherries).
I was the first to cut the slice and would ya just know it, I ended up with the baby!!!
Everyone was so excited and said I had to host a party of some sort on February 2, but since it's on a Sunday, we're going to have it the day after. I told them instead of tamales, I would make them pancit! They were happy with that!
Apparently, there is more than one baby Jesus in the cake because another co-worker found it in his slice! The photo below is the one I had...
More of that delicious filling. This looks like dried papaya bits...
This was a nice surprise to start off the semester. We ended up enjoying this towards the end of our workday...
6 comments:
Oh, this is a *very* nice Rosca. We got ours at Northgate Gonzalez this year (because they make three sizes and we only need a small, which we divided between us, my mom and the neighbor and each of us got one baby) and it didn't have as much fruit, much less any filling. I enjoy the Mexican bread traditions (Dia de los Muertos and Rosca de Reyes) as well as Capirotada for Lent.
Haha, one of my co-workers also brought in a King Cake - I also got one of those babies! I told them I would bring in lemon bars. :)
hi cathy - if you notice the ring, you can see the butter/sugar "paste" dividing the cake. it's the same kind used to top conchas. loved it!
hi mary - yeah, i don't think i could make tamales on my own. pancit is much easier for me to handle!
The one from Northgate had the butter+sugar/paste dividing the strips of fruit, but nowhere as much membrillo, guyaba, citron or dates and no filling (but it was a nice egg bread). The one you got looks like a lucious fruitcake(which I crave). Pancit and lemon bars in February sounds good...then again if it is this cold, tamales will be good too.
hi cathy - this was a really nice one. in fact, bert is enjoying a piece right now with hot cocoa.
my other co-worker, mr. T is going to bring something too since he got the other baby.
i meant, mr. tj (tight jeans)
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