Fifth Grade
Worksheets
King Cake
Mardi Gras Day
Reading Comprehension for February 5
Cake is a popular dessert. What wedding is complete without wedding cake? What birthday is complete without a cake and candles? We Americans love to have our cake and eat it too. Bakeries and grocery stores have ready-made cakes for us to buy. Cake mixes help us make our own cakes, or we can bake one from scratch. We often serve special cakes for holidays. There are sheet cakes, layered cakes, pound cakes, Bundt cakes, and more.
You have probably seen many cakes in your lifetime. Have you seen a king cake? It's not a king- sized cake. It's a cake served for the festivities of Carnival leading up to Mardi Gras. Carnival season begins on January 6th, which is known as Three Kings Day, Twelfth Night, or the Feast of the Epiphany. It ends on Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras is always 47 days before Easter. It is a day of parades, parties, and king cakes.
A traditional king cake is a sweetened yeast bread with a cinnamon filling. The dough is braided and formed into a ring to look like a crown. After it has been baked, a sweet glaze is poured over the cake, and it is sprinkled with purple, green, and gold sugar. Because people today love variety, some king cakes are made with different fillings and flavorings. Cream cheese, praline, and strawberry are the most common, but you can also find chocolate, blueberries and cream, and apple.
