Mardi Gras is just a day away and while some people love to participate in the holiday for the beads and booze, there’s also another fun tradition involved: King Baby cake. Here are a few different recipes and some fun facts about why there’s a plastic baby baked into the confectionary delight.

Also known as Fat Tuesday, Mardis Gras takes place before Ash Wednesday. It’s influenced by the Catholic religion and mixes both Europe’s Carnival celebration and U.S. Southern flare. New Orleans is the renowned place to celebrate the holiday. Its residents, and travelers from around the world, take part in some indulgences before Lent begins -- or just to have a really good time.

The icing on the King Baby Cake sums up key symbolism: purple for justice, green for faith and yellow for power. Furthermore, the baby represents the “king” (infant Jesus), and it is believed that the person who finds the baby will have good luck and is sometimes expected to host next year's Mardi Gras party. Searching for the baby adds extra excitement to the night's festivities.

These days, the baby inside the cake is usually plastic, but it used to be porcelain or gold, MardiGrasNewOrleans.com wrote. The cake has evolved in recent years, and is now sometimes stuffed with cream cheese, cinnamon or fruit fillings.

Since there’s so many different ways to make a King Baby cake, we’ve provided a few different recipes from around the Internet. All Recipes has a pretty easy one. Cincinnati.com provided two different versions. For those short on time, About.com has a recipe that takes 35 minutes. There’s also Betty Crocker, whose recipe concludes with “expert” tips.

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