Today is Three Kings Day, or the Epiphany. It is a Christian holiday that is celebrated in so many ways throughout the world with parades, feasts and giving of gifts. Our family tradition is cupcakes with the hidden bean. Whoever gets the bean, is King or Queen for the year. Here is last year’s celebration. We have tons of “missing bean” stories over the years. By the way, last year my cat ate the cupcake with the bean. King Tom ruled with an iron fist last year, let me tell you.
This year, I did make cupcakes as well, but I also decided to try out my new cake decorating supplies and make a couple of mini cakes. FYI, I am no cake decorator! I try, but it is not my thang. Yes, I did just say “thang”. Maybe that’s why my kids got me an instructional book and supplies. I get the hint.
I did try out this recipe from one of my favorite bloggers for the perfect white cake instead of a mix (like last year), but feel free to use box of white cake mix. To tell you the truth, this cake was good, but for the cost and the work, I’ll go with a box next time. I also used her recipe for buttercream.
I tinted the cake mix in the three traditional colors, green, yellow and purple and baked them in square cupcake tins. These mini three-tiered cakes actually came out kind of cute, but I need work (or so I’ve been told). I thought it would be cute to top them with white chocolate crowns (I’ll show you how to do those later).
This is a fun tradition. You still have time to whip up a mix and give it a try. If you want, just pick up a couple from the bakery and stuff a bean it somehow. It doesn’t really matter if they are homemade, it’s just a fun thing to do with the family. We always look forward to it.
