Instructions: What was once a simple European treat containing a bean is now a gaudy specialty of New Orleans, complete with plastic baby

Mardi Gras is coming, so its time for king cakes: jumped-up coffeecakes iced in purple, green and gold that hide an ugly little plastic baby.

In New Orleans, theyre a favorite treat during Carnival season, sporting the traditional Mardi Gras colors. Back in the "old country," king cakes are not quite as gaudy. The dough is plainer. In Europe, they show up only on Twelfth Night, the Jan. 6 Day of the Kings. Traditionally, there is a bean somewhere in the brioche ring, and whoever gets the bean is king for the day.

But New Orleans has been a party town ever since settlers no longer had to scrabble for each bite of food. During the 1800s, the period from Twelfth Night until Lent (which begins Feb. 28 this year) became the frenzied climax of a winter-long ballroom season.

Some of the dances were at public ballrooms, others at homes. At some point, the king cake became the arbiter of who would hold the next house party, said Wayne Phillips, who oversees the Louisiana State Museums Mardi Gras collection.

Whoever got the bean, almond or pecan hidden inside was the next host.

That may have evolved from another antebellum tradition, the "bal de bouquet," said Connie Atkinson, associate director of the University of New Orleans Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies.

A bachelor chosen by lot as king of this ball would choose a woman as queen - and as the next balls hostess - crowning her with a wreath of flowers.

During her ball, she would crown the next king, who would choose the next hostess.

The bean became a baby in the mid-1900s. Later in the century, as the number of parties declined and king cakes became an office fixture, the baby became the signal for whoever had to buy the next cake, rather than give the next party.

In the last 20 years or so, king cakes themselves have undergone a transformation. You can find braided rings of dry, cinnamon-laced brioche, glittery with colored sugar. But, for most bakeries, "traditional"

just means unfilled.

The dough is much softer and sweeter. Its usually iced. At least half of todays king cakes are filled with fruit, cream cheese, praline, chocolate rum and other exotica.

You also can get queen cakes, which vary from bakery to bakery.

Antoines Bakery sells a ring of mixed Danish splashed with icing. La Spigas is brioche dough decorated with sugar and, in a nod to the "bals de bouquet," crystallized pansies.

Haydels Bakery, in addition to a multitude of king cake flavors, offers a praline-flavored confection called a Kringle, and it has made up a legend to go with it.

In the past 10 to 15 years, king cakes have spread well beyond New Orleans.

Tanya Clark said her bakery, the Dough Basket in Shreveport, La., made its first king cakes in 1996 - 11 of them. Last year, she sold 1,761, with 454

"shipped all over Gods green earth," including some to New Orleans.

She hopes to make 2,500 this year.

United Parcel Service ships about 150,000 king cakes out of Louisiana during the six-week Carnival season, said UPS spokesman Steve Holmes. Theres so much business that the company designed a special king cake box, though some big customers, like Haydels, use their own

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.