Time for the Carnival post mortem.
The king cake was a noble failure. On Sunday morning, the temperature in Toronto was -25C, with the winds making it feel like 40 below. So the Nerve Centre was already thermally challenged. Then the furnace conked out. I imagine the yeast microbes were too busy huddling together for warmth to do any fermenting and leavening.
As former prime minister Jean Chrétien once said, “A proof is a proof. It’s a proof. And when you have a good proof, it’s because it’s proven.”
Well, we didn’t have any proof at all. Only allegations that I was trying to make a Mardi Gras treat.
On the other hand, Shrove Tuesday gingerbread pancakes, using a recipe from The Old Rectory B&B in Stratford, Ontario, turned out mighty fine (seven and a half teaspoons of baking powder — who knew?). Used a bit of Steen’s cane syrup from Abbeville, Louisiana, in place of molasses, to give it a bit of a Mardi Gras element.
Served with some maple-syrup-and-five-spice sausage from Sanagan’s Meat Locker. Dee-lish. Makes you fully appreciate why you’d swear off such indulgence for at least 40 days.
I’d love to have been able to supply you with the photographic — um, proof. But it was so good, it didn’t last long enough for pictures to be taken.
So, in its place, here’s Professor Longhair.