At the beginning of January the three kings cake is a very popular bakery product. Leavened sweet bread is rolled into buns. In one of the buns a small plastic figure is hidden. The person who finds the figure has the privilege to wear the crown that comes along with it. Obviously every year the kids are very excited to search for the hidden treasure!
The three kings cake is sold in supermarkets and bakeries. This one here cost CHF 4.70 at Migros and weighs 420g. It really is delicious.
Nowadays most people are probably hardly aware what the three kings cake is all about. The biblical record states: “After Jesus’ birth, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the child who has been born to be king of the Jews? When we were in the east, we saw his star. Now we have come to worship him.”” (Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2, Verse 1-2)
By the third century legends started mentioning three kings. By the 6th century they were called Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. In Switzerland the tradition of the three kings cake was only introduced after WWII.
