What a lot of folks don’t understand about Mardi Gras is that it is an all day affair. You don’t just go to a parade and head home. No, maybe during the mid-week parades, but come Saturday and Sunday — it’s an all day outing.

Part of what makes it an all day affair is that the parades often break down. Tires go flat, tractors break or sometimes the floats actually get caught on the branches of trees that grow out over the street.

So in between parades or when one happens to break down, we New Orleanians have to entertain ourselves. Now if you’re lucky, when the parade breaks down, a band or dance team is near your spot. They often will keep the music playing to keep the crowds entertained and then funny things happen.

In this instance my sister-in-law (the gal in the tan shirt with the boa) decided it was time to dance. So she created a little line dance group of moms and kids that went on for a good 10 minutes. They danced, sang and in general had a blast. In fact, a few folks were a bit sad once the parade started back up because well, the line dancers were pretty darn good.

It’s Mardi Gras season here in New Orleans, but it’s not the parades (that are already diverting traffic), or the piles of plastic beaded necklaces scattered on the streets that tell me so. Nope. This is a feeling more primitive, more primal, and it starts in my gut (actually, in my belly to be more specific) .

For the record, Mardi Gras is February 16, but I’ve known it was Mardi Gras for at least three weeks now. It was about three weeks ago that the first king cake found its way past the security desk, up the elevators, through the maze of cubicles, to the tiny, corporate kitchen at my day job. It’s one of life’s cruel realities. Just as you’re getting over your depression for eating too much during the holidays, and have recommitted to hitting the gym, BOOM, someone brings in a king cake.

A Little History

Everyone here in NOLA knows what a king cake is, but you may not live here. You may not know what a king cake is, and if you don’t, that probably means you’ve never tasted one either. That’s a real shame, because king cakes, well, king cakes are delicious.

I love them when they’re soft and gooey. When they are covered in, first a layer of smooth white icing, and second, a layer of crunchy, colored, crystal sugar. I’ll tell you more about who makes the best king cake in New Orleans (a highly controversial subject) at the end of this post, but before I do, let’s learn more about the origins of this cake.

The Wikipedia entry for king cake opens broadly with:

A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake, kings’ cake, king’s cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with Mardi Gras and Carnival. It is popular in Christmas season in France, Belgium and Switzerland (galette/gâteau des Rois), Portugal (Bolo Rei), Spain (Roscón de Reyes and in Catalonia called tortell), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, which celebrates Carnival ranging from Pensacola, Florida to East Texas, centered on New Orleans it is associated instead with Mardi Gras season traditions. The cakes have a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, sometimes said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for next year’s celebration).

I’ve always thought the name, “king cake,” was a bit of a misnomer, because apart from the icing, it’s more bread than cake. Typically, king cake is round or oval-shaped braided bread topped with icing or sugar (most of the time both). The sugar itself is sprinkled on in three distinct colors: Purple (for justice), Green (for faith) and Gold (for power). Traditional king cake comes fairly plain, with a mild ribbon of cinnamon-sugar spiraled inside. However, nearly every king cake I eat these days is filled, and praline filing seems to be the most popular. But, I see cream cheese filings a lot, and even had my first German Chocolate king cake this year.

Most people know that New Orleans is a city of history. We’re a melting pot of Spanish, Caribbean and French cultures, just to name a few; the latter of which seems to have the most direct connection to our kingly cakes. My wife and I went to Paris for Christmas last year, and it was there that I met one of the most fascinating foodies I’ve ever encountered. Her name is Wendy, and she’s actually blogged about Paris’ version of the king cake on her blog.

There’s is a cake filled with sweet almond cream, and often conceals a little trinket. Sound familiar? From what I’ve read, the trinket can be anything from a bean, to more fastidiously French designer porcelain figurines. Here in New Orleans, however, we settle for tiny, plastic babies. The babies are notably, too.

For legal reasons, most king cakes are sold with the baby outside of the cake (I think someone, somewhere may have chipped a tooth or worse at some point). Here’s how you play the game:

1. It becomes the responsibility of the king cake buyer to carefully hide the baby inside the cake.
2. Then, the cake is sliced and devoured.
3. Whoever finds the baby is then responsible for buying the next king cake, and so on and so on.

Breaking these rules is a definite no-no, and (I’m not kidding) I’ve heard of two intra-office feuds erupting just this year over someone finding the baby and deciding not playing along.

Who Makes The Best King Cakes In New Orleans?

I bet I’m going to get flamed for this, but maybe that’s my plan dear reader. Again, for those of you who don’t live here, you probably won’t understand the can of worms I’m opening, but who makes the best? The reason, I think, these cakes can be so contentious is that they come a million different ways (and are available in a million different places).

Everyone makes them here, and by everyone, I don’t just mean home cooks. In fact, I’m not talking about home cooks at all. Nearly every grocery store sells a king cake, and the cakes themselves are as different as Whole Foods is from Wal-Mart. You can get them at gas stations, for dessert in fancy restaurants, in the mall and on the street.

In my opinion, the worst king cakes are the dry ones that taste like French bread. Yes, it’s a circle. Yes, it’s covered in sugar, but it’s not king cake. At least, not to me.

I love king cake that’s moist and gooey on the inside. The crust is soft, and almost not there. I’m a purist, and love traditional cinnamon-sugar best (no filings). I love tons of icing, so much so that it drips from the sides of the cake, and pools in the center. Finally, the sugar must be abundant. I want to see the crystal cubes, and I want to crunch them between my teeth. After each bite, I want my lips, shirt and lap to be covered in sugar.

Where, you may be wondering, do I find such a king cake? Well, I only buy my king cakes from…hum. This could be dangerous. Let’s open it to you, and hear what you have to say. Who sells the best king cake in New Orleans, and what makes it the best?

Comment below and tell us. I’ll reveal my answer in due time.