Carnival season is here in New Orleans, and there are long lines outside local bakeries and inside, employees are selling king cakes, the colorful seasonal dessert that has exploded in popularity over the past few years. It’s buzzing with activity as they work hard to meet customer demand for pastries.
“Mardi Gras is the busiest time of the year,” said David Haydell Jr. of Haydell’s Bakery, noting that king cake sales in the short weeks between Christmas and Lent account for about half of the bakery’s revenue. It is estimated that it will occupy.
Behind him are racks lined with dozens of freshly baked cakes ready for packaging. Nearby, workers are whipping the dough in a large mixer, rolling it out, braiding it into rings, and putting it in the oven.
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It’s a similar scene at Adrian’s Bakery in the city’s Gentilly district, where Adrian Darby Sr. estimates king cakes account for 40% of his business. “If we don’t have Mardi Gras, we’re going to have to cut jobs, which we don’t want to do. We have full-time employees and we want to keep them.”
According to food historian Liz Williams, the roots of king cake culture can be traced back to the Saturnalia festival in ancient Rome, where beans were baked inside the cake and whoever got the slice with the beans in it, He was considered the king of the day.
Over the centuries, this tradition evolved and was incorporated into pre-Lent festivals in Europe, evolving into the modern Mardi Gras tradition.
Lauren DiBella decorates a king cake in preparation for Mardi Gras at Haydel’s Bakery on January 31, 2024 in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
According to Williams, evolution hasn’t stopped yet. New Orleans king cakes were once uniform and simple. It was a ring of light, sweet brioche and topped with purple, green, and golden sugar. Instead of beans, small baby dolls, first made of ceramic and now plastic, were baked inside.
“In reality, there wasn’t just one variation from bakery to bakery,” Williams said. But by the 1970s, a change had occurred. Some bakeries began using Danish-style pastry dough. Some people have started filling their king cakes with cream cheese or fruit jam.
The sweet’s popularity grew during each Mardi Gras season, amidst the frenzy of parades, colorful floats, costumed revelers, and street parties. A few years ago, Mr. Williams said that king cake would probably be consumed several times a year, perhaps during the king cake party during the carnival season.
Now, during Mardi Gras season, some people will be consuming king cake almost every day, Williams said. “People pick up a king cake and take it to work. People who get babies have to bring it back the next day, too. So people eat it all the time.”
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However, that doesn’t mean you can binge eat all year round. According to tradition, king cake is not to be eaten before Carnival season begins on January 6th, and after Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), which falls on February 13th this year.
The king cake’s popularity was evident one recent morning at Manny Randazzo’s Bakery in New Orleans, where a line of more than 60 people stretched down the street. Customer Adrian LeBlanc loaded king cakes into the back of his SUV for friends and family in New Orleans and other areas.
“Some of them will go to Houston and some of them will go to Mississippi State,” LeBlanc said. “And some will remain here in New Orleans.”
